Why does everyone love Montreal?

[Martin Mtl]

Originally Posted by middeljohn

I like Montreal, but I'm not in love with it. I think the architecture is great. I like the metro. I love the midrise density. Really it's the cold and french thing that prevents me from loving it rather than just liking it.

(I'm not anti-french, I just don't particularly enjoy being discriminated against since I don't speak it)

Good luck with Paris.

[middeljohn]

Originally Posted by Acajack

As a visitor or even a resident, how exactly would you be more discriminated against (inconvenienced is probably the world you were really looking for) in Montreal for not speaking French as opposed to not speaking English in Toronto?

As a visitor it can be an inconvenience at times, but most people speak english, so it's not a big deal. As a resident you're asking for unemployment if you don't learn French.

Yes, in Toronto you need to know English, but I speak English which is why I prefer Toronto for living. The thread asked why does everyone love Montreal, and I responded. I like Montreal, but I don't love it like I do Toronto. It's just a personal taste.

[geotag277]

Not to mention, I'm sure being majority English speaking is also a reason why French speaking people can't love Toronto in much the same way. Not speaking the language is simply an obvious barrier to falling in love with a place for many people. Shouldn't be that hard to understand.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by middeljohn

As a visitor it can be an inconvenience at times, but most people speak english, so it's not a big deal. As a resident you're asking for unemployment if you don't learn French.

Yes, in Toronto you need to know English, but I speak English which is why I prefer Toronto for living. The thread asked why does everyone love Montreal, and I responded. I like Montreal, but I don't love it like I do Toronto. It's just a personal taste.

Fair enough, but that's not really discrimination.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by geotag277

Not to mention, I'm sure being majority English speaking is also a reason why French speaking people can't love Toronto in much the same way. Not speaking the language is simply an obvious barrier to falling in love with a place for many people. Shouldn't be that hard to understand.

Somewhat surprisingly, language doesn't seem to factor into city preferences in Canada.

Most people in Quebec really like Vancouver, for example, and outside of the GTA I'd say that Montreal is probably more well-liked than Toronto is in the ROC.

[Blader]

Originally Posted by Martin Mtl

Good luck with Paris.

So as not to give Paris and by extension France a bad name.
I'm Anglophone with rudementary French - it improves with each drink. What part of the brain is that.
Having visited France at least once a year over the last 20 years I can honestly say my treatment has been superb. One gets what one gives.

[goodthings]

My personal sole reason why I love Montreal:

Just for Laughs!

[GreaterMontréal]

Originally Posted by geotag277

Not to mention, I'm sure being majority English speaking is also a reason why French speaking people can't love Toronto in much the same way. Not speaking the language is simply an obvious barrier to falling in love with a place for many people. Shouldn't be that hard to understand.

60%+ of Montréalers are bilinguals. 25-30% are trilinguals.

[MolsonExport]

My favourite restaurant in Montreal. I always make the pilgrimage to Sherbrooke and Girouard:

chalet bbq


At least a trillion times better than "Swiss Chalet" (which was modelled after the original Chalet BBQ)

I mean, does this look good or what?


The legend. Since 1944.
http://www.chaletbbq.com/

[geotag277]

Originally Posted by GreaterMontréal

60%+ of Montréalers are bilinguals. 25-30% are trilinguals.

I wasn't especially calling out Montrealers in my comment, but people anywhere who cite French as a primary language. Interesting to note, demographics of Quebec show that 78% of the population of Quebec considers French their primary language, whereas only 70% of the population of Ontario cites English as their primary language.

[GreaterMontréal]

Originally Posted by geotag277

I wasn't especially calling out Montrealers in my comment, but people anywhere who cite French as a primary language. Interesting to note, demographics of Quebec show that 78% of the population of Quebec considers French their primary language, whereas only 70% of the population of Ontario cites English as their primary language.

I know, but those who don't speak english don't really travel.

[vanatox]

Originally Posted by GreaterMontréal

I know, but those who don't speak english don't really travel.

?????

I know many in that situation and that don't prevent them to travel...

[GreaterMontréal]

Originally Posted by vanatox

?????

I know many in that situation and that don't prevent them to travel...

They are less prone to travel in Canada-US. In small cities, I know how it's like. those who don't speak a single word of english. going to Florida-Cuba etc doesn't count lol. 18-25yo

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

At least a trillion times better than "Swiss Chalet" (which was modelled after the original Chalet BBQ)

I mean, does this look good or what?

Yes. And I vaguely remember Swiss Chalet's dinners looking a lot like that too in the late-70s/early-80s - before they started adding new side options and the different buns.

Thanks for the trivia - I didn't know that. I knew it wasn't "Swiss" and that the chain started from one restaurant in Toronto, but that's all.

[SignalHillHiker]

Swiss Chalet was relatively fancy here when it first opened, back in the 70s, I think. It was comparable to, say, The Keg. When I was little, in the late 80s/early 90s, it was one of most popular choices for important family events, like birthdays, anniversaries, whatever.

Now they have more and newer locations, and they've degraded to about the Boston Pizza level.

That sauce, tho...

[Procrastinational]

I have to say I prefer the attitudes towards language in Montreal to Paris. Years ago, when I was still in the process of learning French, I decided to visit both of them, in the hopes immersion would improve my knowledge of the language.

I found that in Montreal, people obviously picked up on my accent, but seemed very happy to see that I was making an effort to learn and speak their language. Most of them knew English, but would only use it to help me out when I got stuck looking for a particular word. Everyone was quite friendly.

Paris was quite different. Everyone that knew English seemed to flip to speaking it once they discovered I had an accent, as if they couldn't bear to hear me botch the language. They were nice as a whole, but this kind of bothered me. I also figure they wanted a chance to practice their English, so I wasn't really offended, but it was a little annoying as I went there to practice French.

[CANAUS]

Originally Posted by GreaterMontréal

I know, but those who don't speak english don't really travel.

His statistic referred to the percentage of people whose primary language was not English (e.g. someone could have learnt Italian as a first language but still learn English later on in life), not the percentage of people who do not speak English (which is much lower than the percentage originally mentioned). The Toronto area has the highest percentage of residents whose primary language is not English or French (but of course most still know English!!). Vancouver is a distant second.

Source: http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2012/10/...ut_not_necessarily_in_englishfrench.html

The last statistic in the article is interesting too… Relatively few Torontonians know French and English together (7% in Toronto compared to 11% in Ontario and 17.5% nationally including Quebec of course). High when compared to the prevalence of other non-official languages, but not when you consider the country is officially French and English.

A minor point: the 17.5% who are bilingual in both official languages is lower than the true percentage of people who know French in Canada, which reflects the fact that many Quebecers do not know English and are therefore not bilingual in both official languages (e.g. Pauline Marois).

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by CANAUS

His statistic referred to the percentage of people whose primary language was not English (e.g. someone could have learnt Italian as a first language but still learn English later on in life), not the percentage of people who do not speak English (which is much lower than the percentage originally mentioned). The Toronto area has the highest percentage of residents whose primary language is not English or French (but of course most still know English!!). Vancouver is a distant second.

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2012/10/...ut_not_necessarily_in_englishfrench.html

Montreal is still the most impressive city in Canada by a longshot when it comes to overall language skills (bilingual, trilingual, multilingual, etc.). Ottawa-Gatineau is probably second.

[Cyro]

Why? Why does everyone love Montreal? Who knows, I've enjoyed many European cities more than Montreal?

Note: Next Week I will start threads with the same heading, replacing this city with, London,Ont, Halifax, Winnipeg, Saskatoon... I really hope they are not locked either. These threads are better suited to their respective Locals.

Whatever, continue, don't get it but continue....

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Cyro

Why? Why does everyone love Montreal? Who knows, I've enjoyed many European cities more than Montreal?

But the question wasn't "Why does everyone love Montreal because it's soooooooo European"?, was it?