In Montreal, do most people you encounter in hotels, restaurants, and the like speak French as their first or main language? That is, if I go into a restaurant and say to the hostess "bonjour, Madame," am I more likely to receive a "bonjour, Madame" back, or an "um, do you, like, have a reservation?" (I'm actually hoping to use my rusty French, not asking about whether I can get by in English.)

Hello Doriana. If you want to practice your French (good for you!), steer away from the touristy-"anglo" part of town (down-town, crescent street area). Prefer the Plateau neighborhood(mont-royal metro is a good place to start) which is the most lively and francophone area. You can also visit the Marché Jean-Talon (Jean-Talon metro) to see the best open market in town, full of Italians, Portuguese, Africans, French, etc. If you tell someone that you want to practice your French, he/she will probably be delighted and help you along! Bon voyage! J'espère que vous aimerez ma ville! Don't hesitate to write for more information.

Hi Doriana,

Having lived in Montreal for awhile, this is my insight on this.

French is the first or main language of a majority of people (ca. 60-70%) in Montreal. Most Montreal anglophones are bilingual in French as well. If you speak in French to somebody, that tends to be the language they tend to speak back to you in. HOWEVER, if said person sees you're having difficulty understanding or speaking, he/she if they can will often switch to English. Also, especially if servers are anglophones or immigrants stronger in English (15-25% of population of Montreal) and hears your English-speaking accent, they often switch to English. If you say you wish to practice your French if they switch to English, most people will oblige unless their French is not great or they're really busy.

Exceptions to this are in many neighborhoods of the West Island and some of the western neighborhoods closer to downtown where English is often the assumed first language (although even here I've noticed that service employees are increasingly able to at least be functional in French). On the contrary, in some neighborhoods, especially further east in Montreal, some people may not be able to switch to English even if they can tell you don't understand.

Je vous souhaite un bon voyage ici. N'ayez pas peur de pratiquer votre français avec nous-autres .

DANIEL

In tourism-related places in Montreal, you'll likely be greeted by a "bonjour, hello" - although for the most people people elsewhere will greet you in French, though most are capable of speaking English, some will not due to politics.

I found that if I started speaking my French, they could hear my Anglo accent and switch to English, depsite my effort of speaking French.

Our trip last Fall to Montreal then on to Old Quebec City... we found many greeted us in french first, and depending on our reply, they would either switch to English for us, or there were many who needed to call another co-worker who could speak both languages to talk to us. This happened at McDonalds i tried to speak french to place my toddlers order, but McDonalds food was not common names i knew in french, so i didn't go that well, the poor boy looked at me, and continued to say things in french to me i could not undertand.. i tried pointing, then he called over another boy who had still a hard time, but was able to figure out what i wanted...
Going through the Tim Hortons Drive thru, my husband would use his french and not once did we ever get what he "thought" he ordered. It was like opening a present, we would never know what we were getting until we drove away... nothing to complain about, it adds to our very fond memories of the area....
I am still baffled on one thing... We were greeted almost always with "bon sois" ? or something that sounded like that,, day or night this was used, and i cannot translate this into anything that really makes sense... if anyone knows, i would love to know what that greeting means.
All in all, use your french... if you get they will love that you are trying, and there always seems to be an employee around if you get into trouble who can help out if you run into troubles. We found it to be a wonderful, welcoming experience, very very polite!!!!, not one bad incident, we want to go back!

Thanks all! brinka0 -- I assume what you were hearing was "bonsoir," which means literally good evening.

Doriana
Hi, i must be confused, ... we had thought that they might be saying that but what threw us was this was being said in the day time, the morning in milk stores, hotels wherever??? i may have the term wrong... perhaps it was not bonsoir, but something similar????
any ideas please let me know...

Hamburger, cheeseburger, Coke and Bic Mac... McDonald's food is pretty much the same in French and English.

you'd think
Took two staff and alot of me pointing for them to figure out i was trying to order a childrens Chicken Nugget Happy meal, with Apple Juice and Toddler toy. ! oh... and a piece of paper
ahahaha
They have different items from what we have here, great pastries as well....
I noticed also the Tim Hortons with the colder weather approaching had amazing soups ( different again from what we have ) and they had Brown beans and tea biscuits... they never did offer that at our locations ...
i suppose different areas have different things, as i read one poster said out East they have McLobster sandwiches??

brinka0 -- I don't know what the greeting was you heard, but I'll keep my ears open next weekend and report back if I hear it.

As someone fluently bilingual living in Québec, I at first was baffled by the "bon sois", particularly after you said people said it during the day as well. Evening time, even post 5pm, you might hear "bonsoir" which sounds a lot like "bo(n) swa" as somebody stated.

A POSSIBLE EXPLANATION? The only other thing one hears is "bonjour" which can sound a little like "bo(n) zhu" or "bo(n) zhoo" when said casually. The last "r" in bonjour as heard here is often said distinctly with either a Spanish-like flip of the tongue (Quebec only) or more of a breath or slight clearing in the throat like in France... BUT sometimes when said casually by some people you barely hear that last "r" at all.

Given what you say you heard and hearing greetings on a daily basis, these are the only things I can think you might have heard. There really is nothing else...

No one has commented on one key aspect of the Poster's initial question:

"...if I go into a restaurant and say to the hostess "bonjour, Madame," am I more likely to receive a "bonjour, Madame" back, or an "um, do you, like, have a reservation?"

In what sort of Montreal restaurant would an acceptable greeting be:
"Um, do you, like, have a reservation?"

LOL tedgale

Too true... that would not be what would be said even if switched to English (probably just "do you have a reservation?&quot...