Bilingualism in Ottawa (low crime, employment, neighbourhood)
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My family is planning to relocate to ottawa in three months time. Is it complusory that we must be able to communicate in french very well before we can get a job there?
I live in Ottawa and my french is not the greatest. If you are looking for employment in the Government or Education, jobs will be more available if you speak both English and French or any other languages. They have higher pay scales if you speak both languages.
Other positions in Office work also ask for French and English but many people here speak only English and we all are working.
It's not so much the languages but what skills you have to offer, if you can be beneficial to the economy with your billiance then you can speak Mork and get a great job. If you're going to be working in retail or lower paying scale jobs, English only is fine, some business prefer both but will hirer by skills and personality first. There are English/French schools and just English or just French schools. The choice is yours. I study French but my preference is to study Mandrin. I actually use it more too, there are many Asian's in Ottawa and I find it fun to speak Chinese, they do too.
Ottawa is the top city to live in within Canada and it's beautiful I must say, I've been here all my life. It's low crime and there is alot to do and be involved in. You should love winter, not like it, but love it, it's long and it's cold and you need snow tires for certain. I for one no longer appreciate the cabin fever that comes with the long cold winter in Canada. Summer is hot and sunny and humid which can make up for the long winters. Spring is chilly to very warm, you never know what you're going to get in Spring. The city is small and spread out into Center, East, West, South.
The East is very french, most people there speak french first, West and South are mostly English.
I find Kanata to be the most well orgainzed places in Ottawa. Well developed, great schools and neighbourhoods. If winter wasn't so long Ottawa would be paradise. Toronto is close with Montreal closer and Montreal is a fantastic place to visit, the people are great and the food is like heaven.
The old city of Montreal means you never have to visit Europe. The culture and music and art is the best part of Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto. So you get all three treats and live in the center for peace and tranquillity. You'll love it, just bring a parka.
OOPS, just noticed you're from TO and you're probably already here in Ottawa and have suffered the winter. Hope you're liking it. Though I do know alot of Torontotorians who have not liked Ottawa and found it too small and sometimes boring. Hope that hasn't been the case for you.
The East is very french, most people there speak french first, West and South are mostly English.
I would say this is a popular misconception rooted in Ottawa's history when the east end was majority French-speaking. Today, English speakers are the majority group in almost every single neighbourhood in east end Ottawa (which is a fairly huge area). Sure, French speakers are much more present in the east end than in the west and south as you said, but in most parts of the east end francophones make up around 25% of the population, sometimes less, and more than a quarter of the population in only a handful of areas.
Now, if you're talking about Gatineau in Quebec on the other side of the river, that's a whole other story...
Oh that's interesting. It just hasn't been my experience, I really like some of the neighbourhoods in the east end, was considering moving east maybe I'll rethink that. My french is not up to par, though it should be I do try my best to study.
Oh that's interesting. It just hasn't been my experience, I really like some of the neighbourhoods in the east end, was considering moving east maybe I'll rethink that. My french is not up to par, though it should be I do try my best to study.
As I said, English really is the main public language even in Orleans and Vanier these days. The only difference with the other parts of the city is that you’ll *overhear* more French as you are out and about, but the number of times that you’d be confronted with a French-only speaker among service staff would be pretty much zero. The number of French-only speakers among Ottawa francophones is infinitesimal, and you are probably way more likely to find someone who speaks only Chinese or Spanish or another immigrant language than someone who speaks only French in east end Ottawa.
As I said, English really is the main public language even in Orleans and Vanier these days. The only difference with the other parts of the city is that you’ll *overhear* more French as you are out and about, but the number of times that you’d be confronted with a French-only speaker among service staff would be pretty much zero. The number of French-only speakers among Ottawa francophones is infinitesimal, and you are probably way more likely to find someone who speaks only Chinese or Spanish or another immigrant language than someone who speaks only French in east end Ottawa.
Thanks for the info, Acajack. It seems that French practically continues getting weaker all over Canada outside of Quebec.
Sorry I have not read the above responses so excuse me if this is a repeat answer.
I know that I am an educated woman with extensive work experience in my field but there are a massive number of jobs (7 out of 10?) that I can't apply for because I am only English - jobs I am more then qualified for.
So if you want good pay and more job options you need to speak French in Ottawa and I would think the 'Bilingualism Required" is only going to increase over the years where it wiill be an outright Must Have for most jobs - in my opinion.
Sorry I have not read the above responses so excuse me if this is a repeat answer.
I know that I am an educated woman with extensive work experience in my field but there are a massive number of jobs (7 out of 10?) that I can't apply for because I am only English - jobs I am more then qualified for.
So if you want good pay and more job options you need to speak French in Ottawa and I would think the 'Bilingualism Required" is only going to increase over the years where it wiill be an outright Must Have for most jobs - in my opinion.
Although there are many jobs that require bilingualism in Ottawa, almost all of them are in the federal government. The private sector, which is a huge part of the city’s employment base, is surprisingly English only in Ottawa.
It is true that with equal qualifications the bilingual person will get the job (even in the private sector), but that’s only normal: he or she has an additional qualification that the unilingual person doesn’t have. But there are very few private sector jobs in Ottawa where bilingualism is a non-negotiable requirement.
And even the federal government has lots of English only positions in Ottawa (and even in Gatineau in Quebec), as you can see by checking out the following site: www.jobs.gc.ca.
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