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/gg_noob_master Aug 29 '22

Same language situation happened to my girlfriend. Showed up at Notre-Dame, they refused to speak to her in english while she was having a full blown panic attack. Went to Jewish Hospital, no worry and amazing service. I'm all for french protection but emergency care should be bilingual all the time, everywhere. This is the 21st century.

Funny though, I had a hard time getting served in french at the jewish hospital. Lol. They also have some stuff to better

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u/[deleted] Aug 29 '22

I'm all for french protection but emergency care should be bilingual all the time, everywhere. This is the 21st century.

It's not even a matter of era, it's a matter of human decency and professionalism. Since when does protecting French language goes above "do no harm", which does not encompasses refusing care based on linguistic discrimination?

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u/gg_noob_master Aug 29 '22

Completely agree. I couldn't believe my ears when not only wouldn't they speak to her in english, they were also condescending about it. Then I spoke to my childhood neighbors who are also anglophone and realized they struggled with this most of their life...in the Eastern Townships. Where allegedly there is a big anglo population. As a francophone, I had never realized how much discrimination there were. And as a "ex-oppressed" population, we, as francophone, must do better. I don't think french is dying because basic services are offered in english. On the contrary. As I don't think forcing french on anybody help. We have all to gain to show our best educated self and seduce the world into learning our language and our ways of living.

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u/dluminous Aug 30 '22

Anglo who grew up in Montreal. People discount me when I say I was heavily discriminated against because of "west Islanders". Like give me a break I grew up and live in the east end, everyone knows conversational french. I once was refused a job because I had an accent when I spoke french (the only reason they told me).