Sun, 22 November 2009
Some 450 pre-Columbian pieces in Quai Branly museum.
Includes geography, people, government, economy and transnational issues.
Basil Howitt on criminal investigations in the coastal resorts.
Useful information on renting accommodation in Paris.
Relocating can have a big impact on your relationship.
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Many of the French being world travelers themselves (what else to do with all that vacation time every year?), they realize — I'm quite sure — that learning the local language of every place they want to visit is not really an option.
Not many French natives speak the languages of Peru, Syria, or China, for example, but it doesn't stop them from visiting those places. They understand language barriers. They do. It's not so much that English-speakers speak English in France, but the way they go about speaking it.
For example, instead of approaching a French person with the simple phrase Parlez-vous un peu d'Anglais? or even Do you speak English?, many tourists seem to begin with the assumption that the French in general both speak and understand English (rapidly-spoken English, I might add), and they proceed from there.
Failing to make themselves understood, they'll continue prodding their victim, again in English, but this time just a tad more loudly. I've seen it happen. I can't help but think that just because they don't understand English doesn't mean they are deaf, for crying out loud.
I didn't want to be one of those tourists. I was determined to make an effort. So from the first time I visited France nine years ago, well before I came to live here and in spite of not speaking any French, I made up my mind to never ever resort to using English with a French speaker unless it was used with me first. This, as one can imagine, was no easy thing.
My extremely limited vocabulary in those first days/months/years meant that I ate pretty much the same thing in every restaurant. It meant that if I were lost, too bad. And it meant that for big problems, I had to go get Mr. FdC. The old adage 'If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all' rang true for this English-speaker; if you can't say it in French, don't say anything at all. That was me.
Our expert Steven Grover delves into the murky waters of French healthcare for expats and asks how recent changes affect them?
Tax and estate planning figure prominently in the list of priorities of many financially secure expatriate residents of France.
From Gaelic clubs to Canadian Alumni organisations, there is bound to be an English-speaking club for you in France.
This is what you need to consider when making an early choice between purchasing or renting accommodation in France.
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