• Home
  • OffQc
  • About
  • Start
  • Off-quoi?
  • Listen to Québécois French

OffQc | Québécois French Guide

For lovers of French + diehard fans of all things québécois!

Feeds:
Posts
Comments
« 10 French expressions related to marijuana (#673)
5 new French expressions from conversations to learn (#675) »

Does it matter where you live in Montréal to learn French? (#674)

27 August 2013 by OffQc

People ask in forums online where to live in Montréal to learn French.

It matters little where you live in Montréal.

Furthermore, this is the wrong question.

The better question to ask is:
How will I spend my days?

Will you attend university in French? Will you accept work in French? Will you join a group where there are francophones? Will you share an apartment with a francophone?

There’s nothing preventing you from learning French in a typically non-francophone neighbourhood.

I have a Turkish friend who speaks fluent French. He never left Istanbul to learn French. He works in a hotel. He spends his days speaking with people.

It doesn’t matter that his neighbours speak Turkish. It doesn’t matter if your neighbours don’t speak French.

It may not even matter if your neighbours do in fact speak French. Just because there are francophones in your street doesn’t guarantee anything.

If you want francophone “atmosphere,” by all means, pick a typically francophone neighbourhood.

But don’t stop there, because what really matters is who you’ll spend your days with.

Focus on that instead if you’re serious about learning French in Montréal (or anywhere).

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Posted in Entries #651-700 | Tagged apartment, atmosphere, français québécois, francophone, friend, hotel, learn, live, neighbour, Québécois French, Turkish, university, work | 5 Comments

5 Responses

  1. on 27 August 2013 at 16:28 Joanne

    Well said!!


  2. on 27 August 2013 at 18:49 Ash Kumar

    This is exactly the kind of post I was looking for. I will be in Montreal in October and I am still very nervous about the methods I should employ to be in the presence of people with whom I can interact with in french.

    So far what I have been suggested is to try and go to every french-english language exchange meetup. That still leaves me with most of my days over a period of two weeks. I am not too keen on joining a class but I might be forced to, just in order to have something to do and to have a venue to interact with others in french.

    Any suggestions on finding such groups of people?


    • on 30 August 2013 at 16:04 OffQc

      Can anybody make some suggestions for Ash, who’ll be spending a few weeks in Montréal?

      Using a holiday of a few weeks as a form of language immersion can be challenging because it takes time to get to know people.

      Trying speaking to people you come across, in shops, at your hotel, at a tourist office. Ask them questions about Montréal, for example. Use the opportunity to build some confidence about approaching people in French.

      Spending a few weeks in Montréal can really help to motivate you to keep learning French after you leave. It’s important to find ways to keep speaking in French when you go back home.


  3. on 29 August 2013 at 08:40 Eva

    I agree with the part about just because there are Francophones on your street doesn’t mean you will end up speaking with them. My current work environment has the greatest agglomeration of French speakers I have ever come across in my region, partly due to another head office being in Montreal. Unfortunately, the likelihood of conversing with them in French is seemingly inexistent for me at the moment due to very short encounters. Still nice to hear how different the Franco-Ontarian accent sounds.


  4. on 31 August 2013 at 00:35 Stadden

    This is sort of related, sort of unrelated, but I am an American at McGill as a freshman and I speak very good French like a Quebecker, but they all respond back in English. I have figured out in my first week here, however, when they respond in English, to give them a look like O.o and act very confused and they instantly respond in French. Just a way I figured out to squeeze French out of people here, even those that are obviously English speakers.



Comments are closed.

  • Books

    The OffQc bookshop is always open. See all titles here.

    Contracted French Put an end to not understanding spoken French by learning the most important contractions used in speech

    C’est what? Overview of common features of spoken Québécois French; pave the way for further independent study

    1000 Learn or review a large amount of everyday words and expressions used in Québécois French in condensed form

  • Follow OffQc by email. It's free. Enter your email address in the box below.

    Join 1,532 other followers

  • Read a random entry
    OffQc bookshop
    OffQc on Twitter
    OffQc on Pinterest
    • Listen to Québécois French: Almost 100 videos + transcripts
  • Number

    • Entries #1151-1200
    • Entries #1101-1150
    • Entries #1051-1100
    • Entries #1001-1050
    • Entries #951-1000
    • Entries #901-950
    • Entries #851-900
    • Entries #801-850
    • Entries #751-800
    • Entries #701-750
    • Entries #651-700
    • Entries #601-650
    • Entries #551-600
    • Entries #501-550
    • Entries #451-500
    • Entries #401-450
    • Entries #351-400
    • Entries #301-350
    • Entries #251-300
    • Entries #201-250
    • Entries #151-200
    • Entries #101-150
    • Entries #51-100
    • Entries #1-50
  • Month

    • June 2017
    • September 2016
    • August 2016
    • July 2016
    • June 2016
    • May 2016
    • April 2016
    • March 2016
    • February 2016
    • January 2016
    • December 2015
    • November 2015
    • October 2015
    • September 2015
    • August 2015
    • July 2015
    • June 2015
    • May 2015
    • April 2015
    • March 2015
    • February 2015
    • January 2015
    • December 2014
    • November 2014
    • October 2014
    • September 2014
    • August 2014
    • July 2014
    • June 2014
    • May 2014
    • April 2014
    • March 2014
    • February 2014
    • January 2014
    • December 2013
    • November 2013
    • October 2013
    • September 2013
    • August 2013
    • July 2013
    • June 2013
    • May 2013
    • April 2013
    • March 2013
    • February 2013
    • January 2013
    • December 2012
    • November 2012
    • September 2012
    • August 2012
    • July 2012
    • June 2012
    • May 2012
    • April 2012
    • March 2012
    • February 2012
    • January 2012
    • December 2011
    • November 2011
    • October 2011
    • September 2011
    • August 2011
    • July 2011
    • June 2011
    • May 2011
    • April 2011
    • March 2011
    • February 2011
    • January 2011
    • December 2010

Blog at WordPress.com.

WPThemes.