Driving on an EU license
 

This goes out to all the European fellows whose country language is not English or French.

When renting a car / driving in Canada, do you need the additional International Driving License in several languages, or does the normal one in German, Dutch, etc, do the trick?

Thanks.

Every rental company establishes their own policy when it comes to your situation, so you'll want to consult the company you're renting from. In general an International driving permit will be required if the license is not in English.

...or French, which is an official language of Canada. My Québec driver's license does not have anything in English - and it's obviously valid anywhere in the country.

If it is in French or English you don't need the international driving permit.

It's in Spanish, which should be understandable to a French-speaking Canadian, and to most people in America nowadays. I've had no issues in Germany, Holland, the UK... even Bahrain. I guess it's the all down to the willingness of the person reading it.

I've just checked the text on it, and it only has a few words, the most important one being "Válido" next to 18-07-2017. I'll ask Hertz about it, but I hope I can go along with just it.

Thanks.

You will find few French speaker outside QC and other major French speaking communities.

I ask my friend who owns a chain of major car rental franchise in the Greater Toronto Area:

• They will accept licenses in English and French. If it is from QC they have a reference card to check the relevant data.
• As French is the official language they will also accept licenses in French. It will be scanned and sent to local head office for verification. If it is from France it is straight-forward as they have references. Other French language licenses will take longer.
  
• His chain requires an International Driving Permit if it is not in English or French as policy.

YMMV

That normal one does indeed have English on it and can be verified against card details (I know that in the passport the back pages have the information in all the EU languages, at least for the UK passport.)
Interestingly enough the one below 'Fuhrerschein' on the German licence is actually in French.
(the red booklet that comes with the card.)

En american latina, sí... hasta en partes de Florida y Nueva York, si. Pero dudo que un franco canadiense lo entenderá.

As well as Portuguese speaking nations (the car rental agents at GRU understood someone with a Mexican driving licence, entirely in Spanish. Yes, I did see 'Estados Unidos Mexicanos' written on the licence.)
Regardless, the verb should be fairly obvious to any French speaker ('conducir' looks close enough to 'conduire' in the infinitive form, which is what is written on the licence in both languages.)

As others have pointed out there are few French speakers outside of Quebec, best to play it safe and have the IDP.

Also, if OP is renting from Hertz you can search for the specific location you're renting from on their website and it will show you the qualification requirements that are specific to that particular location. Looking at a few of the locations, I've rented from in the past they all indicate an IDP is required if the License is not in English or French.

My license happens to be in Spanish and Catalan, the latter being even closer to French: "conduir". And with very few words, it's somehow like an instructions manual from Ikea, to be understood by anybody.

Not that I won't be getting the IDP if I can find the time, just in case...