Mums from quebec / montreal please

[lispy]

Just tried to post but it didn't work so here goes again! we're thinking of moving to canada (french speaking part) for 3-5 years for an adventure. My french is ok, please tell me great things and places to live to convince me!

My cousin lives in Montreal and loves it. There are MNers in Canada, but I am not sure where abouts they live...

I really love Montreal, I lived there for 7 years. I eventually found it a bit small.

Cons:

• it's really bloody cold in the winter. I'm not sure how you manage buggy etc with that.
• if you want to send kids to state school there, it will be in French. No choice. No bilingual schools afaik.
• supermarkets suck compared to UK

Pros:

• great culture
• great city
• cheap lovely food in restaurants

Why are you thinking of moving? Which bit of Quebec are you considering?

Don't know where, don't know much about the burbs, thought it might be fun to improve our french. My fave past time is going to good cheap restaurants... People friendly to 'outsiders?'

They're fine about outsiders, but you do need to haul out some French from day one. If you walk into shops etc and expect service in English, you will be not very welcome. If you haul out absolutely horrible French, you will be fine, and will get service in English.

I'd go for Mile End if I was moving there, or someplace like that. (It's about a mile from town, very very family-friendly.) Get a floor of a duplex or triplex, live like a native.

we're visiting Montreal in a few weeks before we move back to the UK.

Montreal is nice. It kills Toronto. I find Toronto very uninspiring.

DC, how old are your kids, and what gender?

I ask, because if they're boys of the right age, the mad battle on the side of the mountain (Sunday mornings) would be just their thing ...

He's only 3 NQC.

What is that exactly?

Oh, he'd love it.

Sunday mornings, when it's warm enough, there's a big fake battle on the mountain.

There's a bit of a mention of it here.

DC, you do have to go. The tamtams are good too. What part of Montreal are you staying in? Are you visiting friends, or what?

(One thing I do like about Toronto is Dufferin Grove - and I think we have a house rented that is about a block from it! )

looks good. We haven't made any plans at all yet but I finish work tomorrow and we'll then hit the road exploring with my in-laws.

Thanks for the advice.

Well, if you want to discuss neighbourhoods or things to do, I'm here fairly often. Your in-laws are Brits, right?

(The on-mountain battle was disrupted by some zombies once, that was bad)

In Montreal restaurants even in totally English speaking areas, or ones run by people whose first language is neither French nor English, have to have the menus in French. It doesn't necessarily mean you will be expected to speak French...

I don't know much about living there though, just visited for a few days on holiday and stayed with a friend in an English speaking area on the edge of the city, technically outside Montreal proper but on a very straightforward bus route. We also travelled to the next town out, where many businesses like cafes appeared to be owned by the local Korean community. I'm fascinated by the eccentricities of Montreal and suburbs, actually.

elkiedee can you tell me more about the pockets of communities?

lispy, Montreal, like a lot of Canadian cities, has little pockets of different ethnicities. Central Montreal has a Chinatown, a Greek bit, a Spanish bit, a Hassidic bit, a gay bit, English bits. (Toronto has the same thing - it has a Korean bit near downtown, too.)

The same language laws apply throughout, though, signs and so on all have to be in French.

Oh, and all these different communities are officially recognised - there's an indication on the street signs to show you're in Little Italy or whatever. I know Toronto does that, and I think Montreal does, too.

cool, so what's a good way to spend a day or friday night?

With kids? Without?

With, I'd go to one of the parks, I guess. Or the biodome?

Without, I'd just hang out. I liked the bar scene, before I had kids, but I gather it's a lot more quiet since they brought in the smoking ban.

Hi Lipsy,We have been in montreal since Sep 2006.My husband is currently on a 3 year work permit working down town.we are a young couple 30yrs with a 5 year old boy and currently have another on the way.
We currently live in westmount which is very english, we both dont speak french and manage very well, our son will be attending a english school while we are there, but if we decide to stay then he would either have to go to a french school or we would have to pay for private english education.The winter was very cold but bearable -35, some days were freezing espeacially with the winds walking as we dont have transport yet.I would say cons are defo the expensive food, tax's, low wages and lack of doctors. Pro's not much crime, friendly people,cheap fuel and lots of open space. feel free to pm me

what does 'pm me' mean? Thanks lounan, you are the same age as me and we have just one 3mth old boy. I don't work and my hubby can work from anywhere so we just want a bit of an adventure while we can afford it. The idea of canada was that I could improve my french and my baby could become fluent. Did you find people welcomed you and were friendly? Basically it will take up to a year to get approval and the process costs a couple of thousand dollars so I'm trying to get a vibe of the place - see if it would be good fun for a few years!

You should try to visit before moving there, if you can.

Westmount isn't the place to live to improve your French.

It's also probably worth noting that people in Quebec speak a different dialect of French than those in France. The accent is quite distinctive, and the vocab is a bit different too. French people from France can definately understand Quebecois people, though.