Tourangelle

I totally agree, having only lived in rental accomodation since I have been in France.  In fact, I think it would be easier to find long term rental than short term, although as has been said, unfurnished.  However you will need to provide proof of income/savings.

If a child follows his age group, then he will go to college at 11 or 10 and three-quarters.  But, as you may have gathered from your research, if your child arrives with minimal French, then in all likelihood, he will be held back a year in CM2 so he can catch up.  Also, the other thing worth bearing in mind is that a collège only four years, so it's not as scary as a secondary school going up to 18.

Paris is incredibly expensive and if you are really on a budget you are better off looking elsewhere in France.  If it absolutely has to be Paris, and if you are a student and have a student card, then you could contact the Crous, (google them) and see if they have any accomodation available.   They organise the state owned halls of residence.  It is possible to stay in them during the summer months, I did so when I was a student, and they are clean and have kitchens.  Hope this helps.

Look up the local Alliance Française in your town, I've heard they are very good and they are geared towards exams.

[quote user="Sfgraveston"]Etang is the name for a tarn (small mountain lake) Stuart [/quote] An etang isn't just a mountain lake, all the lakes in the Dombes area near where I live are called etang, and it is very flat there.  It is the area where they had the bird flu recently, just to situate it.

une flaque ou flache laissée par la marée according to my Robert et Collins.  It doesn't sound as nice, does it?  I think etang indicates something quite big.

[quote user="Phil the Francophile"]The point I was making is in the above text, copied below: Charge against ownership rights received If the spouse requests it, the value of this lifelong accommodation right and right to use the furniture is deducted from the other rights received from the estate, particularly in the presence of children, from the owned quarter reverting to him/her. If the value of these rights is less than that of his/her inheritance rights the spouse may take the rest from the existing assets. If the opposite is true, he/she shall not be bound to indemnify the estate. The usufruct has a value, and must be paid for. [/quote] Right, but not in cash.  This is the point that was not clear to me.

[quote user="Phil the Francophile"] As an example. If your partner died, and you had three children, and you were aged between 61 and 71, the value of the usufruct would be 50% of the total inherited value. Having three children means that they, and you would get 25% each of the inherited value. You would be liable to compensate the children for the difference between the inherited value of the property (25%) and the value of the usufruct (50%) if you wanted to stay in the house. As we seem to keep quoting a 300,000 euro value, in the case I have outlined this would mean 25% of 150,000 or 37,500 euro. [/quote] I don't understand this, I don't claim any expertise, but since my father in law died, a couple of years ago, my mil has has use of the house, with there being no question of the three children getting anything in terms of compensation (not that they would have wanted it).  They just had the regular marriage contract, the one you have by default, and they had been to a notaire and gone through the procedure of leaving each other the bank accounts (leguer les comptes).  And it has been modernised (double glazing), with no permission needed, and what's more she went through all the right channels, as it was deducted from tax.

It is never all so black and white though, is it? For anybody who comes across this thread in the future, I'd like to stress the importance of going to see a notaire to discuss your own particular situation.

Absolutely, it is because of people coming into the country.  People apparently sometimes die of plague still in Marseilles, it's because they have just arrived, not because there is an outbreak in France!![:D]

no, this changed recently, I think it was at the beginning of last year, and now it can either be the mother's name, or the father's name, or both, in either order.  That's for babies.  If the parents want to take advantage of this for an older child, they can do so, up to the age of thirteen, after which the child has to give his or her consent.  It provoked a lot of debate at the time, but it hasn't been called into question as far as I know.

[quote user="diotima"]I agree with you, but try telling the Inland Revenue that, they (and my pension fund) insisted on a piece of paper for their records :-) I didn't pay a lawyer to do it, it only needs a couple of lines saying that from such and such a date I [old name] intend to be known as [preferred name], sign it in both names and date it. [:)] Most solicitors' firms will photocopy the original and certify the copies for free, usually the office junior does it. I know this from experience - I'm a former paralegal/secretary. [/quote] Here in France, when you get divorced you must revert to your maiden name, (article 264 of the code civil) unless you have the express permission of your husband to continue to use his name.  You never legally change your name - this dates from the revolution.

I think French customer service is rubbish.  Customer service is not saying hello when you walk into a shop, it is about dealing with problems when they come up.  The French are very good at the superficial politeness, less good at getting things sorted out.

Yes.  The school has to work "truly" independently for a number of years (5?) before it can apply to be "sous-contrat", which means they follow the curriculum and so on and, as you say, the teachers are paid by the state.  They are also recruited via the same exam, but opt, when enrolling, to work the the private sector.  They are slightly less well paid, (so rumour has it) than teachers in the state sector because as they are not civil servants the employer has to pay more social charges (like higher rates for potential unemployment, which civil servants have to pay, but not as much as people who might potentially use it do)

I guess a "do" would be to assume that s/he doesn't speak any English, so be well prepared to speak French, have a few basic phrases ready. 

I looked on their site and the exception to the two years and university thing appears to be if you want to go to Germany.  I'd have posted the link, but my computer wont let me!  I see it is the 1st October to 30th April now.  I remember I finished in the middle of May!  It was a really big thing when I was at uni, they interviewed us all, as there were more candidates than places.  Now they seem to recruit quite a lot of people locally, so perhaps that is the way to go, although the French are very big on qualifications [blink]

[quote user="Hirondelle"]I did something like this as part of my degree and applied through the British Council. Take a look at their website. It isn't a "career" as such, only a temporary placement of 9 months-year but certainly something worth doing. I learned more in that year than I had in the preceding 20 years![/quote] I agree with the two preceeding posters, but with the British council you need to have done two years at university to be eligible to be an assistant.  It is a great experience; when I did it the time had been cut to 7 and a half months, though...

Purist say you should use only dandilions for a salade lyonnaise! 

[quote user="Christine Animal"]There is something I have not understood.  Firstly, if you are state employed, it shouldn't then bother you if someone else offers their services.  So why do you report them? Secondly, there is a no advertising policy, so why is everyone (who has one) allowed to put their commercial site at the end of every post? Not that it bothers me.. just for clarification.   [/quote] It annoyed me.  I'm interested in French, so I often go to look at the posts in "French language" first, I expect people to post comments and questions, not an ad, and I don't like wasting my time. I've no idea to your second question, but the forum does have no advertising policy, it is the first thing on the code of conduct, do not advertise products or services on the message board.  I imagine the reason sites are tolerated is nobody forces you to click on a link, whereas if you go to look at a message, you expect to see a message not an ad?  I think there was some rule about only putting on one, but I can't remember.  I don't have one, so I don't really care, as I say, I don't have to click on them.

[quote user="Christine Animal"]Tourangelle, France is a big country.  If someone else comes on here with the same service as I might be able to give, it doesn't bother me in the least.  You are not the only teacher.   [/quote] No, I am not, and as a state employed secondary school teacher, I fortunately don't need to advertise.  But as Opas so rightly points out the forum has a no advertising policy, which was indeed my point.

[quote user="KatieKopyKat"]I am sorry Tourangelle, but the way I have been brought up is to get yourself out of your own scrapes and I think it takes nothing more than a spineless wimp to go backstabbing to authority.  Its the way I am.  [/quote] No need to apologise.  The forum didn't always have mods, they are there for a reason, the reason being people didn't manage to get out of their own scrapes.  So I see somebody advertising saying I'm really good at French and I can give you lessons here's my number and I am supposed to just send them a pm to say they shouldn't have done that. How STUPID would that be?  For a start, they couldn't remove their own post if it is the first, it would keep them at the top of the pile and more people would go and read it.   So I've got to agree with Gay. 

I don't agree with you, why should someone PM you if they have a problem with you?  We are asked to report if we have a problem, so people do. I recently did when I saw someone advertising French lessons on here.  It avoids people getting into tedious scraps.  However you have obviously been really upset about it, I mean stomach churning and decency?  A tad OTT for a forum on France. That said, it is a bit pathetic to report somebody just because you happen to find them irritating.  I think making life hard for the mods is debating their every move, if a post is locked, and the reason is given, as it has, why so much discussion and debate? 

Does anybody know whether Virgin is a good deal in France or not?  I know about the UK, but they have just started here, and I was thinking of changing.

NO But SB 5.08 in the morning. [:-))]  Reassure me and tell me you're not in Montpellier but on the Pacific coast [8-)].  Incidentally, it's the Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, isn't it?  The unchartered etc.

[quote user="SaligoBay"]Where do you meet the people who CARE about these things?   My literary level in French has plummeted since being here.   [/quote] Linguists, even ones who specialise in English can be really pedantic, so it's not so much that they care, as like a good argument, so I know a few of them.  French French teachers, too. Plus, I irritate OH by correcting his French, but only when I am very sure oh how the tables have turned [6]