[Magdalen] Quebec City.

[Charles Wohlers]

As Molly said, Quebec is officially Francophone only. While there may have 
been bilingual signs many years ago, I don't believe they exist any longer. 
Road signs and business signs are French only (unless you'd consider Tim 
Horton's & Austin's Anglophone signs). There are far, far fewer Anglophones 
in Quebec than there were decades ago.

Over here, aside from the "Bienvenue au New Hampshire" signs are all in 
English. I was in Newport (almost on the border) not too long ago, and I 
don't remember any signs in French. However, I wouldn't be surprised to see 
signs in French in towns which straddle the border (e. g., Derby Line - 
Stanstead) or in places which cater to Quebecois tourists (e. g., Jay Peak). 
Bilingualism in French & English exists in northern Vermont but is fairly 
rare. Lots of French-Canadian last names, however. French as a first 
language in Vermont would be quite rare these days.

Chad Wohlers
Woodbury, VT USA
chadwohl at satucket.com



-----Original Message----- 
From: Joseph Cirou
Sent: Saturday, January 10, 2015 12:11 PM
To: magdalen at herberthouse.org
Subject: Re: [Magdalen] Quebec City.

There are English speaking villages between the St Lawrence and Us border.
You go close to the border in Vermont (as I remember) and Maine and the
signs are bilingual English and French--probably elsewhere. There are a
number French Canadian settlements in Mass and NH. Our lead at the IRS
didn't speak English until she went to first grade. Now this is  a 100
years ago; but my father did not speak English as his first language altho
he later forgot a great deal of his French.

Joe

On Sat, Jan 10, 2015 at 8:53 AM, Charles Wohlers <
charles.wohlers at verizon.net> wrote:

> We last visited Quebec City about 7 years ago, and didn't encounter anyone
> who couldn't speak English. And the English was always quite
> understandable. In a previous trip, ten years ago, we only encountered one
> person who couldn't speak English - a 10-year old (or so) pumping gas at a
> fairly remote gas station near Gaspésie Nat'l. Park.
>
> All signs, even the menus at Tim Horton's, however, are in French only -
> no English, even at Anglophone-owned establishments.
>
> Chad Wohlers
> Woodbury, VT USA
> just 40 miles from the Quebec border
> chadwohl at satucket.com
>