Pine Cone

I'm aware that one usually needs to speak French in order to work on government contracts and it would be useful when working on projects in Quebec.

Out of curiosity, what level of French would suffice? How much French do you personally speak, regardless of where in Canada you actually reside? Is it more comment the further East you go, or do people learn a smattering all over the country?

What free/affordable French courses are readily available to new migrants and did you bother swotting up using any other course material before moving? We have basic GCSE level conversational French, but that is not going to get us very far in the business world and so we'd need to do some serious extra practice. Someone mentioned using a Rosetta Stone course for some extra practice, but since it's not accredited I did wonder how useful that might be, job-wise or how that might compare to other training options out there.

How about kids? I'm assuming if you were moving straight from the UK, many of your kids would have likely have done some French in school (assuming they didn't do Spanish etc instead) and how does this level compare to the equivalent age group in a Canadian school. Yes, I aware that France French is not the same as Canadian French, so really I just want a vague idea of comparison.

Also can anyone explain French immersion schools to me in more detail. Are they for English speakers wanting to immerse themselves in French or only kids from French speaking families. And do French immersion schools actually use French 100% of the time for all classses, or only some of the time, like French speaking international schools?

Shirtback

French immersion schools:
French Immersion

Plenty of info there.

I can't help with the rest of your questions other than to say I live in Quebec, am bilingual, and French is an absolute necessity where I live. I don't think it is in most of the rest of Canada.

Pine Cone

Were you bilingual before you first moved to Quebec or did you have to work towards this? Occasional working in Montreal might be a possibility, which is why I'm asking. Improving skills is not an issue, but more how much time and effort needs to be allocated depending upon neccesity.

dbd33

I work every day with people who are in Montreal and Quebec City, we work in English though the people in Quebec are typically trilingual (French, English and the language of their home county). I've previously worked with a firm in Montreal that makes flight simulators where the working language is English and have as clients several departments of the Quebec government where the language is French but they speak to suppliers in English.

In short, then, if it's occasional work in Montreal no need for French. If it's long term work in the Gaspe then fill yer mouth with marbles.

dbd33

So far as the GTA is concerned there is no need for French. Since my children went to a French language school I'm aware of a lot of French culture in Toronto but one wouldn't necessarily know of it any more than, say, Polish, culture.

Note, btw, that, in Toronto children are taught to speak French as in France and have to pass a "joual" test, their elocution being tested by repetition of such phrases as "25 rabbits". Sounding as if one is from Quebec is thought unprestigious but what is to be avoided at all costs is sounding like a franco-Ontarian; sorta Essex, innit?

Souvy

Why do you French for government contracts unless you are working for the Quebec government?

Unless you live in Quebec, Eastern Townships and most of Montreal or Gatineau, you don't really need French at all.

I do speak French, although I'm far from fluent. I only use it with my family.

I don't need it for going shopping in Gatineau and all my Quebec clients use English as their working language.

MarkG

I was surprised by the number of people here taking the citizenship test/ceremony in French, since I've never heard anyone use it in Saskatchewan.

I also discussed it one time with a customer who originally came from French-run North Africa (Algeria, I think?) and he said he had to speak three different dialects of French: one he learned as a kid, one for France, and one for Canada.

Shirtback

I was bilingual before arriving, I did have to adapt to the accent, & learn quite an extensive new vocabulary.

Occasionally working in Mtl while residing elsewhere wouldn't require French.

Dbd & Souvy summed up the rest very well.

withabix

I've never heard anyone speaking French in BC, except the odd Quebecois family out shopping.

Mandarin, on the other hand, I have had people on the phone trying to talk to me in Chinese when they have called the wrong number - I must have a phone number very similar to a business in Richmond!

I get business emails from suppliers in Quebec that have very obviously been translated from French to English using Google Translate, complete with Google's sometimes wrong literal translation.

Shirtback

dbd33

It does happen. When my daughter moved to Vancouver as a student she found part time work here: Le Centre Now she works for the Feds, still in Vancouver and, I believe, uses French at work from time to time.

Shirtback

My son, who used to work Out West occasionally (seasonally), found himself in a supervisory position quite fast because of French language ability: dealing with Qc seasonal workers & French IEC-ers.

His Spanish might have helped too.

scrubbedexpat091

The french speaking population is small, so much so even federal offices don't always have a French speaking employee on duty because well not much use for them, so to provide service in French they will have a phone on the wall to connect to another office/call center where French is used.


I've not yet met anyone fro Quebec in BC, and most common languages other than English is some sort of Asian dialect and what East Indians speak in the area.

I hear more Spanish than French.

dc koop

I did two years of French at school in England. When I arrived in Quebec I couldn't understand a word of the French they spoke. The Quebecois speak an old Norman/ Breton dialect. That didn't stop me trying to speak my schoolboy French to a French speaker. Most times they listened to a few sentences and then replied to me in English.

There didn't seem to be much rapport between the French and English speaking Canadians. Some of the feelings were downright hostile. I heard English speakers tell French speakers to "parl blanc" (speak white) when French was heard. The French in turn called the English speakers "tete carres" (square heads)

Separatist sentiments were in full bloom at that time also. Over the years it seems to have died down.

I worked for the Canadian Pacific Railway. The staff were both French and English speaking and at least we all got along just fine together. It was at that time also that I became addicted to ice hockey watching the Canadiens play at the Montreal forum on Saturday evenings and I thought that Montreal was a great city except for the bloody awful long winters

Pine Cone

My old rellies speak French Canadian (Quebecois Mother, English Father) and had the opposite experience when visiting Paris. The French basically turned their noses up at them, informed them they sounded common as muck, thereafter refusing to communicate with them other than in English.