Montreal Travel Forum

hi there
i want to plan a study trip to quebec to study french for 4 weeks. i'd prefer to study at a school outside montreal but with easy access to the city (considering that the suburbs are cheaper).

if there's a nice school in montreal itself, can anyone recommend me with good schools, affordable accommodation and best way to get around? places to visit?

i've done some search and found that the average cost in montreal is CAD$2000 for 4 weeks inc. of study and accommodation.

any suggestion?

thanks, a:^)

Have a look at this site for the list of schools that offer French study program. Although the site is intended for Canadian full time students, the list should be helpful to you. $2000 is about right for the cost. If you really want to learn the language, go to a smaller town where French is the only spoken language. Practice is the key.
http://www.myexplore.ca/english/program.html

good day,

i agree that to really be surrunded by francophones
you may want to try to learn french in Saguenay for exemple where 95% of the population is french or Québec city .. that has also a large proportion of french speaking population.
anyway, for one month, there is more to do in Montreal.
you may want ot see what YMCA have to offer
go to www.ymcalangues.ca/en/index.asp

they may also guide you for lodging

keep me posted

cheers
Louis

thank you both for your prompt reply. i've aleady explored My Explore; only canadians or perm residents are eligible, but there are some useful tips.

my french level is basic even tho i know basic grammar and reading, but if i can be immersed in an exclusively french-speaking region, that would be great.i studied french for four months in my country but didnt help a lot as i couldn't find a place where to practise!

it would be my first time in canada ever. if i stay in a small town, would i have an easy access to montreal? is there a good public transportation system? affordable?

accommodation-wise, i'd prefer to share a flat or a house with french-speaking canadian students or something, like what young canadians normally do. any idea where to look? got to know about this website http://montreal.kijiji.ca/. seems good. but no idea what areas being shown in the ads!

i was told that quebec is 8 times bigger than france itself and i wonder if i can go around easily!

merci beaucoup, avec gros calin,
a:^)

My conversational French isn't that good either and I participated the Explore program and went to a small town in the Lower St. Lawrence area in Quebec. It really is worth it to stay in a French speaking town and pracice as much as you can. The school that I went to have so many activities during or after school hours. THere was even a long weekend trip to Quebec City. We spent 3 hours in the typical classroom setting. The rest was activity-based.

I agree that the Saguenay region is a great way to practice your French. There is a couple of schools there that you can try. It's about 3 hours from Quebec City, and there are buses that serve between the two cities. I think there is also a train service too. The area itself is a scenic area and there is a lot to do there.

Here are two more suggestions: http://www.immersion-vte.com/en/index.php?idp=1 and http://www.elul.ulaval.ca/sgc/lang/en_CA/pid/6344

I agree with the previous posters that you would learn much faster by living in an exclusively French-speaking environment (which Montreal isn't). But if you still want to live close enough to Montreal, Quebec City might be ideal since it's very easy to travel to Montreal (takes about 2h30 and there are lots of cheap carpooling services available) and although English is spoken in the more touristy areas, the city is predominantly French.

btw, Quebec is about 3 times the size of France so it's big, but not that big ;o) I hope you enjoy your stay, sounds like a fun project!

thx jefie...quebec sounds exciting as a i like vibrant city. from the browsing, i did get the sense that montreal tends to be more of bi-lingual city, but want to take my french more seriously, much into languages actually! but also want to live as a tourist,lol

any idea how i can get from quebec/montreal to toronto at a good rate either by train/plan/bus?

where to look for accommodation? flat share?

avec merci, a:^)

I would suggest to take the train from Quebec City or Montreal to Toronto. It saves you the hassle of traveling to the airport since they are far from downtown. The train station is right in the heard of the city. Google Via Rail for more info. They occationally have discounted fares.

Just an FYI that English is often understood in the touristic area in Quebec City. I haven't ventured off to the non-touristic area, so I can't comment on that.

You're welcome!

I do think Quebec City is a fun little city, but of course I'm a little biased since I chose to make it my home over 10 years ago ;o)

The best and cheapest way to travel to Montreal from Quebec City is with Allo-Stop (http://www.allostop.com/). Going by bus is another good option - it's more expensive, but there are buses leaving for Montreal every hour (and from there you can catch one to Toronto) (http://www.orleansexpress.com/). The train is very comfortable, but it's even more expensive than going by bus and the schedules are less flexible (http://www.viarail.ca/).

As for accommodations, they're included in most language programs but if not you could look into staying in residence at Universite Laval (http://www.residences.ulaval.ca/), that way you could meet other students. If you'd like something bigger, you could check into student appartments (http://www.residences-etudiantes.com/) where you get to share a flat with other students.

Hope this helps, let me know if you need more info!

Isa

Oh, just in case you're wondering: about 96% of the population speaks French in Quebec City. As Mim95 pointed out, you'll hear English in the touristic areas because stores, restaurants and museums try to hire bilingual staff, but that's pretty much as far as it goes.

:o)

Just a side note. Not sure if there is any homestay program offered by the language school. It is a very good idea to stay with a host family as you will be able to not only learn the language, but also learn and experience the local culture. Staying in a school residence doesn't give you a lot of chance to truely mix in with the locals. Even though my french is limited, I was able to communicate to my host family with the help of a dictionary. And it was really fun as the hostess also arranged some outings with her relatives. I didn't want to leave at the end!

The first program (VTE) does include homestay :o)

ok dear VTers...with your advice and tips, i did a bit of search have found that Quebec is better for french immersion than Montreal, but montreal is cheaper than Quebec!! flights from JFK, accommodation and study-wise...surprising!

any suggestion? for some reason i expected quebec to be cheaper even though it's the capital!

You're right, that's a bit surprising considering that Quebec City is so much cheaper than Montreal in general, especially as far as accommodation goes... perhaps you could e-mail me to let me know what you're looking for and I could look into it. For the flights, most people from Quebec City catch a flight to/from Montreal, and do the Montreal-Quebec City trip by bus because it is indeed more expensive to fly directly to QC. Hope this helps!