As a hispanic that I am and an immigrant in Montreal, Canada, despite the fact that I arrived without knowing a word of French, I have done my best to learn it in the francization classes offered by the government, not only as a show of respect for this society but also because it is important to integrate socially, and at work to be able to contribute and feel at home. In addition to speaking Spanish, English now I speak French... and it is definitely a competitive advantage in this market, I encourage all immigrants who want to settle here to learn French.

I am québécois, was born in Montreal and fluent in both languages. Even those who are not fluent in English are still able to understand and speak English…..sometimes with a bit of difficulty.
My experience with what you call « franglais » happens when a Franco and an Anglo have such a relationship that both individuals will switch from one language to the other as a way to show respect to the other.
I am now retired but in our office, we had Anglos and Francos……our conversations would always switch from one language to the other. This was natural because we were respectful for each other's culture and languages. There was a time when French speaking québécois would be told to « speak white »……this was wrong! Now, it never happens because for the last what 40 years, real québécois English or French have learned to respect each other.
I have a personal story that happened to me in Toronto…..which is located in Canada's « bilingual » country. I had lunch with a few colleagues from our Toronto office and one of our boss from the USA. During a conversation, I made a grammar error in English. One of my colleague made fun of me. I immediately switched in French and gave him shit for about 30 seconds. Of course no one understood what I was saying but they all knew I was pissed off. When I finished talking in French, my colleague said « you know I don’t speak French » I said I know, this is why you never make errors speaking French. If I make an error when speaking English, please correct me BUT never make fun of me! Montrealers never think they are better than others. To the contrary, we are interested in others. Big difference between Montrealers and Torontonians!

As an American who's lived near the US-Canadian border most of my life and visited Canada many times, I've always wondered if the not-really-bilingual situation in Canada could be helped if the CBC used subtitles instead of dubbing whenever a person spoke French (or another language) on English-language TV and vice versa. My Canadian cousins all speak French and English (one even lives in France now), so when I found out that only a small fraction (~10%) of all Canadians outside Quebec could do the same, I was quite shocked.

Making French more audible, visible, and accessible on English-language Canadian media might make francophones in Québéc feel a little less cornered and a little more connected and appreciated by the rest of the country. What do people here think?

In Puerto Rico the vast majority of tourists who visit us come from the US. Only some of them have the courtesy to ask if one speaks English before asking anything. Most assume that everyone on the island knows or speaks English, which is not the case.  It doesn't bother me to answer them in English, but I think that one should show respect for the culture of the region or country that is visiting and not pretend that local people adapt to your needs.  I don't speak French, but before visiting Montreal and Quebec City I learned basic phrases.. and if it was something more complicated, I would first ask people if they spoke Spanish or English (in French) and never had any problems.

I am a francophone that lives in New-Brunswick, technically the only "bilingual" province. And to be quite honest, even though both languages are at the same level in the provincial laws, there only very few places where you can live your life in french without knowing english. I work in a store in Bathurst and even though more than half of my clientèle is francophone, almost all the employees are anglophones and most of them are not bilingual. It's actually a horrible headache for francophones, but not for anglophones because most of them don't really care.

A tip for people who want to visit or move to Quebec. Don't just start speaking in English, learn this phrase "est-ce que ça vous dérange si je vous parle en anglais." it's a polite way to say "is it alright if I speak in English".

It is easier being an English speaker in Montreal than a French speaker in Toronto ( or Halifax, or Vancouver, or Calgary, or....).

I'm an English speaking Canadian from outside of Quebec and I do agree that bilingualism seems to be pretty one sided in reality. When I attend professional conference or meeting, they are always conducted in English even though the organization is officially bilingual. I really hope that true bilingualism can come into reality one day and everyone will be able to understand and speak English and French fluently.

Nice to see there are other Prairie boys out here in Montreal. Learning French is not a simple task, it's something that has to be worked at for years before it starts to feel like anything more than a slog. On the other hand, we accept that immigrants have to learn a second language to come to Canada, so why shouldn't we be able to learn a second language, especially since we get to stay in our own country? Being bilingual is a great tool for developing your intelligence and perspective. Even the situations where the language barrier is especially difficult, can be memories which motivate you to put in the effort that is required. And putting in that effort, you develop respect between yourself and the French speakers.

I have always loved the french language from the time I first heard it as a child.  When I moved to Montreal in 2016, I immersed myself in french courses and completed 8 levels.  I speak imperfect french everyday and still have a long way to go.  I feel protective of this province, its language and culture.  It really is a beautifully different culture from Ontario where I lived for most of my life.  I feel 'at home' here despite my lack of french proficiency,  I keep practicing speaking french daily to blend in as much as humanly possible out of respect for the french people of this province.

I'm from Halifax but have lived in Montreal for 12 years, and I'm fluent in French (I was in French immersion in school but I had to RE-learn French to get by here). You articulated my exact thoughts on this topic better than I ever could.

Have said it before... Montreal and Mexico City are the two greatest international cities in North America!  French and Spanish skills are valuable for both cities.

Louisiana French speakers are NOT gone. The language here is endangered but not yet gone completely. You did us a real injustice by saying that. We are actually in the midst of a grass roots cultural and linguistic revival. I'm happy to be a part of that here in beautiful Acadiana.

Maybe an outsider perspective from a brit currently living in France:
I always ask people the question; would you expect to be able to live in Paris or anywhere in France without speaking a word of french? No, you wouldn’t. Of course, France does not have so much english influence but montreal is a francophone city and people should respect that. I don’t think anyone should move to Montreal without at least making a VERY strong effort to learn french asap but also i do think the Canadian government could do a lot more to promote french outside Quebec and also remind the rest of the world that they are a bilingual nation. A big part of the appeal of Montreal is the french language and culture. Us anglos definitely have a very specific mindset that is bolstered by the fact that yes, everyone learns english.
However, french is a difficult language and it can be very elitist. Many francophones have a very high opinion of their language and do not make learning it a welcoming or fun experience (to the point where RC Info has done reports talking about this).
I visited Montreal and the linguistic soup that has essentially developed there is very beautiful in its own way, but i think more should be done to keep it francophone at it’s base level. You can find hundreds of languages in toronto but english is the lingua franca. if we find hundreds of languages in montreal, french should remain the lingua franca

I was teaching french to japanese people who already spoke english.  They were so eager to learn and they put all the efforts in, even with prononciation difficulties and the grammar.  If for example I would chose to live in Mexico, I would definitely learn how to speak spanish.  Learning french is a plus on anyone's resume, many of my friends speak 3 to 4 languages.  The beauty of Montreal lies in the many ethnic groups living in one city.  We learn from each other about culture and recipes and so much more.
Montreal has a unique spirit and that's why it is so in demand.

That grievance that you talk about comes from somewhere.  What I mean by that is that lady at Rona, she's for sure been in a situation that french Québécois face all the time, 15 french speakers and 1 english speaker in a room, the 15 are forced to speak english because the 1 never bothered to learn french (not your case obviously).   The billinguism is almost always just one way.  When it's not just one way, french and english people get along pretty well in montréal.  We don't mind speaking in bad english when you respond in bad french in return 🙂

"Dans notre pays, mettre les deux langues sur le même pied équivaut à mettre les deux pieds sur la même langue" Joseph Hanse

The Anglo guy watching a french speakers losing their language : Bilingualism. Wow, this is so cool.

as a francophone from Montreal, it is inconceivable to be served in a language other than French, if I go to Ontario or even BC, of course I will adapt and speak in English, but an anglophone can live without problem in Montreal simply because we speak several languages, for my part

Merci mille fois.  Moi aussi,, bien que je sois des États-Unis, je switch entre des langues all the time.  Parfois, je ne sais pas que je le fais.  Pour moi, les langues sont non seulement l'anglais et le francais mais aussi l'espagnol et le yiddish.  Je me confonds tout le temps.  

As for Anglophone visitors, what I often find is that asking permission to speak English goes a long way.  Instead of merely opening your mouth with a flurry of English, on peut commencer avec "Est-ce que je puis vous parler en anglais?" and the shopkeeper will usually  respond, "Of course."  Similarly a friend and I were in a resto and I was mumbling along in French with the proprietor when I remembered that my friend was anglophone only.  So I told the man, "à vrai dire, nous sommes anglophones" and we went to English.  Pas de problème.  

You identified a real problem and that is a Francophone going to a Federal office in Calgary should expect someone in the office to be fluent in French.  Similarly, an Anglophone going to a Federal office in Québec City should expect someone to speak English.  It's the private sector where it all falls apart. I was at an ice cream shop on McGill College Avenue years ago and I asked for something in my poor French.  The young man behind the counter was a McGill student who spoke no French at all.  That's sad.