<p>yeah so i stayed there for the past couple of days, and if you didn't know french, it was very very hard to get around. more than half of the restaurants i went to couldn't understand english at all and it took literally half an hour to find someone to translate us what we wanted for lunch! the police gave us a ticket for speeding (crazy crazy dad, lol) but he couldn't speak english! so he called for some guy at the office who spoke english to come over and we waited for literally an hour for him to come. jeez, i sure wish i spoke french! i'm probably not choosing mcgill because I am doing business and internships during college are extremely important, especially for graduate schools and jobs after undergrad. i spoke to one of the mcgill student advisors about this, and she didn't recommend anyone who couldn't speak french to get an internship. mcgill is an english speaking college, but everything else around it isn't!</p>
<p>that is really surprising. everyone I talked to about McGill has said that its not really an issue. can anyone else clarify?</p>
<p>student1, i dont understand you. it seems like every post you make here is anti-mcgilll. clearly the school isnt a good match for you.</p>
<p>i speak absolutely no french, and this year has been the best of my life. in your day to day life at mcgill, you need absolutely no french.
the only time french is an issue is working. but for on campus jobs, you dont need to know french. so the issue of internships is valid, but it really doesnt make a difference in your life here.</p>
<p>and one solution is, if you want some sort of academic internship, work with a prof. there are tons of them at mcgill, and unless you are in a french program (and in that case, you speak french), the prof's research would be in english.</p>
<p>take it from me, a mcgill student who knows absolutely no french (i mean, i know how to say hello, how are you and where is the bathroom). French is not necessary at McGill.</p>
<p>Your experience is not representative of the actual situation. And where did you try to eat, 3 small diners east of Papineau? Though it's probably true that internships may be an issue if you don't speak any French, lack of knowledge of French isn't an issue otherwise (especially if you don't venture east of Saint-Laurent, but that would be a shame). Cops not being nice (for any reason) when you break the law is a given anywhere...</p>
<p>My experience was definitely very different. Every restaurant I went to was bilingual (or trilingual in the case of Greek, Lebanese, Chinese, etc. restaurants). Because English isn't an official language of Quebec, I wouldn't be surprised if the SQ didn't speak it, but I never dealt with the cops while I was there, so I wouldn't know. Still, this is surely one of the lesser issues in college decisions. I can understand why the OP - who needs to do an internship - might be better off elsewhere, but the vast majority of prospective students (like myself) Montreal is sufficiently bilingual and the presence of French is more of an incentive than a drawback due to the prevalence of bilingualism.</p>
<p>thats ridiculous, and completely false... everything around mcgill is mostly english, its an anglo-bubble, you've gotta go pretty far from mcgill to find an area where no one speaks english.</p>
<p>we visited last week. everyone was so nice & french was never an issue.
people were very friendly & helpful. in english.</p>
<p>Student1. Were you rejected by McGill? I'm trying to understand your motivation for spreading disinformation on this site. Anyone who has been to Montreal and McGill knows that you will have no problem if you do not speak French and will have the opportunity of experiencing a different culture in an exciting cosmopolitan city.</p>
<p>First, I find it hard to believe that you got a speeding ticket in Quebec. Quebecers drive faster than Americans, pure and simple. (Canadians and Europeans both are more aggressive than Americans on the highway, really.) I was on the interstate leading into Montreal this past weekend, and the fastest cars had plates with "je me souviens" on them. This is really the most surprising part of your story to me.</p>
<p>I also find it incredibly hard to believe that you had difficulties getting around Montreal. Unless you were on the east part of the Island, statistically speaking, >80% of the people you found should have spoken at least SOME English. Were you east or west of St. Laurent? When I was in Montreal in 2005, the only person I ever found that didn't speak English worked in a Payless Shoe Store.</p>
<p>Even more so, I would point out that even in Quebec, English remains the predominate language of international business. Plain and simple, Period. </p>
<p>These are very odd and surprising things you say. I think you are in the minority of people who had problems in Montreal; most people, Anglophones included, find it to be a wonderful city.</p>
<p>Guys, I am a father of a McGill student, and an old man compared to you.
but dont you recognize a troll when you read one...he doesnt believe
a word he says,,,,just wants to create a fuss. Ignore him or her.</p>
<p>*** Student1? I was so excited to use my French when I visisted that I tried to at every store/restaurant I went to and the people always responded in English--frustrating. And can't you just get an internship back home/at least in the States? That's what I'm planning to do if I go there, unless I do research with a prof...</p>
<p>Bull- This is not true. McGill is an English speaking school. All classes (except for specifically French ones) are in English. Additionally, Canada has two official languages, English and French. I have been quite fine with both and so has my son who attends McGill. Montreal is bilingual totally.</p>
<p>The shopkeepers wil lgreet you wih Bon Jour, Hello (or Hi). If you respond with Bon Jour, they will speak French. If you respond with Hello or Hi, they will speak English-no problem here.</p>
<p>I can understand french perfectly fine, am a bit embarrassed by my accent, however I walked around Montreal (these past few days) using only one word of french: "Merci". The areas around McGill such as Crescent Street, Sherbrooke, Peel, all responded just fine to my english. Bottom of the line, to future CC'ers and people who are reading the google cache of this, the OP's experience is an outlier; english will get you to the moon and back in Montreal. </p>
<p>p.s. based on my experience with Montreal I will for SURE be attending McGill in the fall.</p>
<p>Do you guys know of any McGill students who knew no French when they came, but after taking French classes and living in Montreal became fluent? Or will McGill students not be immersed in French enough?</p>
<p>If you took French classes and made a concerted effort to use French in your daily life (i.e., venturing to the eastern part of the island, watching French language TV, using French with friends) then you could probably become competent in French, I think.</p>
<p>you guys are missing the point. no kidding the school is english speaking, but i'm talking about the area around it. to the people who've actually visited, you may have had a different experience than i have but what i've said is what i experienced last week. and no, i was accepted into management but rejected into arts and science which is another reason why i'm contemplating mcgill because they're really difficult to change majors with, at least what the admission advisers tell me.</p>
<p>D is studying French, will spend a month in MTL this summer in intensive French classes and living with a Francophone family- McGill is her first choice, sight unseen. Anyone there this summer who can give a student view tour?</p>
<p>Your D is lucky she'll have a blast this summer. Summer in Montreal is amazing if I can say so myself.</p>
<p>dufay, is your D doing the Explore Bursary Program? I'm in it too. I'm going to Trois-Pistoles, Quebec. Exciting stuff.</p>