South Park got one thing right: There really is no Canada like French Canada. Whether it is the best Canada is a different story. Québec has a weird personality to it. It is a strange combination of French and American/Canadian cultural aspects, and the worst of both. Particularly on the road.

But Ville de Québec was a sight to see, and yet Montréal certainly is its own.

Montréal. All you see is Canadian. Sorry, québecios.

It is not as French (that is, French speaking) as Ville de Québec, it is practically bilingual, even though all signage is only in French, due to Québec language laws. Indeed, French usage in Québec is rather weird. They insist on writing « arrêt » on stop signs, even though in France, they would write 'stop' on stop signs.

The French (that is, the French in France) would also refer to parking as 'parking'. But in Québec they call it « stationnement ». [1] You almost get a sense that people in Québec feel like their language is threatened, and they try to protect it vigorously, while French people are simply being pragmatic, realising a lot of non-French drivers will be driving around France. [2]

Notice how they use the term « excepté », where « sauf » would probably be more appropriately French. I assume it is to ease understanding for non-French speakers, as it is easy to guess what « excepté » means compared to « sauf ». [3]

However, because of Québec's proximity to the United States, and being part of a country that primarily speaks English, a lot of English slang seeps into their language. And in many ways, Québecois sounds a lot let French than... well... French!

On the top of Mont Royal - the mountain from which Montréal gets its name - were four flags: One Québecois, two Montréal and one Canadian. The fact that only the Canadian flag was not properly hoisted summarised pretty well the province's independent feeling towards the rest of the country.

This year marks the 150th birthday of Canada. On 1 July 2017, Canada will have existed as a nation for 150 years. But you do not see much of that celebration being mentioned in Québec. If a Tim Hortons had not mentioned it in their window, I probably would not have known until I came to Ottawa.

Actually, on the real top of Mont Royal is a big cross. When the city was founded, an earlier version of this cross was erected at the top. Probably to give Europeans a sign that here be civilisation.

Montréal walks a strange line between these two positions, as it has a large English speaking population, who may or may not be as interested in Québec's independence aspirations as the French speaking population might be. [4] It works, where everyone initally speaks French to you, but will easily converse with you in English - particularly if you explain you are not from an English-speaking country.

It is a great city, and a joy to visit. But you gotta be prepared to read French a lot. But it should be somewhat straight forward. After all, English is just French with bad pronounciation.

Notes