During our trip through La belle Province de Quebec we automatically tried to speak French where ever we were in contact with the locals like in the groceries store (dépanneurs), restaurans (resto), tourist information center and even at the hairdresser (coiffeur).
It was interesting to watch the reaction of the people we talked to - even our French was not perfect and sometimes more "franc-glisch" then French, the locals were so much more helpful just because we made the effort of speaking in their mother tongue. Admitting that in certain regions about 80 % don't speak English at all one can understand that communication could be difficult at times.
André had a real advantage and settled in very quickly but Sue was not far behind and did her best explaining in French what she was looking for. She even managed to go to the coiffeur and got a nice new haircut the way she was looking for and didn't end up looking like a shaved puddle after a summer rainfall .... lol
We just love the uncomplicated, simple way the french vocabulary is used here in Quebec: pommes-de-terre (potatoes) are still called patates, good eating is also called bonne bouff and not bon manger etc.
Knowing the basic language and using it here really pays - even if it is not perfect, the effort for trying will be recognized and an extra smile is guaranteed.
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