anglophobia

[yann]

While in Normandie this summer we saw, for the first time, a message painted onto the D650 the legend: NON A LA COLONNISATION [SIC] ANGLAISE. Has aanybody seen anything like this (with or without the double-N!) anywhere else in France?

[Iceni]

Nimby.

John

[Dick Smith]

No. I spent a month in Normandy this year and specifically asked people about bad feelings against the English - they said no, pleased to have people refurbishing old houses. One English couple (resident 15 years) complained that prices of maisons a renover had gone up and they were suffering as a result, but no French resentment.

[Will]

Well, we live here, a very few km from where Dick has his maison secondaire. There are some odd pockets of anti-English feeling, in fact one French lady who is very pro-English was telling me only this evening about her local mayor who takes a very dim view of her support for Anglo-French relations and her (successful) attempts to teach English immigrants to speak French competently. However, she says that this local mayor (and there are one or two others) is totally out of step with the regional council which has no such difficulty. There are also minority pockets of anti-English feeling in neighbouring Brittany, which is perhaps more understandable (though that doesn't make it right) in view of the region's close links with other Celtic nations like the Welsh.

[Tourangelle]

...and when I was in west Wales this summer I saw an enormous message daubed in whitewash saying "colonists out", so is it a celtic thing...

My French mother in law is from the Ardèche and is always going on about German and Dutch people coming and buying the houses there and putting the prices up.  Apparently she used to say the exact same thing about English people, until she had one in the family.

[letrangere]

Heaven forbid that the Bretons (or anyone else) go to the same lengths as a few Welsh extremists once did and start setting fire to English people's holiday homes.  M

[Dick Smith]

When we went into the restaurant on the Normandie this summer the waiter put us on a table next to a group of people speaking English. Except, when they realised we were too, they started speaking Welsh...

A welcome in the hillsides?

[Neil]

Dick, perhaps you could have responded by speaking French?

[Battypuss]

Have fun with my children; they speak French and I speak English. Confuses all and sundry, much to my delight. But no, have never had any problams with anti-english here. Maybe because I do speak French, am just trying to keep the kids bi-lingual.

[Cjb]

Won't we always find this type of person be it in France, England or wherever? I've lived in small towns/villages in England and encountered the same thing for not having been born within the town/village. I live in a small village not far from Nice and have a close friend who is a Nicois. Despite the fact that he has lived in the village for 7 years and was born a mere 20 km's from the village he is and always will be an outsider. Of course there are certain english people in the region who have no interest whatsoever in integrating, which is undoubtedly a shame, but I fail to see that it's truly a case of anglophobia, more a case of "outsideofthevillageaphobia" which is alive and well on both sides of the channel.

I don't allow this to trouble me as I simply think of it as though the same situation existed in England. I'm the one who's moved to France, learnt the language and made a success of a challenging situation whereas they've simply decided to remain in the village where they were born . Nothing wrong with not venturing too far, but from my own experience of life in England, these are the type of people I wouldn't give the time of day to in England (sorry if that seems a bit harsh, but I'm sure it's reciprocal) and so I don't let them concern me here.

Providing we show a level of respect for the culture and language of the country within which we have chosen to live, I fail to see the problem.

[letrangere]

Dick, same thing happened to us in small cafe half way up Snowdon earlier in the year.  Two women behind counter speaking in English, I order two bottles of water and a disgusting piece of cake, women continue their conversation but now in Welsh.  The last laugh's on us though as born-in-Bangor other half can still remember bits of his mother tongue.  So as we're about to leave he says something about how lucky we are with the weather today in Welsh.  Then we walk out.  Oh, you should have seen their faces, it was priceless.  Shame we weren't in France with you, he could have started talking to us in Welsh saying how b***dy rude some of his countrymen are.  M

[SaligoBay]

CJB, can you explain why it's only English stay-at-homes who are not worthy of your attention?   Are French ones superior in some way, perhaps?

Full marks for the "challenging situation", nice one!     Like most of us on here, you've moved from one affluent Western country to another affluent Western country by choice, with money and education to help you on your way, non?

If you would lower yourself to talk to ancient English stay-at-homes, you might find that they've had their own truly "challenging situations" in life.

Be happy    

[Cjb]

If you read my post you'll see that I refer to "Outsideofthevillagephobia" existing on both sides of the channel. Please don't turn this into another "He thinks he's French", "He's anti-english" rants.

I simply referred to those people who feel that - anyone that wasn't born in their village should be considered an "Outsider" for the rest of their life.

They exist and we've all met them. Fortunately, there are always those people that are extremely welcoming and helpful and therefore I find myself gravitating towards these people and ignoring those that are less welcoming.

If you wish to go on to turn this into a debate about CJB and how he has no respect for those people that are born and bred in the same village,  then please feel free to do so, although I fail to see its relevance to the original posting.

Be Happy!

 

[SaligoBay]

Au contraire, I am truly impressed that you have the confidence (or is it arrogance) to be able to ignore anyone who doesn't give you the open-armed welcome you clearly think is your due.

I cannot compete. 

[Cjb]

I'm not talking about expecting to be welcomed with open arms by all and sundry, but I don't see why I should waste my time with people that refuse to accept people from 5 miles down the road because "they weren't born in the village" and therefore are unlikely to be particularly welcoming to me. This is real life not a chapter from a Peter Mayle book.

I can assure you that I've made plenty of friends amongst the locals who don't seem to find me arrogant, however, you appear to feel qualified to make such judgements after reading a few postings on the Internet.

 

[SaligoBay]

I've never read Peter Mayle, so I'll have to take your word for that.

Par contre, I do know about Real Life, but it's not all it's cracked up to be.  Flights of fantasy and a sense of humour help.

May all your daughters be born with 3 bottoms. (Johnny English)

 

 

[Sassy]

we have been resident for two years now, and on the adult side we find nothing but positive feedback from the french we meet. the problems we have encountered have been in the schools, where quite aggressive verbal and physical attacks have been dealt to the children in a racist manner. children have a tendancy to bully, but some of the comments from them must have been learn't at home, which is more disturbing. the children have now moved to the local privee and the attidude is quite different, and they are now content and once again settled.