Stop saying Montreal is bilingual!

Did you see this information? Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl went to the Mile-End Restaurant after his show at Verdun Hall on Monday, July 10th.

Chef Danny Smiles proudly posted a photo of himself with Grohl outside his restaurant in an English-only post (90% of his account is in monolingual English anyway). The restaurant, which opened its doors in April, is called Double’s Late night (not a French word).

And in a recent interview with Cooking Magazine Online TasteChef explained, “The name came up on its own. Double shotDouble cocktails And she was bilingual, like Montreal! ”

Help! Can you stop saying that Montreal is bilingual? This might make Sugar Sammy happy, but it’s totally wrong!

Repeat after me

Reminding those who have forgotten it and those who are “difficult to understand,” Montreal’s city charter states: “Article 1: Montreal is a francophone city.”

I have great respect for the English speaking minority. I spent three years on the bench at McGill University, but the reality is unshakable: Montreal is the French-speaking capital of a francophone country, and its only official language is French.

However, for several months, I lost track of how many restaurants only had an English-language Instagram account.

Every time, I complain directly to the trade. Sometimes it works.

On June 29, the Emmanuelle Lounge opens its doors in the heart of the Quartier des glasses. Zébulon Perron’s decor looked great to me, so I signed up for the account. But I quickly noticed that their slogan was #stateoftheart and that all posts leading up to the opening were only in English. For business located in the heart of rue Sainte-Catherine, opposite Place des Arts!

Here is the exchange I had with the managers of their social networks: “Hello M^I Durocher, Thank you for bringing to our attention that you only use English. We intend to use French and English in our communications. We will pay special attention to bilingualism [sic] from our social networks. Thanks and have a nice day.” My answer: “Hi. The official language in Quebec is French. Not “bilingual”. OQLF will be notified. Their response: “Hi mr.^I Durocher, take note, thank you. Our team is advised to incorporate the OQLF token into all our future communications.” Since then, their publications are either in French only or in French-English. Is it worth complaining about?

Guess some people are hard of hearing. The Mae Sri Noodle Bar, located in Milton, has a monolingual English description, monolingual English flyers and invite to view monolingual English menu. I contacted them…not even an acknowledgment.

They take us to Türkiye

Same for the Turkish restaurant Avesta, located as described in its English monolingual “downtown Montreal” location. They serve “fresh bread every day” and you “transport yourself to Turkey”.

It’s funny, but if I go to eat at a restaurant in downtown Montreal, I first want to feel like “I’m transported to Montreal, the largest French-speaking city in America.”

That would be strange!