Montreal

City Profile

Montreal is the second-largest French-speaking city in the world, after Paris.

Studying in Montreal has certain advantages for North American students: for one, the city is conveniently located on the same contintent. The costs of studying and living are lower than in Paris. Some also cite cosmopolitan nature of Montreal as an edge over somewhat more monocultural Paris although this argument can be reversed: many have said it's too easy to simply get by in English in the city, especially in the downtown area where many "anglo" institutions have congregated.

Language Schools

French language schools in Montreal come in two basic flavors: those that are organized within one of the four large public universities (McGill, Université de Montréal, Concordia, and the UQAM), typically under the auspices of the corresponding school's Continuing Education department, and those that are privately-owned and focus exclusively on language instruction.

Selected schools:

• Académie Linguistique Internationale (1425, blvd Rene-Levesque Ouest #800, Montreal) - A mid-size private school that has been in business for over a decade. The ALI offers French as well as English courses.
• Berlitz - Montreal (2020, rue University, Montreal)
• College Platon (4521, avenue du Parc, Montreal) - One of the largest private language schools in Montreal, College Platon has group and individual classes not only for French but for a couple dozen other langua....
• Geos Language Academy - Montreal (1350, rue Sherbrooke Ouest, Suite 800, Montreal)
• McGill University School of Continuing Studies (688, rue Sherbrooke ouest, Montreal) - The School of Continuing Studies (formerly the Centre for Continuing Education) at McGill University offers several programs in French, including an intensive (....

See more Montreal French Language Schools »

French outside school

Montreal is not a uniformly francophone city: for example, in the downtown core (centre-ville), English is heard almost as often as (some claim, more often than) French. Other languages, particularly Spanish, can be heard here and there as well.

Historically, neighborhoods located west of the Boulevard St-Laurent tended to be more anglophone (better get used to the local terminology!) and those east of that artery - more francophone. But make no mistake: French is still prevalent in the city. It's just that Montreal's curious background has created several anglo-bubbles in the otherwise French-speaking metropolis.

Many visitors from outside Québec have experienced an unexpected problem when attempting to practice their French in Montreal: at the first sign of an accent, Montrealers effortlessly switch to English, no doubt thinking themselves polite and helpful. Perhaps so for other visitors to the city, but French language students are sometimes exasperated by this behavior. If you happen to find yourself in this situation, and if you feel confident in your abilities, try to reassert (always with a smile!) your preference for conversation in French.

French spoken in Montreal, though significantly reshaped due to immigration from many French- and non-French-speaking countries, tends to be standard Quebec French, somewhat different from European French taught in most language programs. Differences in the accent (which can take time to get adjusted to) are usually noticed right away, but some vocabulary and even phrase structure differences can be observed as well. That said, "standard" French is universally understood and Quebeckers tend to tone down the "localisms" when speaking to non-Quebeckers.

Some examples of Quebec/Montreal French:

• Allô! (QF) = Bonjour! (FF) = Hello! (NAE)
• Écouter un film (QF) = regarder un film (FF) = to watch a movie (NAE)
• Fin de semaine (QF) = week-end (FF) = weekend (NAE)
• Sou (QF) = cent (FF) =cent (NAE)
• Tabarnak! (QF) = putain! (FF) = f#*k! (NAE)
• Tuque (QF) = bonnet (FF) = hat (NAE)
• Change* (QF?) = monnaie (FF) = change (NAE)
• Gaz* (QF?) = essence (FF) = gas (NAE)
• Plusieurs* (QF?) = beaucoup de (FF) = many (NAE)

(*) usage of these words, although very common in Quebec, is considered incorrect by most language professionals.

As you can see, while some Quebec French words are clearly influenced by the corresponding English terms, to the point of being outright anglicisms, others (e.g. fin de semaine) are more authentically French than what's used in France (in that case, week-end).