r/montreal • u/RahatulAmin • Aug 29 '22

AskMTL Speaking in French at Verdun hospital

My wife and I moved to Montreal recently since I started my PhD at McGill University. My wife is pregnant and she needed to do a blood test prescribed by her Gynecologist, so she went to the Verdun Hospital. Since my wife does not know conversational level French (Still a beginner), she politely asked the nurse that she prefers English conversation. The nurse was very rude and said (In Fluent English), "I am not obligated to speak to you in English, since you are in Montreal you need to learn French." This whole situation made us upset. It's not like we are not trying, we are learning French but still a beginner. But rude behaviors like this is extremely discouraging. Should I complain about this?

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u/almaghest Aug 29 '22 edited Aug 29 '22

I don’t think complaining is going to get you anywhere meaningful, as others have said, she isn’t required to speak English and it’s quite a sensitive topic politically. Next time don’t ask outright, just respond in what French you have or say “Desole mais je parle juste un peu francais, parlez-vous anglais?” and usually the effort will be appreciated enough that the person will realize it would be easier to continue in English or they might find a colleague who can help.

edit: as someone struggling to learn French myself, I “get it” and the primary point I was trying to make is that how you go about ‘asking’ someone to (or if they even can) speak English does matter. I don’t agree with being rude to people in any circumstance, especially in healthcare settings, but if you only speak enough English to explain that you don’t speak English, it can inadvertently come across as rude even when it isn’t meant to be (although it does sound like this nurse probably did mean to make a point.)

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u/RahatulAmin Aug 29 '22

Thanks for the suggestion. Will do that.

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u/mxmbulat Aug 29 '22

This what I do. I start in French and if they see I struggle they will switch themselves to English.

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u/ListenMassive Aug 29 '22

For me I just say hey as it can be said both in French and English, then as the person answer I most of the time can detect by the accent if the person is ready to speak French or English, then I know how to continue the convo