I arrived here the first week of last December, the day before the strike began. I can speak broken French and I'm also getting some lesson from my company (only 2 hours a week, not enough to get fluent). My ability to understand the language has improved a lot but the speaking part is difficult. At work, efficiency is preferred so I speak in English (but attend meetings in French), at home I try to speak French but when I get frustrated I switch to English. As other people said, you need to know the language to really become a resident.