Bilingualism in Montreal!
Montreal is the most populous city of the Canadian province of Quebec and is the second largest in Canada, with the metropolitan area exceeding 4 million inhabitants. French is the city’s official language and the most spoken. Montreal is the second largest French-speaking city in the developed world, after Paris, and is also considered one of the largest bilingual cities in the world: 60% of the population speaks French and English fluently.
Montreal’s geographical location, in the south-western part of Quebec, provides the city with a continental climate with hot and humid summers, and cold and snowy winters.
The city’s GDP makes Montreal the primary economic center in Quebec and the 2nd in Canada, after Toronto. In 2014, the Montreal Metropolitan area generated a GDP of $118.7B. The city is a hub for international commerce, finance, industrial activities, technologies, and culture. The Montreal Stock Exchange is specialized in derivative financial products.
Why choose Montreal?
Montreal is a center for film and television production, including the Alliance Films headquarters and five Oscar-winning production studios. The city is also home to many globally recognized cultural, film and music festivals.
Montreal is the number one host city for international events in North America. It is home to the world-famous Cirque du Soleil and hosted the Summer Olympics as well as Expo 67. Montreal is home to massive events such as the F1 Grand Prix of Canada, the Montreal Jazz Fest, the Just for Laughs Festival, the International Fireworks Festival, Les Francos de Montréal, the Osheaga Festival, the Igloofest Festival, the International Film Festival on Art, the International Circus Festival, the Rogers Master 1000 tennis cup and many more. The city welcomes more than 11 million tourists each year.
With four universities, seven other degree-granting institutions, Montreal has the highest concentration of post-secondary students from all major cities in North America. Montreal therefore has a very active student life with many opportunities for social interaction and networking.
According to a 2019 study published by Mercer, Montreal was ranked 21st in the world and 4th in North America, for cities with the best quality of life.