Most Montreal merchants greet their customers in French only, but that could soon change as “bonjour, hi” becomes more popular.
According to a new study by the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF) published on Monday, the rate of businesses that greeted their customers in French only was 84.2 per cent in 2010.
By 2023, that number had fallen to 71.0 per cent.
Conversely, the proportion of businesses greeting their customers in both French and English, often characterized as “bonjour, hi,” increased by 8.2 percentage points between 2010 and 2023, reaching 11.9 per cent last year.
Businesses that greeted their customers in English only rose from 12.1 per cent to 17.0 per cent from 2010 to 2017.
It has since remained steady at 17.1 per cent in 2023.
The OQLF says it defines a greeting as the “language of the first words used by the staff of a business to approach a customer.”
— This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on April 22, 2024.