French Lessons

I am not a very good student of languages, and although over the years I have traveled extensively, I have never learned more than a few words of Portuguese, Spanish, French or Chinese even when I spent a while in countries where these languages were spoken. I did learn simple greetings, such as “hello”, “good by” and “thank you”, as well as important things like how to order a beer, but not much else. 

I did have to study French when I was in Jr. High in New Brunswick, and I did actually pass the class at least one year, but only with the teacher keeping me after school for days drilling it into me, and I must admit none of her hard work stuck. After a few poor experiences in Quebec with the language (Although I will readily admit it was during the 70’s when I was young and Quebec was in crisis), I tended to avoid the province completely, going so far as timing my trips to visit the children in Ontario so I could drive right through without stopping. I have to admit that my attitude has improved and Quebec has improved to the point that I now quite enjoy visiting the province, but mostly because they have become more tolerant of us “English speakers”. 

 We did spent a week in St Pierre & Miquelon

An Irish Pub in France - should be english here

, the French Islands off Newfoundland, but because of their proximity to the rest of Canada, I found most folk there understood and spoke English reasonably well.

 And now here I am in Narbonne France for a month, followed by a week on a rental boat on the Canal de Midi. Like many of the places we visit, it is not a major tourist centre, and we quickly discovered that there is very little English to be heard or seen. There are some signs in English, but even those are limited, and products and information is all just in French. In other places we were able to ask for an “English Menu” in restaurants, and usually a tattered and slightly out of date one was found; not so here, I am going to have to translate if I eat out. 

 Unfortunately, although we did invite our good friend who is proficient in French to come and act as guide, we failed to convince her. 

The Hale Market . . . not a word of English

 Fortunately I do have good old Google, and their Google Translate will read almost anything and give me a translation. We have already used it to set up a SIM card for our phone, for finding ingredients in grocery stuff, and to read instructions for the oven in the apartment. It will be handy to have. 

 Hopefully, having to actually live and communicate in mostly French, I will learn a few more words and expressions. Well, we will see . . . . . .

Going Back To Montreal

I enjoyed my trip to Montreal.

Now it wasn't always like that; in fact, I used to see the city of Montreal as a nuisance that I had to rush through as quickly as possible while driving from Atlantic Canada to some other place in central Canada. For years Montreal was – Highway 20 to the Tunnel under the St. Lawrence, highway 40 to the 417 or the 401, and into Ontario.

I first went to Montreal in 1967 to see Expo 67 with my family. We camped on a farm, and spent every day at Expo. I was 16 years old, and loved everything about the trip; the city was so big it was amazing, but I only got to see it through the Expo site, and longed to see more of it.

In 1971, after graduating high school and getting a job and a little 1970 Austin Mini, I decided to go back and see all of Montreal I missed travelling with my parents in 1967. I rounded up two friends, we bought a tent, packed the car and headed out on our first “Road Trip” adventure. We arrived in Montreal excited and ready for adventure. What we got was FRENCH; no one could (or would) speak English to us, and when they would, they were downright nasty. We went to the famous “Place de Boneventure” underground shopping centre, and couldn't even buy anything because everything was in French, and everyone would only speak French. One of my friends was a drummer and wanted to buy a particular bit for his drum set, but even when we found the Music shop, the owner wouldn't let us in. He wanted to know what we were going to buy, and “looking” was not an option. We were all so disgusted with how we were treated that we got in the car and turned south, spending the rest of our vacation down in New England, meeting friendly people and having a wonderful time.

I probably shouldn't have held this grudge against Montreal so long, but for over 30 years I refused to go back, and spent many vacations in the US. I had a serious prejudice against the province of Quebec and especially the city of Montreal.

This year, I went back to Montreal. My new status as “retired” allows me to tag along with my wife on her business trips, so for the price of an airline flight I get to visit places pretty cheaply, and this year she was attending a conference in Montreal. I had five days to reacquaint myself with Montreal, and I have definitely changed my opinion of this city.

Our Flight landed at Pierre Eliott Trudeau Airport at 7:30, so the cab ride to the hotel was through rush hour, but the driver was pleasant and although I'm sure he was swearing in French at the other drivers he was battling for positions on the roads, he spoke cheerful English to us, and was almost as good as a tour guide with his commentary about the city. He answered his phone at one point, and after a conversation in French, we were told that it was him mother who he claimed didn't realize he was 45 years old, and she was telling him to wear his scarf in the cold. The doorman at the hotel immediately switched to English when his “bonjour” was answered with a “Hello”, and the rest of the hotel staff were equally cheerful and helpful.

I spent five days exploring downtown Montreal, and all of the trip was totally enjoyable. I found friendly store clerks, helpful and cheerful waiters, and generally happy welcoming people. It was Grey Cup weekend, so the city was very busy, and I expect that it must have at times been annoying to wait on and serve some of these football fans with their outfits supporting their favourite team (Who incidentally beat the Montreal home team), but everyone I met was very pleasant. Menu's always had English translations, and stores had signs in English. Everyone I met immediately switched to English once I said “Hello” rather than “Bonjour”. I wish I could speak French half as well as most of the Montreal residents I met spoke English.

There are probably still radical French-only separatists in Quebec, but it seems they are losing the battle. As a unilingual English speaking visitor, I felt welcomed in Montreal, and where I used to say “Fine, let them separate – we don't want them!”, I now would much rather keep this wonderful province as part of Canada so I can go back and visit again.

We had one waitress in a restaurant in Old Montreal who perhaps had a bit of trouble with us four English patrons. I'm not sure she completely understood my request for Lactose free options. I suspect that the subtleties between “lactose intolerant” and “allergic to milk” didn't quite translate properly, and she took my request very seriously, so when I ordered the Creme Brule desert, after making sure I realized it contained milk, she was very worried, and came back to check that I was okay a couple of times.

This latest visit to Montreal has completely changed my opinion of the city. I had a wonderful time, and I will be back to explore this city at the next opportunity. I had a chance to see a lot of the area around St. Catherine's Street, but I know that there is a lot more of Montreal to see and I look forward to visiting again.