HEC Montreal

The local language as the language of instruction at the HEC in Montreal was french. As I went to France twice as an Au-pair girl before the international study exchange, my french was already pretty good. Fortunately, I had no problems because of the language barrier at the beginning like other non french native speakers exchange students had, that I could had the chance to profit more of social and academic life (while the others were still studying grammar, etc).

Quebec is a bilingual country : in Montreal, everybody speaks (quite) perfectly French and English. Unfortunately, the two communities live quite separated one from each other : quite a pity. Anyway, you can speak English or French, depending on the place you go, and it's great ... In the Unviersity of Montreal, French speaking required (all courses in French). English courses are in McGill Univ. or Concordia.

I wanted to improve my French a bit, mainly learn some business/academic vocabulary, at which I succeeded. Other than that I didn't improve much, since I usually spoke English with most people, especially my roommate. Also, Québécois French is pretty weird, so if you do not want to be made fun of in France, better not adapt the Québécois French too much;-).

The Quebecois accent is ver different to the Parisian french you get taught in schools. At the beginning it can be a shock but after a coupls of weeks you get used to it. There is plenty of opportunity to improve, but if you are really stuck, you can always talk english.

At the beginning my french was very weak, I just learned it at the secondary school so I spoke with basic sentences but all over my experience in Montreal, most of my friends were canadians, I had no Italians around me so It has been easier for me learn french day by day

Montreal is bilingual (French/English). So I had the opportunity to practice my English a lot (with local people, my housemates, etc.) even if HEC Montreal is a french-speaking business school. This said HEC do offer some of the courses in Engkish and in Spanish also.