Montreal, how many languages do you speak?

I ask Montrealers what languages they speak. As you can see, Montreal is a very multicultural city full of French, English, and more. Also, please note that I am not making any commentary on what language people "should speak" or trying to prioritize English or French with this video. Each person I spoke to, I offered the chance to reply to me in English or French. Hope you enjoy :)

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#Montreal #Quebec #Canada

[TheNewTravel]

*Ok YouTube, now it's YOUR turn.... how many languages do you speak?*

[elfulano]

I'm surprised that the Swiss lady is monolingual.

[coolbreeze]

It's cool, I wasn't expecting to see so many people in Montreal knowing Spanish as a third language. I guess it's easy to learn Spanish if you have a foundation in the French language and vice versa.

[pittsboy]

The guy who didn't want to respond the survey but gave you a grammar lesson, that's somewhat representative of my experience in Montreal. Younger people usually switch back and forth between English and French, but most of my interactions with older people have been like that. You try your best to speak French, they notice an accent and reply in (often fairly good) English, then you switch to English and they reply in French. That when they don't start correcting your mistakes. It can very tiring to say the least.

[olivier]

For those wondering : Spanish is commonly taught in schools in and around Montreal, as an '"option" class that you can choose in high school. I personally even had Spanish lessons in primary school. There is also an important Spanish-speaking community in the city since the 1970s.

[ikarusxv]

I moved to Montreal because of my job, and I was a little afraid of my daughter struggling with French, but she learned very fast! School teachers are very good and very kind to foreigner kids, I'm very grateful.

[joselassalle]

Chinese "dialects" are really different languages, in most cases unintelligibles from each other. The same goes for the Italian "dialetti".

[hdufort]

I was born on the north shore of Montréal in the mid 1970s. It was a very French area, almost everyone was unilingual when I was a kid. It took me a while to become proficient in English, especially learning the locutions and cultural references. When it comes to TV, for examples, Québec has a very strong production (series, TV shows, movies) and people watch a lot of Québécois TV even today. Contents from the rest of Canada was minimal, although it has improved over the last few years.

Today I speak French, English, Spanish. I understand basic Portuguese, Catalan. I know a little bit of Japanese. I love to travel, open to the world, and I am proud of my Québécois culture and heritage.

[barcham]

It is rare to find unilingual people in Montreal. Most speak English and French, often with a third language that could be anything from Spanish to Italian to Chinese or go ahead and pick one, because if you walk around Montreal over a few days, you will likely hear many different languages being spoken. If you are under 60, and grew up in Montreal, you are at least functionally bilingual.

[MrBreaknet]

J'aime beaucoup comment tu prends le temps de t'adresser à différentes personnes et comment tu les laisses exprimer leurs idées.

Continue le bon travail.

VL

[oscare.quiros]

I am really impressed that sooo many people spoke three languages. Good for them, and for Montreal.

[Ivan_Palomo]

Me ha sorprendido la cantidad de gente que hablan español en Montréal. Genial.

[Santos.Sarmento]

I speak English and French and when I was in Montreal I had fun switching from one language to the other during the conversation, everyone I spoke with followed this change very naturally!
Greetings from Brazil.

[businesszeus]

3:40 it's people like him that give us such a bad rep... I'm all for protecting and maintaining French but being condescending towards someone who was genuinely making an effort is just rude and not helping anyone.

[shantemoore]

I was born and raised in Montréal.
I speak English, French Spanish, Jamaican patois and some creole. I have lost much of my conversational Japanese unfortunately but love languages and Montréal's true language and culture DIVERSITY.

[randymorash]

I have been a primarily English speaking tourist in Montreal and found most citizens accommodating and helpful as I used my very limited French to ask directions to get around or to order in restaurants. Montreal is a real international city, with a French heart. I really recommend it as a destination, so much to see, such great food.

[ramrunsfast]

I just moved to Montreal a week ago and I think it would be interesting asking people who moved here how long did it take them to learn to speak French here.

[rain]

I appreciate your effort speaking french! 🤙🏼

Also, lots of people seem to speak Spanish in Mtl 😍

Español es mi lengua materna (by default I understand a bit of Portuguese and Italian) así que podemos practicar juntos y bailar también- pourquoi pas!? 🤣

[paulorobertovieiradeolivei]

Portugais c'est ma langue maternelle. Je parle aussi le français, l'anglais et je comprends très bien l'espagnol et quelques mots en suédois.

[othercarib]

Cool - Montreal was my hometown and I grew up there. I migrated to the US years ago but still pride myself in knowing French and actually took French Literature classes at college here to broaden my reading. I recognize some of the areas in the video and it makes me nostalgic to go back.