If there’s one thing that makes me growly about living in France it’s the number of ex-pats who make no attempt to learnt the French language.
I don’t mean people visiting France on vacation, you’ll get by fine in most places (although a bit of French will help no end), I mean people who come to live in France permanently.
Not only is it downright rude, you would miss out on so much of French life and culture. OK, in reality there are so many English, Americans and other English speakers over here now that you can just about get by without speaking French – but why? You want to live in France but not communicate with the French? Give me a break!
Told you I get growly 
I’m not suggesting it’s easy. I’m in my late forties and it’s a long time since I failed French badly at school, but even a few words make a huge difference. The French will treat you a hell of a lot better and you’ll save a fortune.
To instal fosse septique, dig big hole!
I’ll give you a real-life example.
A couple of friends of mine bought a French farmhouse that needed renovating. First job is the drains and, like a lot of French rural properties, there are no mains so you need a septic tank (fosse septique). To cut a long story short they got three quotes (never go for the first quote you get).
First guy is French but speaks English: 16,000 Euros. Second guy speaks no English: 9,500 Euros. Third guy speaks no English: 6,500 Euros. That’s a 9,500 Euro difference! I don’t care if you convert that to dollars or pounds that’s a lot of money. If my friends hadn’t been able to speak French they might just have got the quote from the first guy…
Was the first one trying to rip them off? Let’s give him the benefit of the doubt and say he was just maximizing his advantages.
There’s actually a funny conclusion to this story. My friends, not unsurprisingly chose quote 3 and on the appointed day the workers arrived. Monsieur Frenchman number 3 was there to oversee things, but the guy who actually did the work? Monsieur Number 1 – the guy with the highest quote – sub-contracting for the guy with the lowest!
After five years here I wouldn’t say I’m fluent in French but I get by. Because I work in France I’ve had to deal with all kinds of medical, insurance, banking, accounting, you name it… and the French are rightly famous for the amount of paperwork they generate!
Anyway, I’ve learned a bit and while there’s no way I would attempt to teach French I will be doing a few posts on common French language things that trip people up.
In the meantime, if you’re looking into how to learn French I do have someone I would recommend. During my time here I’ve tried a couple and best value by far is Rocket French. You learn from a French person as well, where some of the others – quite expensive courses – have English or East European teachers. Seems odd to me but there you go.
Last I checked Rocket French have a special offer to learn French for free for 6 days so you can try it for nothing. Seems like a great deal to me!
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