Translation Services Montreal: Portrait of a Multicultural City

Montreal has long been a vibrant, diverse city. A steady influx of newcomers has enriched the metropolis’s bilingual, bicultural foundations. In recent years, it has welcomed about 30,000 international immigrants yearly from throughout the world. Today, more than half the secondary students in Montreal are not native French speakers.

At the end of the nineteenth century, 98% of Montreal’s population had French or English roots. Although immigrants have come from throughout the world, the city experienced several distinct waves of immigration over the twentieth century:

• Jews from Eastern Europe in the early ’20s

• Italians in the ’40s and ’50s

• Haitians in the ’60s and ’70s

• Vietnamese in the ’70s and ’80s

All this inflow and mixing of talent make Montreal an international powerhouse of art and culture. Here a few of the many fields where the city shines.

Contemporary Quebec literature reflects the city’s recent immigration history. Starting in the ’80s and ’90s, Montreal’s immigrant communities produced a boom in “La littérature migrante” (immigrant literature) in French. Award-winning writers originally from a broad array of countries made major contributions to the province’s French language literature. Montreal is or has been home to writers Dany Laferrière (Haiti), Ying Chen (China), Marco Micone (Italy), and Nadine Ltaif (Lebanon), just to name a few.

Contemporary artists who hail from all over the world call Montreal home. The website Culture Trip singled out a few notable examples. Norwegian artist Celia Perrin Sidarous is a photographer whose work combines images and objects. Taiwan-born Chih-Chien Wang, who has lived in the city for nearly twenty years, explores urban environments with photography and video. MC Baldassari, originally from France, is a renowned artist, illustrator, and muralist. If you explore the city’s galleries, you are sure to make some of your own discoveries.

National Geographic calls Montreal a “food lover’s paradise” that showcases delicious fare from the metropolis’s immigrant communities. You can experience incredible cuisine from throughout the world in the city. The Greek, Jewish, Middle Eastern, African, and Italian restaurant scenes in particular stand out.

Are you looking for a translation agency to help your business find its place in cosmopolitan Montreal? Given the city’s cultural wealth, it is not surprising that it is known as a capital for translation in Canada. A translation agency can ensure that your business’s marketing materials are attuned to the city’s many dynamic cultures. When you need to connect with customers in their own languages, you can call on a translation agency. They will provide translators fluent in the city’s languages and cultures.

At Tradgo, we would be happy to help you become more effective in the diverse Montreal market. We are a translation agency working in a range of fields, including the arts, marketing, engineering, human resources, and much more.