[PhotoJim]

Originally Posted by MATHA531

Although the issue is not as strong as once it was, I do remember there were language laws passed in Quebec about 20 years ago requiring among other things that signs could be in both English and French but the French had to be larger, that businesses were required to greet customers in French but could then switch to English etc. I assumed this was true of answering the phone. Have these laws been repealed?

Not repealed, but watered down. When the laws were initially passed, they had to be French only, in fact. The way you describe them is how the law reads today.

There has never been a requirement to answer the phone in French, though. Any company or organization that deals with francophone Quebecers will assuredly answer in French or bilingually, but there is no requirement for thus. If you don't care about alienating the French-speaking community, you can answer only in English if you wish. Bilingual or francophone answering is done for business reasons, not for legal ones.

"Stop" isn't entirely un-French - "stopper" is a casual word for "to stop" - but Quebec tends more strongly to use French words instead of francophied English ones. France has "le volleyball" and Quebec has "le ballon-panier", but strangely it's "le football" and "le baseball" in both.