immichaelcaine

Hello - I just moved to Montreal Quebec on a two year contract. Im working with a well known aerospace technology company - and the pay is off the scale - no problems there. My question is for any Brits living in Quebec; what the h*** is with all the anti-Brit attitude here? Ive been to France on two occasions, but never come across such strong hatred for the English (JC - I even saw anti-English feelings in Kos and in Turkey, but i digress). The French here think that they run the country and pay no significance to the fact that Canada is English - and part of the commonwealth for that matter. Im not up to date with Canadian history - but the thought of spending another 20 months here is starting to make me itch. Anyone seen this before? Anyone have some survival tips ?

jandro

Your the first poster I've seen comment on this. I lived in Montreal for 5 years - most of it at university and experienced the same thing - especially when I ventured east of St Denis st. I'm English-Canadian by the way. I saw anti-English graffiti, and had many rude experiences such as an employment counselor in a Federal Employment office (supposed to be bilingual) refusing to speak English to me. 'Maudit Anglais' is a term I sometimes heard in Quebec.

It has to do with Canadian history, the Plains of Abraham and all that. For many years Quebec was under British rule. With the Quiet Revolution of the sixties and seventies they became maitre chez nous (masters in our own house).

There was a funny book written some years back called 'The Anglo Guide To Survival In Québec' by Josh Freed. One tip in it is to say you're Scottish or Irish - where a tartan for example so as take the focus off the English side.

act1980

Hi,

Sorry to hear or your experience.

I have to say that I can only agree with you. We only visited for a couple of days last year but instantly noticed the attitude change compared to Ontario. People were so rude and the driving awful!

I have heard that they want to be their own country so maybe that is where the attitude comes from?

S E A N

My aunt went to Quebec a few years ago and was astonished how rude they can be....she doesn't even have an English accent, she has lived in Australia most of her life....so maybe they are like that to any foreigner?

montreal mike

well congrats for the consistency of the comments so far

and I ask myself how is it i have lived in montreal for 47 years and never experienced any anymosity

skyturner

erm.....are you French maybe.

S E A N

Maybe it's just confliction....

criodain

That's the first problem right there.

Is Canada "English" the same way as Australia could be "English"? Don't even get me started...

Elaine B.

I lived in Montreal from Sept 1999 until roughly April 2001. We moved to a mostly anglo area called NDG because that's were my OH family live (he was born in Montreal but had never actually lived there). I must say I found some people in Montreal quite rude but I include my OH's family when I say that.

deanjp32

I lived in Montreal for 18 months from from Jan 2000 - Sept 2001. I lived on the West Island (Pierrefonds) and went into downtown everyday to work. I have to say that i did come across some people that were not interested in speaking to you in English but then if french is the language they speak and considering you are in a french speaking part of Canada then why should they?

I have to say however for the most part i did not come across any problems at all.

montreal mike

no but I speak both Quebec and Parisian french

born in hertfordshire and spent some 13 years in the London area

grew in East end, Whitechapel

montreal mike

well put and to the point

Tangram

Are you the Ripper ?

deanjp32

I sometimes think that the problem with us brits is that we expect everyone else in the world to conform to our standards, speak our language, do it our way.

Thats not to say we are all like that though before someone shoots me down in flames

I was last in Montreal in November 2008 on our way back from friends in Toronto. We found that everyone spoke english to us, sat in the pubs on Cresent, shopping etc and no problem.

My only regret is that i dont speak french or Quebec french. It fascinates me how people can speak both languages interchanging them within conversations. What a wonderful gift!!!

The french language should be preserved in Canada although i am dead against the sepratists

TrishP

Problem I've found when travelling through Quebec is the attitude against speaking English or them even trying ... I made sure people knew I was Irish and I would tell them that in French and explain that I couldn't speak French very well. They would immediately have a change of attitude - to go from incredibly rude to friendly just because I'm Irish and not an English-speaking Canadian does not excuse them at all! I found it ironic that in the space of a few seconds they would go from not being able to speak ANY English to being able to converse well enough to be understood on the basis of my not being Canadian!
Oh and I hate it when they laugh because you try to speak French and get it wrong - doesn't exactly encourage people to try!!