<p>McGill’s Linguistic Situation</p>
<p>McGill, while it is an Anglophone institution, has a substantial Francophone minority (about 20% of the student population). They have substantial rights guaranteed to them, such as the ability to write exams and papers in French, and are fairly active on campus. However, the University itself is still a bastion of the Anglophone community.</p>
<p>In short, McGill is English, and not knowing any French won’t really impede you academically or otherwise on campus. Off campus, though, is a different story; and, quite frankly, one that is rapidly changing. </p>
<p>Linguistic Demographics in the Greater Montreal Area
Montreal’s downtown core (particularly in the McGill/Concordia/Dawson area, as well as all of Westmount), is completely bilingual, and you won’t have any problems using English. However, as you tend to move further away from Downtown into the surrounding areas (like Point-Saint-Charles, Little Burgandy and Verdun in the South; and Saint-Laurent, Ahuntsic, Rosemont in the North), you tend to start hearing more French and English.</p>
<p>With regards to areas outside the central portion of the Island of Montreal, the West Island, going from Senneville on the western tip to the town of Mount Royal, are all almost entirely Anglophone. The eastern portion of the island, going from Saint-Leonard to Riviere-des-Praries is likewise almost entirely Francophone. Laval and the north shore are all Francophone with the exception of the portion of Laval directly across from Montreal, which has some Anglophone residents. Longueuil and the South Shore are also mainly Francophone. </p>
<p>Culture</p>
<p>Most Montrealers are bilingual, and if worse comes to worse, you should be able to get around in English combined with hand signals. </p>
<p>However, most Montrealers still live in French, and this is quite evident in daily life. More people on the Metro read La Presse than The Gazette, shop clerks will talk by default in French, if you have friends outside the McGill community, there is a greater chance they’ll ask if you watched Tout le monde en parle last night rather than if you watched Royal Canadian Air Farce, and so on. Thus, like redknight said, you will probably enjoy your time in Montreal more if you learn some French. </p>
<p>Changes on the Political Scene With Regards to Language</p>
<p>Right now, Montreal, and Quebec in general, is entering another period of heightened political and linguistic tensions. </p>
<p>There is probably going to be a Provincial election in the next few weeks; and if the Parti Quebecois emerges victorious, a referendum within the next few months. This by itself will result in heightened linguistic tensions.</p>
<p>However, even barring the election, the level of linguistic tensions in Quebec is rising, IMO. This can be seen in the little things that are starting to occur (Esso deciding not to change the name of its depanneurs to an English one, and from the larger ones (er…click [here](<a href=“http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/01/18/flq-letter.html]here[/url]”>http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/01/18/flq-letter.html)</a>).</p>
<p>Add on to this the debate on “reasonable accommodations” (google “Affaire Herouxville”) for cultural, ethnic, and linguistic minorities in Quebec, and you can tell that the linguistic status quo will probably begin to change over the next several years. </p>
<p>How to learn French</p>
<p>Like momfromme said, Montreal does offer you a great opprtunity to learn French. There are such a myriad of ways of to do it:</p>
<p>[ul]
[li]“Assmiliation” Method - You learn French just by living in Montreal and living in French. This doesn’t really tend to be a good method, IMO, since Montreal is a bilingual city - unless you have great resolve to learn French, it’s a bit too easy to fall back on relying on the English language institutions.[/li][li]McGill - McGill does [offer</a> courses in French as a second language](<a href=“http://www.mcgill.ca/eflc/fsl/]offer”>http://www.mcgill.ca/eflc/fsl/). They’re quite good, I think; and of course, since you’re already a student, you can easily sign up for them. [/li][li]Community Organizations - The [Montreal</a> YMCA](<a href=“http://www.ymcalangauges.com%5DMontreal”>http://www.ymcalangauges.com) comes to mind for me here. They’re located relatively close to McGill (Stanley St., Metro Peel) and offer courses in French; plus, you also get free gym membership.[/li][li]Adult Education - Many local school boards (in Central Montreal, this is the [CSDM](<a href=“http://www.csdm.qc.ca/CSDM/fga/default.asp]CSDM[/url]”>http://www.csdm.qc.ca/CSDM/fga/default.asp)</a>) offer night classes in French as a second language. They’re pretty cheap compared to the other options (I think CSDM’s courses are around $11 a semester); and a good option if you have classes during the day.[/li][/ul]</p>
<p>Anyway, I think I covered everything, if you have any questions, feel free to ask :-).</p>