Are most Quebecans fluent in english?

[Guy]

Are most Quebecans fluent in english?

 

[Gen]

Yep, at least in major cities. I went to Montreal last year and literally everyone spoke English, and all the menus were in English as well as French.

Plus in Canadian law, we have to have all labels in both French and English, plus you learn the other language in school, so most people who grew up here speak at least rudimentary French and English (obv Quebecois speak French heaps better than the other provinces generally).

 

[Sevrin]

Here in Montreal, most people, but by no means all, can at least sort of get by in both English and French. The rest of the province is mostly unilingual French-speaking, apart from people in the hospitality/tourism business and some Anglo pockets here and there. English education is pretty poor in French schools. There is still a sizeable French nationalist movement in Quebec that rejects the English language, for historical reasons, i.e., the conquest in 1759, and for many of these folks, refusing to learn or speak English is a political act. There are also some English Quebeckers (that's the term in English, québécois being the French one) who barely speak French and that's not only among the older generation. It's entirely possible to live and work almost completely in either English or French here.

Most people are pretty welcoming, though and will make an effort to speak English. If you come here as a tourist, you shouldn't have problems.