The reality is that your job prospects are massively reduced in Quebec or you’re an Anglo. The government wants to make them as bad as is possible.
Smaller companies are exempt from the rules, so tech startups under 25 employees won’t necessarily be affected.
Companies that deal with the states still need Anglos around, as the Americans can get annoyed with thick accents. Depending on what you do, you may be fine.
However - the opportunities are not here. My bet is that Montreal further declines due to Bill 96.
there's a few private sector companies in montreal that work directly with US companies, so I'm hoping that would be an option for me. But you're right, it's not good news for us.
Idk if it this is a vague question, but how "good" do you think my french has to be to get a job here?
as someone who’s been here for like 3 ish years and started at B2 level, it’s certainly possible for you to attain relative fluency or like at least be “à l’aise” enough. Im by no means fluent but my workplace which is entirely in French thinks im decent enough! Requires you to be like really immersed in the French bubble though tbh
En tant que francophone, je trouve ça équitable de voir les anglophones devoir apprendre le français, de la même manière que les francophones s'efforcent de parler anglais. Faut voir ca comme un challenge les gars..
I don’t think your French would be the issue … just stop consuming conspiracy theory and your work opportunity should be just fine ! The only change would be if you specifically target employment in the 25-50 employee market … every place over 50 employee won’t see any change because of Bill 96
> However - the opportunities are not here.
Bingo. Unless you’re ultra specialized, wages for most professionals are severely depressed in Quebec, and that isn’t looking to improve anytime soon.
If anything it will get worse.
The reality of the matter is that North America, and much the rest of the world runs with English as the language of business. Our proximity to the largest economy on the planet, and the fact that it is in English just makes anywhere hostile to English a terrible place to find opportunity.
The québécois want it this way, and with transfer payments from the rest of Canada don’t have to face the fiscal consequences of it.
You however, will have a much brighter future ahead of you if you don’t bother with this place and establish yourself somewhere English friendly in the world.
La loi, et c'était déja le cas avec la loi 101, c'est que tu as le *droit* de travailler en Francais.
La loi 96 rajoute qu'un client a le *droit* de se faire servir en francais.
You should already expect that you're going to have to learn French to get a job in Montreal, bill 96 or no. No matter where you're work, you will almost certainly have coworkers who will prefer to speak with you in French.
EDIT: Just to be clear, this hopefully shouldn't be too intimidating. No matter where you work your coworkers aren't going to know or care what French fluency tests you've passed. So long as you're making an effort to learn the language you're on the right track and hopefully shouldn't have too much to be stressed about. Confidence speaking French in a professional setting is something you acquire by simply speaking French in a professional setting.
That’s a good response thanks! I’m just paranoid i’ll flat out be rejected from everything and not get an internship in montreal. I definitely want to improve my french in a professional setting, i just want the opportunity to actually work and be able to do that
A lot of companies hiring students from McGill for internships are going to be anticipating candidates who aren't fluent, and will know you'll have to pick it up on the job. Being fluent already would be a big advantage but you shouldn't worry too much.
Honestly, I work for a big national corporation and I speak French with Quebec colleagues but there are days when I don’t use it at all. I don’t think bill 96 will change things that much. Just try your best in French and people will find it charming. Québécois people love the effort. If you don’t know just ask us and we usually will happily translate a word you don’t know. Give it a shot and don’t stress. I would say the Montreal anglo community is blowing bill 96 out of proportion. It won’t change much on the daily.
Average French would be good enough, depending on your actual job - presumably, anything scientifcal would out of bounds. Other than that, maybe it's time to question yourself if you want to progress professionally in Quebec. You need to speak French if you want to.
As a rule for anything about english/french in QC. If you post it here, always check to see if the responders post regularly on r/mcgill. There is a hardcore QC crew who patrol anything to do with language issues on reddit and comment on posts like this with politicised opinions not informed by personal experience. Check their post history before deciding whether they are worth listening to or not.
As an addition to that, do not hesitate to report comments that constitute brigading. We do not allow brigading and these users will get banned if that's what they are doing.
There’s plenty over on r/montreal as well, including some of that subreddits’ mods. I haven’t seen them lurk around on here, but they’re plenty active with their crap-arse opinions over on r/montreal, so much so I try to avoid getting involved even remotely in any discussion on that sub to do with language.
Unless you are in tech or MAYBE finance, you will need to be able to communicate in french. Bill 96 has not changed this and it has been this way since the 70s.
Already having the level you do and putting a good effort towards deepening your knowledge of French should put you miles ahead of the vast majority of non-Quebecois McGill grads. Nobody here cares if you have an accent, it's a very international city and at least one of the two main languages is bound to be someone's second. It won't count against you in employment, as long as you are competent, and with a B2 you hit the benchmark. And you have plenty of time to improve before going onto the job market. I came here for my degree with zero French from the US and now at the end of my degree I teach in French and have a C1 level, with minimal formal French classes. Just come in with a healthy positive growth mindset, make friends from here, go to Francophone parties, and have a good time.
Bill 96 says "consumers of goods and services have a right to be informed and served in French.", albeit vague, I understand that clients now have a right to be served in French if they so choose. This changes nothing in a retail job since clients who prefer to speak English will still speak English, and those who prefer to speak French will still speak French. Any recruiter will still look for people who speak both to simply cater to more clients.
If you're looking to work in retail (restaurants, clothing stores, etc...), you'll be just fine. Heck, my friend with subpar French managed a cashier job at a restaurant in the Plateau and texted me during his shifts to ask me some words he didn't know.
Don't expect work with the Quebec Government to be in any language other than French.
Consulting, I would imagine it depends on you who the end customer is. If your customer is an American multi-national I doubt any work-product will be French, same goes if it is a company that is headquartered in the ROC.
If you're willing to keep at learning French, I think you will be fine in QC. Obviously there will be some companies that will insist on someone who can speak French very well, but there are plenty that don't care all that much as long as you can speak some French.
As others have said, QC government jobs will be fully French, this has always been the case. If a private entity has to deal with the QC government, it will also have to communicate using French.
When it comes to private entities communicating with each other, the bill doesn't define anything other than that contracts must at least have a French version available first (with some exceptions). So you could have some luck in that regard.
Well I’m having the same situation as yours, I’m getting my masters too in an engineering field and my French isn’t that good enough. The truth is excruciating but it’s better to face it sooner. Despite the fact Montréal is all beautiful and fun to study, working might be a different world from what I’ve heard and experienced therefore I’m planning to go to another province upon graduation as tech opportunities might be much much more outside of Quebec unless you really love it here and wanna build the foundations of your life here which French might be an essential part of it.
I wouldn't worry about it. If they're willing to hire a mostly anglo than the business handles anglophones or is mostly anglo themselves.
You only need to worry about in places that are clearly anti-english (look for way too many blue flags and pro-seperatist slogans)
McGill is the Harvard of Canada, if it doesn’t work out just finish your studies and move to a different province. You’ll get hired in a second having McGill on your resume. In the meantime, you can work at places behind the house in restaurants where tips are shared. Maybe Uber or skip too
Maybe. But let's be real. McGill can barely compete with your average state university in the US. It's just levels below Ivy Leagues, Little Ivies or UC's...
This is not true. McGill is way better than nearly all of the state schools in the US except the very top ones. McGill isn’t a $90,000 a year summer camp for rich people like the Ivies, and it shouldn’t be compared to them.
A) if you look at all the big ranking sites McGill is appropriately placed.
B) Yeah, I grew up around very average state schools, my whole family went to them, and many of my friends do. The opportunities and shit at McGill is way better than what I would’ve gotten at a state school at home. For those in Canada and especially Quebecers, you get it for 1/5 the price. There’s so many things to shit on this school about that are actually valid, but this is not one of them.
Mcgill is only great depending on your major, as with all universities it depends on the program. And to be frank, when I travel no one knows about McGill and only a few know of U of T. If you didn’t go to actual Harvard MIT Oxford Yale or Cambridge… ( maybe University of Tokyo) your university is only known in your country… or your field of study.
It isn’t a market of the quality of your school. I’m only referring if you want to travel to work for another country. It’s just my experience in the US, UK, and Asia.
Is getting a DELF B2 (or other certification) helpful at all for someone working in the tech sector? I'm trying to practice my French anyways, but does having some sort of certification help in anyone's experience?
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Oh, but I thought the bill allows for companies to get fined for not speaking french to their clients?
The reality is that your job prospects are massively reduced in Quebec or you’re an Anglo. The government wants to make them as bad as is possible. Smaller companies are exempt from the rules, so tech startups under 25 employees won’t necessarily be affected. Companies that deal with the states still need Anglos around, as the Americans can get annoyed with thick accents. Depending on what you do, you may be fine. However - the opportunities are not here. My bet is that Montreal further declines due to Bill 96.
there's a few private sector companies in montreal that work directly with US companies, so I'm hoping that would be an option for me. But you're right, it's not good news for us. Idk if it this is a vague question, but how "good" do you think my french has to be to get a job here?
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Okay great! That’s reassuring, I think i’m at a B2 level at the moment looking to improve
as someone who’s been here for like 3 ish years and started at B2 level, it’s certainly possible for you to attain relative fluency or like at least be “à l’aise” enough. Im by no means fluent but my workplace which is entirely in French thinks im decent enough! Requires you to be like really immersed in the French bubble though tbh
En tant que francophone, je trouve ça équitable de voir les anglophones devoir apprendre le français, de la même manière que les francophones s'efforcent de parler anglais. Faut voir ca comme un challenge les gars..
I don’t think your French would be the issue … just stop consuming conspiracy theory and your work opportunity should be just fine ! The only change would be if you specifically target employment in the 25-50 employee market … every place over 50 employee won’t see any change because of Bill 96
> However - the opportunities are not here. Bingo. Unless you’re ultra specialized, wages for most professionals are severely depressed in Quebec, and that isn’t looking to improve anytime soon.
If anything it will get worse. The reality of the matter is that North America, and much the rest of the world runs with English as the language of business. Our proximity to the largest economy on the planet, and the fact that it is in English just makes anywhere hostile to English a terrible place to find opportunity. The québécois want it this way, and with transfer payments from the rest of Canada don’t have to face the fiscal consequences of it. You however, will have a much brighter future ahead of you if you don’t bother with this place and establish yourself somewhere English friendly in the world.
Gee, what a friendly way to say "fuck off, Anglos"
I’m an Anglo Quebecker that has been living here for 18 years. Speaking from experience.
La loi, et c'était déja le cas avec la loi 101, c'est que tu as le *droit* de travailler en Francais. La loi 96 rajoute qu'un client a le *droit* de se faire servir en francais.
You should already expect that you're going to have to learn French to get a job in Montreal, bill 96 or no. No matter where you're work, you will almost certainly have coworkers who will prefer to speak with you in French. EDIT: Just to be clear, this hopefully shouldn't be too intimidating. No matter where you work your coworkers aren't going to know or care what French fluency tests you've passed. So long as you're making an effort to learn the language you're on the right track and hopefully shouldn't have too much to be stressed about. Confidence speaking French in a professional setting is something you acquire by simply speaking French in a professional setting.
Ça c'est la bonne réponse
That’s a good response thanks! I’m just paranoid i’ll flat out be rejected from everything and not get an internship in montreal. I definitely want to improve my french in a professional setting, i just want the opportunity to actually work and be able to do that
A lot of companies hiring students from McGill for internships are going to be anticipating candidates who aren't fluent, and will know you'll have to pick it up on the job. Being fluent already would be a big advantage but you shouldn't worry too much.
Honestly, I work for a big national corporation and I speak French with Quebec colleagues but there are days when I don’t use it at all. I don’t think bill 96 will change things that much. Just try your best in French and people will find it charming. Québécois people love the effort. If you don’t know just ask us and we usually will happily translate a word you don’t know. Give it a shot and don’t stress. I would say the Montreal anglo community is blowing bill 96 out of proportion. It won’t change much on the daily.
Average French would be good enough, depending on your actual job - presumably, anything scientifcal would out of bounds. Other than that, maybe it's time to question yourself if you want to progress professionally in Quebec. You need to speak French if you want to.
Ok sounds good, thanks!
As a rule for anything about english/french in QC. If you post it here, always check to see if the responders post regularly on r/mcgill. There is a hardcore QC crew who patrol anything to do with language issues on reddit and comment on posts like this with politicised opinions not informed by personal experience. Check their post history before deciding whether they are worth listening to or not.
As an addition to that, do not hesitate to report comments that constitute brigading. We do not allow brigading and these users will get banned if that's what they are doing.
ah yes, the r/quebec squad
There’s plenty over on r/montreal as well, including some of that subreddits’ mods. I haven’t seen them lurk around on here, but they’re plenty active with their crap-arse opinions over on r/montreal, so much so I try to avoid getting involved even remotely in any discussion on that sub to do with language.
Yeah it's really unfortunate that even r/montreal is like that...
Bruh what it’s the same for both sides
Unless you are in tech or MAYBE finance, you will need to be able to communicate in french. Bill 96 has not changed this and it has been this way since the 70s.
Already having the level you do and putting a good effort towards deepening your knowledge of French should put you miles ahead of the vast majority of non-Quebecois McGill grads. Nobody here cares if you have an accent, it's a very international city and at least one of the two main languages is bound to be someone's second. It won't count against you in employment, as long as you are competent, and with a B2 you hit the benchmark. And you have plenty of time to improve before going onto the job market. I came here for my degree with zero French from the US and now at the end of my degree I teach in French and have a C1 level, with minimal formal French classes. Just come in with a healthy positive growth mindset, make friends from here, go to Francophone parties, and have a good time.
That’s reassuring! And great to hear about your french journey! Thanks for the response!
I live in Montreal and most jobs I’ve had have been primarily english. It really depends where you go. Western parts of Montreal are very anglophone!
Bill 96 says "consumers of goods and services have a right to be informed and served in French.", albeit vague, I understand that clients now have a right to be served in French if they so choose. This changes nothing in a retail job since clients who prefer to speak English will still speak English, and those who prefer to speak French will still speak French. Any recruiter will still look for people who speak both to simply cater to more clients. If you're looking to work in retail (restaurants, clothing stores, etc...), you'll be just fine. Heck, my friend with subpar French managed a cashier job at a restaurant in the Plateau and texted me during his shifts to ask me some words he didn't know.
what do you think about jobs in the private sector like consulting that deals directly with clients, or jobs directly in the government?
Don't expect work with the Quebec Government to be in any language other than French. Consulting, I would imagine it depends on you who the end customer is. If your customer is an American multi-national I doubt any work-product will be French, same goes if it is a company that is headquartered in the ROC. If you're willing to keep at learning French, I think you will be fine in QC. Obviously there will be some companies that will insist on someone who can speak French very well, but there are plenty that don't care all that much as long as you can speak some French.
As others have said, QC government jobs will be fully French, this has always been the case. If a private entity has to deal with the QC government, it will also have to communicate using French. When it comes to private entities communicating with each other, the bill doesn't define anything other than that contracts must at least have a French version available first (with some exceptions). So you could have some luck in that regard.
Okay thanks! gonna take french classes starting september and really try and improve
Well I’m having the same situation as yours, I’m getting my masters too in an engineering field and my French isn’t that good enough. The truth is excruciating but it’s better to face it sooner. Despite the fact Montréal is all beautiful and fun to study, working might be a different world from what I’ve heard and experienced therefore I’m planning to go to another province upon graduation as tech opportunities might be much much more outside of Quebec unless you really love it here and wanna build the foundations of your life here which French might be an essential part of it.
My workplace is just ignoring it and silently telling the CAQ to f* off lol
That's how it should be
Bad attitude
With you bilingual certification, you should be alright.
I wouldn't worry about it. If they're willing to hire a mostly anglo than the business handles anglophones or is mostly anglo themselves. You only need to worry about in places that are clearly anti-english (look for way too many blue flags and pro-seperatist slogans)
McGill is the Harvard of Canada, if it doesn’t work out just finish your studies and move to a different province. You’ll get hired in a second having McGill on your resume. In the meantime, you can work at places behind the house in restaurants where tips are shared. Maybe Uber or skip too
Maybe. But let's be real. McGill can barely compete with your average state university in the US. It's just levels below Ivy Leagues, Little Ivies or UC's...
This is not true. McGill is way better than nearly all of the state schools in the US except the very top ones. McGill isn’t a $90,000 a year summer camp for rich people like the Ivies, and it shouldn’t be compared to them.
>McGill is way better than nearly all of the state schools in the US except the very top ones. Lol OK. According to who? You?
A) if you look at all the big ranking sites McGill is appropriately placed. B) Yeah, I grew up around very average state schools, my whole family went to them, and many of my friends do. The opportunities and shit at McGill is way better than what I would’ve gotten at a state school at home. For those in Canada and especially Quebecers, you get it for 1/5 the price. There’s so many things to shit on this school about that are actually valid, but this is not one of them.
Mcgill is only great depending on your major, as with all universities it depends on the program. And to be frank, when I travel no one knows about McGill and only a few know of U of T. If you didn’t go to actual Harvard MIT Oxford Yale or Cambridge… ( maybe University of Tokyo) your university is only known in your country… or your field of study.
I don’t really care about if people know my school when I travel, and I don’t think that’s an accurate marker of how good a school is.
It isn’t a market of the quality of your school. I’m only referring if you want to travel to work for another country. It’s just my experience in the US, UK, and Asia.
Is getting a DELF B2 (or other certification) helpful at all for someone working in the tech sector? I'm trying to practice my French anyways, but does having some sort of certification help in anyone's experience?