[Jringe01]

I moved here from Halifax in 2005 on what was essentially a whim, because I wanted a change. I had no French to speak of. I worked for Synovate back then and that lasted till 2009. I do have a job now that doesn't require French...it's shit but it pays the bills and in between I managed to convince Emploi-Quebec to send me to French school for a year so I do have some basics though I struggle to have simple conversations in large part because most people here don't speak actual French, it's a mixture of French, local slang, rapid fire speech and anglicisms that can make it very difficult to understand many locals especially if you venture outside of MTL.
At school all the teachers flat out refused to impart anything about how the locals speak because if we weren't good in "francais standard" first, we'd be totally lost. However, since most understand English to some degree, especially in retail/hospitality, if you make a sincere effort to speak French and totally flub it, many will switch to English.

You will also come to realize pretty quickly just how many similarities there are between the two languages so that'll give you a good base on which to start. In your spare time, watch RDI news broadcasts and read papers like La Presse. I find It's sooooooooo much easier to understand French when reading then when hearing conversation.

I am lucky to have a Francophone bf and it's funny in resto's, some servers will hear my accent and switch to English even though I'm saying everything properly in French. Other times they'll hear hubby say something in English, I'll respond in French and they'll talk to me in French and him in English even though it's painfully obvious he's Quebecois. :-)

You can survive here without French but as others have noted, that limits you. When you get some basics (learn how to order meals, ask for/give directions etc) you'll have almost no issues taking advantage of all this wonderful city has to offer.