Article in Le Monde about people buying second homes in France.

[Tourangelle]

Interesting article in Le Monde

http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3238,36-937699@51-937784,0.html

Are you living in a former Plantagenet area?  Fascinating idea, I thought. I'm living in what was nearly Italy, so I don't fit the pattern.

link made live by a mod

[woolybanana (ex tag)]

The article actually doesn't say a lot though.

However I do know some French people who are convinved that the Rosbis are trying to take back the old Plantagenet empire. Seems a jolly good idea to me.

[Tourangelle]

Thanks "a mod"

I don't know, I thought the fact that they were writing an article and they saying that the numbers aren't dropping is quite interesting, you read people on here suggesting it is all over and not so many people are coming although admittedly it is difficult sometimes to know who is getting a second home and who is moving for good.

[woolybanana (ex tag)]

More and more are getting out of UK for whatever reasons, but it may not be the flood it was a little while ago, thank Frith. The main point of the article is that France has to adapt. But so do the expats, bigger hoorah. Which the former are already doing very well I think which cannot be said for some expats who still cant even be bothered to learn the language.

[Clair]

[quote user="Tourangelle"]Thanks "a mod"[/quote]

You're welcome![:)]

[quote user="woolybanana ex Tag"]The main point of the article is that France has to adapt.[/quote]

Are we reading the same article?[8-)]

All this piece does is describe what and where English people and other foreigners are buying in France.

Where does it mention that "France has to adapt"?

I am puzzled by this bit in the article:

[quote]"Ces "gens-là... peuvent bien nous dire qu'ils

adorent la France ... ne nous

leurrons pas : c'est en Angleterre qu'ils sont" ...

Une Angleterre ...d'avant ... la raréfaction des espaces libres, dans un pays

aujourd'hui deux fois plus peuplé que la France.[/quote]

Is England's population double that of France?

I thought France was twice as large, but with more or less the same population...?

[suein56]

[quote user="Clair"]Is England's population double that of France?
I thought France was twice as large, but with more or less the same population...? [/quote]

AFAIAA you are right re France being twice the size of the UK and more or less the same population at about 65 million; but according to the likes of Tesco and Sainsbury et al their estimation of the UK population is around 80 million. They have based their estimation on the registration of loyalty cards ...

Sue

[Clair]

That would explain it... as I still have mine somewhere in France, even though I haven't shopped in either supermarket for years now...

[woolybanana (ex tag)]

Anglais, Irlandais, Hollandais, mais aussi Belges, Espagnols, avec la deuxième plus forte progression de 2003 à 2005... Selon toute probabilité, la France va devoir apprendre à gérer un mouvement qui pourrait être durable. Car il repose sur un atout qui ne risque pas de disparaître : l'attractivité, pour les populations européennes en quête de calme, d'un très vaste territoire rural. M. Monferrand se dit convaincu qu'il y a là "l'un des vrais  produits d'appel de la France dans les années qui viennent".

It all lies in the words gérer and produits d'appel which even you must agree concern business, selling and therefore adaptation. It is a subtext that is quite reasonable in this context. Adaptation means learning each others' languages and as I said, much of France is adpating very well.

The opinion about the expats was mine.

In my opinion the writer has missed a trick by sticking to the well trodden path instead of exploring what is needed to adapt - much more interesting. We all know about the foreigners moving to France, but how is France adapting?

[woolybanana (ex tag)]

AFAIAA you are right re France being twice the size of the UK and more or less the same population at about 65 million; but according to the likes of Tesco and Sainsbury et al their estimation of the UK population is around 80 million. They have based their estimation on the registration of loyalty cards ...

Yep, and the people who go in the queue for 5 or 10 articles carrying twice that number.

[Clair]

[quote user="wollybanana ex Tag"]The main point of the article is that France has to adapt.[/quote]

Hardly the main point of the article, being in the last paragraph.

We'll have to agree to disagree on the interpretation of that sentence, as it does not say "France has to adapt", but does say that "in all probability, France will have to learn to manage a trend which could prove durable".

[Chief]

Notice that there are plenty who authoritively state that expats cannot be bothered, and i assume this is on the basis that they speak little or no French (might seem an obvious statement) but consider if you haven't (those who, because they speak it, jump hastily to poxy conclusions about non-speakers), how many have tried and failed, just not cut out for it, cannot grasp it, been unfortunate enough to end up in the expat area with all the whining expats bleating in english about how england is full of immigrants (hello, what are they in France), etc etc.....am i rambling, and in English....not me :-))  Be interesting to try and get some figures on it.  I am learning French and Spanish, but doubt i could pick up chinese for instance.  Wouldn't let that stop me moving to China though if i thought for one second i could make a better life for my family there.......just a thought.

[woolybanana (ex tag)]

Chief I have been fortunate to have had a French speaking environment for the better part of my life and therefore speak it with some fluency. My problem is not with those who find it difficult to learn but with those who make no effort, indeed look on learning French with disdain. I would apply this to other languages too by the way. And I do feel a bit sorry for those who are drawn into an expat community nightmare when they could learn the language. They miss out on the better part of living in this delightful country.

But you are right about Chinese. The tones are very difficult to pick, even hear, especially Cantonese where the Chinese themselves dont even seem to know how many wretched tones there are.

[Patf]

I like the bit about we immigrants creating "L'Angleterre mythique, L'Angleterre revee..." So we could re-write the song "I will not cease from mental fight, Nor shall the hammer/spade/ paintbrush sleep in my hand, Until we have built L'Angleterre, In France's green and pleasant land." Agree about the importance of learning the language though - you miss so much otherwise.

[Turnip]

.....Well, it could be worse. The Sunday Express reports of Turkish nationalists threatening to halt the spread of Brit. etc. (If they get into government)second homers. Seems the Turkish people resent foreigners pushing up house prices beyond local peoples reach. Hotels complain of holidaymakers choosing to stay at rented second homes as opposed to local hotels. Of course, it could simply be the Sunday Express seeking to make mountains out of mole hills.

[woolybanana (ex tag)]

It is an election. There is a lot of tension in Turkey at the moment with both disguised fundamentalists and nationalists, and the army is getting restive. They are fed up with being rejected by the EU. Understandable really. Perhaps too they are fed up with drunken foreign tourists making asses (that is not the word I would have liked but there are ladies on this forum) of themselves.

[Clair]

Re the article on Le Monde...

I have the paper version and there is an interesting aside which I have not found on the website.

SAFER quotes between 300 and 400 purchases of exploitations agricoles by British people very year.

In 2006, 606 purchases were made by foreigners, 535 of these are EU members and 328 of these are British.

EDIT: I have found it online: Les éleveurs anglais traversent la Manche