infinitenexus said:
Yeah I know, the wife and I just moved to Florida some months ago. It was a temporary measure, mostly because we hated Baltimore and I got laid off due to Covid. We've been looking since then at places to live and we're giving serious thought to Montreal. We plan on taking some vacations up there once the border opens up and things calm down, but does anyone have any experience with the place?
I know it's French first, I was a linguist in the military for 12 years so I'm good with languages and started studying French a few days ago. In January I'll be taking French courses in college as well, and the wife will be studying with me. I know the winters are cold as well, that's not a negative for me. I love cold weather, and the weather for the rest of the year looks fantastic.
Being in central Florida I'm pretty much in motorsports heaven (well, without Covid) as I can autocross/HPDE basically every weekend out of the month, and no place will really compare to that. Is there autocrossing around the Montreal area? I would like to keep driving. With the snow I figure I'll probably get rid of my Mustang GT and get something all wheel drive, like a Subaru or whatever.
From what I've read and heard, rent is very cheap (for a large city) in Montreal. I would prefer a small house with a small bit of land - just enough for a garage, a small garden, and the obligatory race car, but it seems when I search for that all I find is single wide mobile homes on a bit of land for $200K. I guess rent is cheap but houses are expensive.
This move would be happening in probably 2 years' time, so we have plenty of time to plan, visit, and save. I'm in school on the GI Bill right now, studying computer networking, so hopefully job prospects won't be too much of an issue. If it's as great as we expect it to be, we plan on becoming dual citizens.
I'm late to the party, but as the resident Québécois who has lived almost his entire life in and around Montréal, I really should answer this.
As many people have already written, the Québec french is VERY different than International French. It's called Joual. If you stay in Montréal, you shouldn't have any difficulty if you speak international french. Heck, you won't have any problems if you are an english-only speaker in Montréal. I know many people who have lived in Montréal for years with minimum French speaking skills. The further you go from Montréal, the less that's true.
As Curtis and others have written, do not confuse a French-Canadian with a French. That would be like calling an American a British. That's a major faux pas.
For swear words, the easiest and most used is Tabarnak. Pronounced like it is written. If you say tabernacle, people will laugh. The swearing is an important and very unique part of Joual. You can construct an entire sentence using only swear words.
For autocross, the Montréal-area club is the CADL. I've been a member for years and have been part of organizational aspect on/off. There is also the Delta club in the Québec city region and the Motorsport Club of Ottawa. Season lasts from about April to October and between these three clubs, you can go to an event every weekend. We are having a lot of issues keeping our venues, but the clubs fight very hard. There are even more clubs for HDPE events.
While it used to be cheap to rent in Montréal (compared to Toronto and Vancouver), that is less and less true. On the island of Montréal, you won't even be able to find a condo for less than $200K. To find the kind of house you are looking for, you'll have to move out of the city by at least a 30 minutes drive either on the south or north shore.
For what you are looking for, the Ottawa/Gatineau region might be a good option for you.