without even reading it gonna bet this is because they refused to learn French
Reposted from
CNN
“We gave it a year here. And we just said, ‘Too much grief and no joy.’ There’s no fun. We’re struggling every day.”
This couple plans to return to the US after they say their dream life in France became a "nightmare."
This couple plans to return to the US after they say their dream life in France became a "nightmare."
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Shockingly, the German citizenship test is only available in..German.
from my limited experience, france may not be on that list.
If you can't make friends in Europe, that's 100% on you.
Scandinavia I found is also excellent for speaking English.
France is militant about the French language, including continued attempts to eradicate local minority languages.
Meanwhile you can barely move in the Germanic states for people showing off that they're better with English than you are!
You'll get a different response spreaking English in Barcelona than Madrid.
Even countries aren't a monolith, let alone all of Europe!
The thing is though, that language isn't just words, it's culture and participation. You miss out if you don't at least try to learn
Once you get out of Amsterdam and into the provinces you get a lot fewer people understanding English.
Even when people do, outside of tourist areas, you have the same sort of resentment about people not speaking the local language as you might see in France.
I know someone whose job offered the chance to relocate to any European country except France, unless she was fluent in French
I now live in Mexico and am learning Spanish.
The problem was this couple. I have no idea why the Ugly American who refuses to acclimate is a story.
Boo fuckin hoo.
the US is definitely one of the friendliest countries to immigrants, ironically
daughter of immigrants. always had that sense of being fully recognized as "real" canadian (incl my parents).
dismaying to realize almost everywhere else someone like me would be "the foreigner" for life.
(a reason i've never craved moving to another country)
but moving here and building a life is _fully_ enough to be canadian (to all but the worst chuds); also just being born here.
and that's the us+canada precious thing.
this is not the case with buildings even 20 years old in europe
you can be acquintances but friends takes years and local language, generally speaking
/and that's for ppl who already speak english
I keep coming back to the fact that we have got to keep meeting in person
She came from Nicaragua in the 40s
She got her green card and lived here all her life
But her English was never even nearly competent
But her husband and children translated for her and she did okay
... Luckily she didn't live to see the current culture of hate
Weather though…
Also, you are right, that lady didn't learn French.
And that Ikea stuff is baffling
She probably assumed that the priciest place would be where the good stuff was
I bet she just shopped Whole Foods in San Francisco
So zero research and maybe an assumption that she'd immediately slot into the local bigwigs
But they weren't interested
I'm not sure she wanted to talk to anybody.
It just seems... rude.
Living in a country is different from being a tourist... Who would'a thought?
I can't _imagine_ why this move isn't working out so well (/s)
This place has pros and cons like anything.
Once I figured out how to use the bus schedule on the phone app, that was an improvement. At least you can look out the windows.
Umm, the French?
It's like being in Italy and wondering why everything is garlic bread and spaghetti
Cassoulet. Pot au feu. Steak frites. Coq au vin. Poulet rôti. Beef bourguignon. And hundreds of other regional dishes.
Also: there are some very specific immigrant populations in France who brought their cuisine with them, and its pretty easy to fine and/or make?
The mom said, “You’re American?”
“Yes, how did you know?”
“You’re smiling.”
Never forgot that.
man there are a lot of layers to that, considering the histories of the various involved places. especially since the reverse would probably be true stateside
You hit it on the head!
I’m pretty sure that French and Spanish (to say nothing of Mandarin and Hindi) have been jostling around in the top 5 most commonly used languages along with English for several decades now.
Piss people off on bluesky and no one will ever find out about your code.
I only saw it when I went to their profile considering a block and thought 'Oh, clueless'.
Either way, none of this is a *good* indicator of irony.
To me what's mostly indicative of them not actually committing is leaving after only a year, I've had the opportunity to live in 3 countries in my life and you don't know fuck all about it the first 2 years
“I have been so busy packing, unpacking, assembling furniture etc. that I haven’t really found time to hunker down and start (learning French),” she admits. “It was always on my list but (I) just couldn’t find the time.”
🤷
“I think every married couple needs two places to live, because you’ve got to get away from each other,” adds Joanna, who previously worked as a healthcare executive. "
This article is just “Me. I’m the problem” written 20 different ways.
“I think every married couple needs two places to live, because you’ve got to get away from each other,” adds Joanna, who previously worked as a healthcare executive.
Me: [Deadeyed] No.
I actually lol’d.
(This, along with the whole "navigating the crazy bureaucracy" and "finding time to actually learn the language here", feels like the kind of thing other expats will be *happy* to help with.)
This couple probably just missed home. Oh to be that wealthy
I mean, the question, "who eats like that?", when the answer is self-evidently the French...
“And then when you want to drink, you have to have a drink that’s on a little menu that they make,” she says. “So if I want to have a martini, ‘Oh, it’s not on the menu.’”
"Better not relinquish this affordable housing"
“…I haven’t really found time to hunker down and start (learning French),” she admits. “
Also they don’t like the food. Go figure.
'I have been so busy packing, unpacking, assembling furniture etc. that I haven’t really found time to hunker down and start'"
“People go, ‘Oh my god, the French food is so fabulous,’” she says. “Yeah, if you want to eat brie, pâté, pastries and French bread all day long,” she says. “But who eats like that?”
I haven't lived in France for a very long time and was mostly in Paris but I loved it. The quality of the food would be the very last thing I'd ever complain about.
hahahahaha
so we could cheese her off
And I do mean single. Hubby is gonna have to have a sudden stroke. Probably from all the brie.
😎 🧀 🥂
(I don't like deli sandwiches, either, to be fair...)
shot, chaser:
“I have been so busy packing, unpacking, assembling furniture etc. that I haven’t really found time to hunker down and start (learning French),” she admits. “It was always on my list but (I) just couldn’t find the time.”
Celery is basically flowers.
I think I've heard that gardening is also a bigger deal in Europe than in the States?
It’s like a piece form the onion at this point
“And then when you want to drink, you have to have a drink that’s on a little menu that they make,” she says. “So if I want to have a martini, ‘Oh, it’s not on the menu.’”
The food menu- too French
The language-too French
How weird for France and the people there.
“People go, ‘Oh my god, the French food is so fabulous,’” she says. “Yeah, if you want to eat brie, pâté, pastries and French bread all day long,” she says. “But who eats like that?”
Also, I’ve never been to Nimes but every French city I have been to has had nice markets with fresh produce.
C'est obligatoire !
Americans are embarrassing.
Fuck these fools. No sympathy.
Literally that was it. In the whole entire country. All you could find. Also Prince Charles tried to bite me.
So I totally feel this lady's pain.
This article reads like a joke!
Oh, I see. I… see.
If you enjoy it, that’s great. I learned 4 languages in school/ university and Duolingo was barely useful to get back into one I haven’t spoken in years.
Alcohol was way more effective.
Stuff on the calendar in light green is for beginners. E.g., Beginner 1 (language level A1.1), Beginners Reading Club, Beginner Conversation.
https://www.afsf.com/french-classes/adults/
Six cycles ("sessions") of classes throughout the year.
How did they think it was going to work? Like really. Move to a nation with a different language and … somehow expect the whole country will magically speak YOUR language?
How. How is this an adult thing?
“I think every married couple needs two places to live, because you’ve got to get away from each other,” adds Joanna, who previously worked as a healthcare executive
Spouses should get away from each other from time to time. That doesn't mean you need a second house though, it means take up a hobby or volunteer or something.
Oh, wait…
PS- you are correct in your assessment. 😂
Went to market in France today and said out loud, “where the fuck were those people shopping for vegetables!?”
And the $5 k to bring their cat along. Major drama.
People are friendly here too. If u dont know the language theyll tey to speak english if they dont theyll try to speak slow or get someone who can. You can perfectly live here not knowing our languages.
"The fact that she struggled to pick up the language — Ed has learned some French since they’ve been living there — didn’t help matters."
https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:i7g62qhqwyobrqzg63yyz7vf/post/3lajs4twsxc2p
Does no one read A Year in Provence anymore? I grew up with those stories about bumbling foreigners who show up with little French and want privileged access to everything and how then everything goes wrong. The only way they survive is to humble themselves.
The wife did not. And then also bemoaned that she hadn't talked to anyone other than her husband and didn't have friends, despite describing herself as chatty.
Um.
To talk with someone generally requires using their language...
So she'd have a bunch of folks like herself to bitch about things with
If you are going to live abroad and NOT learn the language, that's how it's done
(I'm seriously wondering what supermarkets she went to, or did it just not look picture perfect?)
That seems like basic common sense.
(I do wonder how much input Husband Ed, who apparently managed to learn some French unlike wifey, had in this move. He’s not interviewed at all.)
OK, fair, if that were me, I wouldn't want to hang with me either..
“I have been so busy packing, unpacking, assembling furniture etc. that I haven’t really found time to hunker down and start (learning French),” she admits. “It was always on my list but (I) just couldn’t find the time.”
could these facts be connected, one wonders
Arriving in Russia their bank accounts were frozen, leaving them stranded and helpless in a country where they couldn't speak the language.
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/conservative-family-disappointed-moving-russia-001517915.html
"The fact that she struggled to pick up the language — Ed has learned some French since they’ve been living there — didn’t help matters."
“I have been so busy ... It was always on my list but (I) just couldn’t find the time.”
Our experience there (which seems in keeping with many comments in this excellent thread) was that our effort to use our high school/uni French was appreciated and people would often switch to English if they could. No one was rude or unfriendly to us in Paris.
"The fact that she struggled to pick up the language — Ed has learned some French since they’ve been living there — didn’t help matters."
Well, they also found it difficult to find good produce. In France. 🤷
Every married couple should have at least 2 homes for when they tire of each other?
They can ... I don't want to go there
Also Joanna: “I haven’t really found time to hunker down and start (learning French)”
🤔
In fairness, sometimes in France it’s better to be the $&@hole that didn’t learn the language than the idiot who learned it improperly, AKA the person who made a minor mistake that the French make constantly.
Hard to get a visa. Expensive to bring my cat. Gave it one year.
Even if you speak the language fluently, different rules, different customs, cultural differences ... until you have sussed out how things work, it's always going to suck. And depending on the country, 'making friends' may work quite differently from what you're used to.
I thought I had passable French until i tried to order food and got a barrage of quick naturally spoken french. I just pointed at the wife who’d lived there
“I have been so busy packing, unpacking, assembling furniture etc. that I haven’t really found time to hunker down and start (learning French),” she admits. “It was always on my list but (I) just couldn’t find the time.”
I've seen quite a few Americans come and go, and you pretty much nailed it.
Community is extraordinarily welcoming, like a children’s book’s ideal village at times.
Still, can see how life in France may be too alien for some. It’s a context-rich language and culture. I’d cut them some slack.