--- Wally Kairuz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > are you bilingual cath? what is it like in montreal? > i've never been there > but i hear that the town is pretty much split in > two: one block is french > speaking and the next is anglo. is that true? > wallyk > I am bilingual, but that has little to do with my being born in Montreal. There are definite English and French sections of Montreal and never the twain shall meet - which is unfortunate. My parents were both of anglo backgrounds (Irish on my mother's side, Scottish-English on my Dad's). Most of my mother's family never bothered to learn French and it was rare to find any anglo (at that time) who could be bothered. For the most part, they thought they were better than the French; the French were the conquered race (at the time) and while most of them could speak English, you wouldn't find a lot of anglos bothering to learn French. This has changed in recent years, with the rise of quebecois nationalism, various referenda and so on. There are very few members of my family left in Montreal. My Dad took a job in Ontario when I was only 2 or 3 years old, which is when we moved to Pembroke; then ten years later, he was transferred to the Toronto area and that's when we moved to what is now called Mississauga (just west of Toronto). The reason I became bilingual is that I just happened to be good at learning languages, so I started studying them in high school and kept at it in university. I spent my third year of university in Quebec City, which is more French than Montreal, studying in French at Laval University. I still enjoy French and unfortunately don't get much opportunity to use it here in Toronto (although you hear more of it here now than you ever used to) and have used it in all the jobs I've ever had - being bilingual in a place like Toronto is a pretty good way to get a job. I would be seriously tempted to go back to Montreal (not that I remember living there - but I do love that city!) if there were any hope of getting a job, but the pickings down there are pretty slim these days. _______________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.ca address at http://mail.yahoo.ca
