schtroumpf t1_jd2ttnx wrote on March 21, 2023 at 1:11 PM

Reply to comment by VinsonChe90 in French towns in the Northeast? by wojtekthesoldierbear

Absolutely untrue. While there are “anti-outsider” sentiments to be found anywhere, as long as you are a respectful and polite tourist, Quebec is as friendly and safe a place to travel as you can find. Also, Quebec is French-speaking, not officially bilingual. If they have English service, it’s as a courtesy to their customers—only French is required. Would you expect universal English service in Paris? What you might be experiencing as “not liking Americans” is frustration that you’re in their country speaking a foreign language and assuming they should accommodate you universally. That said, in Montreal it is virtually impossible to find a place that won’t serve an English speaker, even if it takes a little bit of patience on the latter’s part.

VinsonChe90 t1_jd37mv8 wrote on March 21, 2023 at 2:52 PM

Bro, I speak French. They wouldn’t even speak to me in French because they thought my accent was garbage. I speak with an Alsatian dialect FROM FRANCE. I’ve been refused service MANY times.

schtroumpf t1_jd37s9j wrote on March 21, 2023 at 2:53 PM

So then what does that have to do with hating Americans

VinsonChe90 t1_jd38iez wrote on March 21, 2023 at 2:57 PM

Quebec also tends to have a lot of antisemitism as well. Your experience isn’t mine.

schtroumpf t1_jd3ijcy wrote on March 21, 2023 at 4:03 PM

Of course it isn’t — but I lived in Quebec for four years and was a tourist there many times in my youth with my Anglophone-only family. You made a sweeping point about Americans being disliked and a factually incorrect statement about language laws. As far as my experience goes, and the experiences of the many other people I know from the US who’ve lived there, Quebec is a wonderful, safe, and welcoming place for Americans to visit, almost all the time. You may well have experienced something negative, but your extrapolation is unfounded and slightly defamatory. All places have shitty people, and sometimes tourists get the shaft— it’s not unique to QC. Additionally, it shows your ignorance of Quebec culture and history to act as though their reluctance to pander to Anglo or France-French myopia indicates hatred or an inhospitable nature. And while your experience of antisemitism may be real, it is neither here nor there in respect to the original point, which is that Americans generally are somehow unwelcome.

VinsonChe90 t1_jd38djx wrote on March 21, 2023 at 2:57 PM

I was born and raised in America and grew up speaking French with my father. Just because I speak a dialect from France doesn’t mean I’m from France. When you have to flash your passport to get a drink, they find out you’re American.

schtroumpf t1_jd3jk2c wrote on March 21, 2023 at 4:10 PM

And I barely speak any French and have, over thousands of instances, NEVER been denied service. Nor do I know anyone who speaks only English and has lived in montreal—and I know many—who has been. At worst, one will have people switch to English because the French is bad OR you will have people unable to speak English who are a bit annoyed at having to use pidgin to muddle through a coffee order. Not only would that be an impractical paradigm in a city with 1 million English speakers, it would be an absurd way for businesses to conduct themselves. What people DO get angry about is being forced to speak English when they are customers, or the expectation that they switch to English. And as far as les métropolitains, well, I’ve never met a quebecois who couldn’t understand French from France, though I’ve meant plenty of French people who sneer at québécois.