<p>So I'm planning to transfer to McGill for Fall 09. I'm a non-native English speaker, and have done about 6 months' worth of French in high school. How hard is it for English speakers to live and socialize in Montreal?</p>
<p>There are many people at McGill who do not speak a word of French. You will be fine. There is a McGill Bubble that surrounds the university. Within the bubble, non-French speakers do fine. Outside of the bubble (3 major roads away from the University in all directions), you'll probably have a bit of fun with the native French speakers as you try to understand one another.</p>
<p>What about eating out, shopping, commuting et al?</p>
<p>you obviously haven't been to montreal, lol~
it's an alright place, imho... i don't like it too much. anyway, you don't need to speak any french at all.
so many people there are polyglots though, so it made me feel a little stupid. >< reading signs will be easy for you, probably, since most of the words on there are in english or cognates. you don't really need to know how to conjugate to read the signs. (i've taken 3 years of french)
understanding french is definitely helpful though.
also, if you want to get a job, you should take an immersion class at a language school when you get there. you'll have to wait a couple months or something, since i assume you'll be on a student visa. my cousin suggested that i work at a customer service type place and take only english calls.
when you eat and shop, there are often several people working front line or waiting on you. whatever else. XD usually at least one person's mother tongue is english. and several people's native tongue won't be english OR french.</p>
<p>Tyler-Durden, not being able to really speak french really should not be a problem at all. This is honestly something that I considered as well but it's really not an issue. Although you most certainly will encounter a lot of people outside the university speaking and interacting in french, English is so dominant there as well that all salespeople and people working in restaurants etc speak english.</p>
<p>especially within the university campus itself, sure you will find a bunch of french speakers but at least nowadays, i would definitely say that a HUGE number of students are not from the province and so speak english so that won't be an issue either.</p>
<p>in terms of street signs and things like that, i will admit that sometimes it might be a bit frusterating for a non-french speaker but most of the time wont be an issue. honestly as dorky as it migh seem -if this isnt the stuff that you know already- just get a handbook or easily lookup common and useful ffrench phrases like directions etc and you will end up learning them easily enough.</p>
<p>hope this helps?</p>
<p>I guess I'll be able to manage then. Will probably join a French class or something as well if I have the time.</p>
<p>Some off-topic questions:
1. How difficult is McGill? I mean, I'll be transferring from Berkeley, which is supposed to be one of the harshest grading schools in the United States.
2. Does it really get THAT cold in Montreal? What do people do - are there underground tunnels to go to class, are the rooms heated well enough to be able to sleep in a tshirt? etc</p>
<p>yes, it gets THAT cold. my mom grew up there, and she describes montreal as "so cold that when you inhale, your nostrils get stuck together." and my father, who moved there as a teenager, says, "it's so cold that when you spit, it hits the ground frozen." i thought he was joking, but my mom, in all seriousness, said it's true.</p>
<p>also, which rooms? i was able to sleep comfortably in my grandmother's apartment, although i always sleep with a comforter, even in the summer here! (i live in de)</p>
<p>you dont need to know french -- people speak english and like the previous post said there is a mcgill bubble that consists of english speaking students
- as for cold -- it is pretty cold in the winter, especially if you are coming from california. Just live close to campus, there are underground tunnels connecting the buildings (you will learn once you are a student..trust me), montreal has an underground mall system and of course heating :)
- grading - depends on the program - science is pretty difficult, but again based on the program you are going into -- mcgill is known as a grade deflator</p>
<p>They have underground tunnels between buildings? When I visited I was not told that. If that's true, they need to accentuate that a bit. lol.</p>
<p>I did go into the underground mall though... that place is nifty.</p>
<p>S has been at McGill 1.5 years and agrees with everything sd1986 said except for the tunnels...he hasn't found any yet. Strange...</p>
<p>I did a little reading on tunnels (which led to reading a bunch about Urban Exploration) but all I found was that they aren't really officially used tunnels, just mainly for utilities and whatnot that could be used to get to and fro a handful of different buildings.</p>
<p>just wondering, but are the 'stairs to nowhere' on mcgill's campus? there's a tunnel there, i think...</p>