Translation Services in Montreal – Economic Profile
Formerly the largest city in Canada, the country’s second-largest city, Montreal, is a centre of commerce, industry, culture, finance, and world affairs. Montreal is the largest inland port in the world, and one of the most important ports in Canada. Its major economic sectors include aerospace, electronic goods, pharmaceuticals, printed goods, software engineering, telecommunications, textile and apparel manufacturing. The city has a strong service sector in areas such as civil, mechanical and process engineering, finance, and development. In 2002, Montreal ranked as 4th largest centre in North America in terms of aerospace jobs. Many large corporations such as Alcan, Bombardier, CN, CGI Group, Air Canada, CAE, Saputo, Cirque du Soleil, Quebecor, Power Corporation, Bell Canada, SNC-Lavalin, Hydro-Quebec, Abitibi-Consolidated, the National Bank of Canada and many more are headquartered in the Greater Montreal Area.
Internationally Montreal has a high profile. In 2006 Montreal was named UNESCO City of Design, which is one of the three design capitals of the world, along with Berlin and Buenos Aires. In 2007, Montreal was ranked as the 10th cleanest city in the world. The video game industry has been generating billions of dollars and thousands of jobs since 1997. Tourism is an increasingly important sector in Montreal’s economy.
The city hosts the headquarters of more than 60 international organizations in various fields such as the International Civil Aviation Organization (a United Nations body); the World Anti-Doping Agency (an Olympic body); the International Air Transport Association; the International Council of Graphic Design Associations; the International Design Alliance (IDA); the Gay and Lesbian International Chamber of Commerce, and others more.
Montreal is an important centre of higher education and the location of four French-languge universities: Université de Montréal, Université du Québec, Université Laval and Université de Sherbrooke (headquartered in Sherbrooke with a campus in Longueuil). Two famous English-language universities in Canada are also located here - McGill University and Concordia University. The presence of these international commercial, educational and institutional organizations results in a large demand for language services in a variety of different languages.
With about 3.6 million residents in the Greater Montreal Area, Montreal is the second-largest French-speaking city in the world after Paris, and 53 per cent of Montreal residents speak French as their first language. But the city is often considered a bilingual area due to the fact that about 18% of its residents claim English as their first language. Much of Montreal’s commerce is transacted in both French and English. This particular language structure makes Montreal a large bilingual service centre, and numerous English to French or French to English translators and interpreters all over Canada come from Montreal.
Other than that, the city also has very diversified ethnic groups. Montreal has long been a centre of immigration and continues to attract people from all over the world. It features the second-largest community of Blacks in Canada after Toronto. Other groups, such as Arabs, Latin Americans, South Asians, and Chinese are also represented in large numbers. Montreal’s four major mother tongues other than French and English are Italian, Arabic, Spanish, and Chinese. In the city’s translation market, these four languages also experience considerable demand as more new immigrants settle in the city. Like in other demographically diverse cities, ethnic marketing is becoming an increasingly important factor in the demand for language services.
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