Confused

[idun]

I have been watching a New Life in the Sun, where are they now. A few evenings ago, a young couple were doing fine in the summer but needed extra income. He started teaching some sort of fitness thing in the french village where they lived.

Now, not only my husband, but french people I knew had to go on courses to teach sports, get a brevet or some such thing, quite long and in my husband's case, quite an intensive course, they certainly were not allowed to just start a group for which they would be paid.

In fact, in my husband's case he still had to do the course to be a benevole as he had no intention of receiving payment, and neither did the head coach.

And is yoga a sport?? not as if one could not do oneself a mischief doing it[blink]

On these programs it would seem that people move to France and simply do as they please with regards to courses. If that is the case, and they do as they please and yet there are things in place to make sure that people are in some way 'qualified', how do they get away with it?

This has not been the only thing on this program that has me wondering. Not that I catch it all, as I am about to do tonight, I am now going to start cooking whilst it is on. 

[NormanH]

These programmes are just 'entertainment' and give no idea at all of the real complexities of everyday life and making a living.

A typical newcomer here came over with an inheritance last year and bought up a few flats to let out as AirBnB.

Last week he went to the tourist office to have them included in their list only to find that he should have registered them with the Mairie, and that quite a bit of the work has has done without asking permission will probably  fall foul of the ABF... and he may have to undo it.

He had no idea that any of these things might be necessary and these idiotic programmes don't inform anyone of anything

 

[idun]

Yes, NH you are right entertainment for some.

[Lehaut]

As is true for all "reality" TV!

[soupagirl]

Those programmes are hilarious. I, like you Idun, always marvel at the way any Tom, Dick or Harry can open a restaurant at the drop of a hat, with no catering experience, qualifications, and no signs of having to get official permission, or hygiene/ heath and safety certificates. And no matter which country they are in, however remote the area, their customers always seem to be 100 % Brits.

Great entertainment though!

[nomoss]

[quote user="soupagirl"]Those programmes are hilarious. I, like you Idun, always marvel at the way any Tom, Dick or Harry can open a restaurant at the drop of a hat, with no catering experience, qualifications, and no signs of having to get official permission, or hygiene/ heath and safety certificates. And no matter which country they are in, however remote the area, their customers always seem to be 100 % Brits.

Great entertainment though![/quote]

Sometimes they become irritating, though.

I often wonder if the participants have been to the locations longer than it takes for a few stock photo shoots. I notice that the same sequences are used repeatedly, such as the party driving along a picturesque rural road, or enjoying a generic local drink or meal.

There is usually a contrived "crisis" or dispute added, in order to add some interest.

Also, often they don't pronounce the place names correctly. Surely if they were actually there for more than a fleeting visit, and spoke to at least a couple of residents, no-one would pronounce Quillan as "kwillan", in the "ord" (Aude) department, as I heard on one programme.

The BBC used to very strict, and an authority on correct pronunciation of foreign names, but they don't seem to care any more. Broad regional accents are one thing, but the convention has always been that foreign place names without an established English version should be pronounced as it is by the locals.

I have several times heard Ceuta pronounced as "kewetta" and ciudad (city) as "kewidad", neither of which is even a phonetic rendering, by news readers or reporters who were supposed to be experts in the area concerned.

For those not speaking Spanish, they are pronounced, roughly, "sayoota" and "seeoodad".

In some areas the "c" is pronounced as "th".

[idun]

You have made me smile with this nomoss:

In some areas the "c" is pronounced as "th".

I had a peruvian friend in my french village and she and her french husband would often speak spannish together.

And one fine day she said to me that english was so hard because we had the 'th' sound which was impossible to do.

I did say that she used that sound all the time in spannish, but she denied it completely, and yet I had heard her, but she swore it did not exist in spannish.

I did not howl with laughing in her face, but I felt like it, I LOVE the absurd.

[nomoss]

[quote user="idun"]You have made me smile with this nomoss:

In some areas the "c" is pronounced as "th".

I had a peruvian friend in my french village and she and her french husband would often speak spannish together.

And one fine day she said to me that english was so hard because we had the 'th' sound which was impossible to do.

I did say that she used that sound all the time in spannish, but she denied it completely, and yet I had heard her, but she swore it did not exist in spannish.

I did not howl with laughing in her face, but I felt like it, I LOVE the absurd.[/quote]

The "th" in the above case is soft, as in "thin", not hard as in "the"

The hard "th" is the one some Spanish speakers find difficult.

[Loiseau]

Idun, I think in South American Spanish they don’t use the "th" sound. Makes them sound like peasants when they get to real Spain, though!

[BritinBretagne]

The reality programme that has been good entertainment but makes me cringe when it comes to the fine details of rules and regulations, not to mention a non-stop stream of U.K. tradesmen might not have Tom or a Harry but relies on a Dick in the form of Mr Strawbridge. Time after time they have made it appear to be so simple to do just about anything when it comes to both renovating property and running a business. I wonder how many others have taken that at face value.

[idun]

Hard or soft 'th's' are still 'th's' and she did use the 'th' sound, I heard her and often. She would speak in spannish to her kids too, as she would take them to see family, who did not speak french, so they had to learn.

And the spannish 'th' hard or soft is far closer to the way most of us speak english than say, our lovely irish friends  who always say 'tree' for 'three' etc, our irish friends don't seem to bother with a 'th' sound at all.[Www]

[mint]

I've stopped watching NLITS completely; can no longer tolerate the dreadful voice over woman[+o(]

[woolybanana]

Surely, a voice over women is the natural order of things!?

[Lori]

I'm happy to see you have not lost your sense of humor Wooly.