Eva
When I was growing up, I would visit my mom’s family in Montreal and les Cantons de l’Est. I have lived most of my life in California, where the prevalence of English quickly overshadowed my first language, French, and I became English dominant. Every year or so, I would visit my grandma in Montreal and be so excited to use my French in the city. Sometimes I would venture off on my own to get a haircut and proudly state “Êtes-vous disponible pour une coupe de cheveux?” My heart would sink as the hairdresser responded, “Yes, of course, have a seat right here.” The switch to English felt so discouraging. It seemed evidence that despite my heritage, I did not belong here and could not even keep up a simple dialogue in French. Back in the coziness of my grand-maman’s kitchen I would keep practicing as she prepared potage, tourtière or croustade aux pommes.
Today, I’ve made Montreal my home and thankfully my French has improved enough so I can work for extra cash as a waitress in a restaurant. There are many customers who come in and order in accented, hesitant French, but I always give them the time and a chance to practice. Groups of twenty-somethings on a long weekend from Toronto come in so excited to impress their friends with a few phrases and are eager to learn les oeufs brouillés or bacon bien cuit. After a lively brunch giggling over mistakes and clarifications, they say I was the only Montrealer who didn’t immediately switch to English on them. When someone does not want to or cannot speak in French, it is abundantly clear and I quickly switch to English when they respond in English. The point is not to force French upon anyone, but also not to discourage anyone’s efforts to learn French in Montreal. Those customers who do want to practice are so grateful and enthusiastic about it and have directly told me so. Granted this may be the language teacher in me waking up, nevertheless, anyone can slow down for a second, like holding the heavy metro door for an elderly lady.
I have discussed “the switch” with many francophones and described how, for me, it can feel disheartening and frustrating. Their idea is to be accommodating and polite, which is generous and well-intentioned. Occasionally a less-proficient English speaker just wants to practice too. Of course, not everyone switches to English right away and there are many franco-Quebeckers who are more patient and tolerant of interlanguage French. But quickly switching to English does represent the overall tendency of French-English bilinguals in Montreal.
However, if francophones want to keep French alive and strong in Quebec, and there is ample evidence they do, then why are they so quick to abandon French and switch to English?
The monolingual bias or native-speakerism continues to be the reality we live in. The benchmark for language use is the monolingual, native speaker and we subconsciously judge anything less as insufficient. Speaking with an accent does not make someone incapable of communicating in a language. “Broken” French should be appreciated as openness to Francophone culture. Few Montrealers are truly monolingual, so we should be past using the monolingual, “native” speaker as a frame of reference.
If the monolingual bias didn’t underlie so much of our mindset, then maybe people would be more patient and accepting of learners trying to use another language. This means switching to English when requested or responded to in English. This may require a bit of patience, but then Montreal would be more inclusive while remaining proud of its French language and all of its beautiful diversity.
What has been your experience with “the switch” in Montreal (or possibly other contexts)?
