Just tell them that you are from the U.S. and that you don't speak French. If you can start with a couple of french words, like saying I'm sorry in French, you will likely earn extra points.

Whenever we walk into a store and a clerk says "bonjour" I will usually respond in kind and then say hello. Then they usually speak English. If not, and it is very rare, we can still get by with a few simple phrases, and we don't speak french either. Everyone is very polite and language rarely, if ever, a problem. Hotel servers/employess usually say both bonjour and hello and wait for which you will use. You shouldn't have a problem.

Agree with Platipus.

Many Montrealers switch immediately to English not only if you "do not speak French well" as you say, but quite commonly also if they detect the slightest English accent. It's common practice for the hospitality industry to have reception calls in both languages. Out of courtesy, myyself (and many other people) I leave messages in both languages in my voice mail, and I am neither a Montrealer nor working in the hospitality industry. A few words or expresions in French will go a long way (if you'd like s/thing to get you started, you may have a look at the following page on this site: tripadvisor.com/Travel-g153339-s604/Canada:I…). It's all a matter of attitude: speaking English right away is somewhat rude, as if you expected everybody to speak English only, in a province whose official language is not English. While if you express some kind of a concern, and indeed try a few words in French, it's pure basic politeness - then say you're from the US, you will notice a change in the reception.

This would make an excellent topic for an Traveller Article (aka Inside Page) for Quebec, as people keep asking about this. Any volunteers?

Countrywife: do you work for or otherwise receive compensation from Trip Advisor or one of its affiliates? I'm always amazed at how quickly you spot topics and make these suggestions, not to mention your herculean task on editing various insider pages.

And is she ever good at it!

My take: in Montreal at least, just say Bonjour, then switch to English. Since Bonjour a hard word to say like a native, you're pegged as a foreigner right away anyway. If you say Bonjour and then hello, it sounds a bit weird, since it's rather like stuttering to someone who's bilingual.

If you want to practise of course go ahead, use all the French you can. But when you run out, just switch to English, rather than asking for help; your waiter has a great deal of other work to do and may not want to be play French teacher, although it's awfully nice when they're patient and help you out.

Outside of Montreal, you'll use French a bit more, since really not many people speak English, aside from in the touristy areas such as Old Québec or a few places such as the Eastern Townships.

So that you know, language is a big issue here, with French people seeing English as threatening their language, and the English-speaking population seeing the same with French. As I just read recently in a blog, on French-speaking person wrote "The more I think about it, the more I believe that bilingualism is just a temporary transitionary situation that lead to unilingualism."

However, this is theory and politics and sense of identity. In practice, as a tourist, you'll never really have any problems -- if the person doesn't speak English very well, you'll find them most charming as they try so hard to understand what you want....

Some interesting statistics: 40% of those living in the province of Québec say they are bilingual. But keep in mind that "bilingual" is a pretty high standard -- for example, while 50% of allophones (those whose first language is neither French nor English) say they're bilingual, 73% of them say they can conduct a conversation in French. The bilingual rate is 66% for anglophones and 36% for francophones.

I think everyone should be able to say Bonjour", "Bonsoir", "Tres Bien" and "Merci". This is coming from an Anglophone who wishes he could have retained a lot more during those French classes but that was a long, long time ago. Luckily, I understand a little more than I can speak.

I agree that to ignore speaking French completely is rude but a feeble attempt is usually appreciated but don't overdo it if you are a real novice.

I have never had any issues in Montreal or Quebec City regarding language. Please don't ever let language be an obstacle to visiting the beautiful Province of Quebec.