Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Montreal?
Options
-
21-01-2013 11:13pm#1
Comments
-
-
-
Merci montreal2011.
I can speak French. I studied it in uni, but my written French would be far from perfect. My spoken is ok to pretty good, but once I get into a French speaking environment, it comes back no hassle.
I see a lot of jobs look for bilingual people, which is obvious I guess. Would the fact my written French is not great be against me in terms of jobs?
Are the winters that extreme in Montreal?
I have heard great things about Montreal, from the arts scene, (to the ladies...
) 0 -
Did you manage to land a job with no french? I work in I.T would i get away with just english up there for my industry? I was looking at montreal at first but decided it would be foolish going there with no french. Think i should give it a shot:)
I got lucky with the job I got as I had a recommendation from a previous employer who had done business with my current employer; otherwise I don't think I would have gotten a job in Montreal.
In Quebec any company over 100 people must work in French by law. With the separatist party recently getting power with a minority Government they are reducing this to any company over 50 people. An exception is made for companies which have locations all over Canada if the HQ is in Quebec; they can work in either language. This is case where I work and it's English. The language laws are not always followed! Even shops are supposed to change their names to French, but most don't bother.
My manager, who doesn't like talking in English as he's not great at it, once said you're better off to have only English than only French if you work in IT in Montreal. I'm not sure how accurate this is, but for sure you are reducing your opportunities if you only have one.
A company cannot advertise a job and ask for English fluency only; they must ask for bi-lingual if they want you to be able to work in English. They can ask for French fluency only. Canada is officially bi-lingual, Quebec is not, French is the only official language.
The games industry is big here, Ubisoft and EA are here, plus others but I only know people in these two places. All 4 can't speak French.
Basically it's possible to get work in IT in Montreal without French, and probably more so than any other industry, but it won't be easy as some jobs will require French. The ratio of French to English jobs, I cannot say.Merci montreal2011.
I can speak French. I studied it in uni, but my written French would be far from perfect. My spoken is ok to pretty good, but once I get into a French speaking environment, it comes back no hassle.
I see a lot of jobs look for bilingual people, which is obvious I guess. Would the fact my written French is not great be against me in terms of jobs?
Are the winters that extreme in Montreal?
I have heard great things about Montreal, from the arts scene, (to the ladies... )
Your spoken French is likely to be more I important than your written French, especially in an interview! They write the same here as in France, but they speak differently. Some people say it's way different but it's all French to me. I can't tell if someone is from France or Quebec from listening to them speaking, but my French is bad.
My work place is in English and I see a lot of poor English from many Quebecers, especially when writing. So if you have even a reasonable level of French you are all set since your level of English puts you on par with most bilingual Quebecers.
The arts and culture scene is amazing here, so much going on all over all year. It seems that everyone is an artist or a musician or some kind of performer! These weekends there is the igloo fest which is a techno party outdoors at the old port. Even if you don't like the music it's a surreal atmosphere to be partying outdoors in -25c!
The size of the city makes it very accessible to get around easily, it's not too big and spread out like I think Toronto is, but not so small that you will ever get bored.
The winter is extreme here right now, it's gonna be -20 all this week with potential hit -30, plus wind chill can make it feel much lower. A few weeks ago a daily record of snow fell, 45cm in one day. Still, they will grit, plow and remove snow as needed and life goes on. Wrap up and have good boots and it's fine.
The ladies here are amazing too, some of the nicest I have ever seen. They are really friendly and almost always say yes if you ask them out and you ask them anywhere anytime, no need to wait til you'd had a few beers! In general people don't drink to extreme, some do but still typically not to Irish levels. Another thing that surprised me here is the beer, it's great and so much local breweries. There is a beer fest or oktober fest nearby about 5 or 6 times a year!0 -
-
Advertisement
-
-
-
-
-
-
Advertisement
-
-
montreal2011 wrote: »Hmm, it's super blissful today so! 3:20pm and temp is -23 right now and -35 with wind chill!
Hell. My face fell off going to work
0 -
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Advertisement
-
-
-
-
ford explorer wrote: »is there much construction work in montreal/quebec?? love the sound of montreal!
If your name ends in a vowel there is!
Quebec construction tycoons caught on tape meeting Mob
There is a big inquiry going on at the moment because loads of city officials were taking bribes to award contracts to mafia run companies who charged twice as much and did a half ass job.
There is a decent amount on building work going on between condos and there are two 'Super Hospitals' being constructed right now, I think one is due to be finished this year but the biggest one will go on until 2015. You can read about them here:
Montreal’s superhospital construction check up
In winter I expect there is big demand for drivers with the snow between gritting, ploughing and snow-removal.
The biggest thing going on right now, or it may still be just in the planning phase is Plan Nord. It's about opening 50% of the north of QC to developing the natural resources while preserving the other 50%. It promises to 'create or consolidate an average of 20000 jobs a year over 25 years'. I know there is opposition to it for lots of reasons, and things can move very slowly here as this example shows:
Montreal's mayor promises to investigate Dorval interchange construction delays
Basically an overpass road out near the airport which was meant to be finished this year, hasn't been worked on in two years and is now not expected to be finished until 2017!
The infrastructure is somewhat terrible here but despite the city's many flaws, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else!
Montreal is falling down0 -
-
Advertisement