a French bank account in which to put some spare cash..

[Cathar Tours]

Norman - I didn't see your post till after I had posted but that's a bit rough what you said there.

I would like to know how you get on one of these 5 year courses from the website link you gave? Also to say that if you use translation software you must be a fool is a bit strong don't you think.

I also noted that the website was slightly incorrect in that it says countries like Belgium, Switzerland, Canada and Quebec all speak a common French language which is not correct is it. I mean even I know that the way Belgians say numbers (I believe but may be wrong Switzerland also) is quite different to France. I also wondered if the website is correct why there are several books (Amazon) explaining the difference between Canadian, Quebecois and Metropolitan French.

[NormanH]

la langue de la République, langue officielle ou couramment utilisée en Belgique, au Canada, au Québec, en Suisse

is not quite the same as saying that those countries speak exactly the same version of French.

[mint]

[quote user="NormanH"]

1) I post links to official French sites (which surprisingly are in French [:-))])

2) Any translation not done by a traducteur assermenté 

would lose its official status!

3) Any fool can obtain a rough translation by using Google Translate

just to get the gist

One could start by trying it on this site:

https://www.gouvernement.fr/langue-francaise 

to get some idea of the French government's policy.

4) Reading the original French is a useful exercise to learn the vocabulary you may need when dealing with French people.

[/quote]

You have explained times out of number on here why you provide links to the OFFICIAL French sites and I for one am grateful for that.  I can't bear people translating stuff for me because then I only have someone else's understanding and interpretation and not my own.  Even if my own grasp of the subject matter is incomplete, I still prefer to use dictionaries, translation tools, friends, etc and work out the meaning for myself.  Because then and only then can I internalise what it is that I have made an effort to learn and make my own.

Last year, even when I was at my most ill, mentally and physically exhausted and terrified out of my skull, I consistently turned down all offers from French friends to accompany me to consultations and medical procedures.  Why?  Well, for a start, I wanted the medical personnel and specialists to concentrate all of their attention on me, to speak to me and not to my companion.  Should I not understand everything, I wanted them to slow down, explain, use simpler words, draw diagrams to get things across.  A good clinician will always find out more about the patient's condition than s/he could get from looking at computer screens and results of tests.  For my part, I wanted to look them in the eye, ask questions in my own words, read the expression on their faces, make them relate to me and remember me for next time!

Unfortunately, I did get one surgeon who insisted on speaking broken English to me during the whole of an operation under local anaesthetic.  And that was the only procedure where things did go wrong and I had painful complications which were later put right by someone else.  Who knows, if he hadn't wanted to practise his English on me, I might have ended up with better results?[+o(]

Your 4th point, Norman, cannot be disputed.  Before much time had passed, I not only learned all the necessary vocabulary relevant to my illness, I could read the results of my tests, the reports of my procedures and discuss them sensibly with the doctors.  I also had access to scientific research papers in both French and English (or American) and my acquired knowledge gave me confidence and indeed power to discuss and make decisions about my treatment with my doctors.  My best French friend tells our mutual friends and acquaintances that I had séduit all my doctors.....fortunately, this delightful French word does not have the naughty connotations of its English equivalent[:P]

[YCCMB]

Let's not overlook the implication or inference that Norman's time and effort, were it to be put to use providing a translation, is somehow less precious than that of the people requiring that translation.

[mint]

A phrase comes to mind from a Pitman's shorthand course (yes, I suppose I have lived rather a long time) that "that which is lightly got is little valued"!

[suein56]

Cathar Tours wrote :

Please do not speak for me I can speak for myself.

CT I would not dream of even thinking of speaking for you .. I don't know you at all.

What I said was 'a legion of we fellow members' and not 'all of we fellow members' .. perhaps you misread my post.

[nomoss]

[quote user="Cathar Tours"] I personally think your attitude is somewhat condescending at best and darn right rude and worse but that's me.[/quote]

Good. My reply was intended to be, at the very least, as rude as your comments.

I will continue to post links to useful information in French for those whose command of the language is not adequate for using suitable search terms for what they need, but I certainly won't even consider translating the information when adequate translations are available using such as Google Translate.

If you think that is condescending and showing off superiority you must be less intelligent than I first gave you credit for.

Maybe you should ask your famous dad for a short revision course in good manners and respect.

[mint]

It's not just a simple matter of knowing enough French; it's also about knowing how to negotiate the internet to find the information you need.

Certainly, nomoss, you are amongst numerous others on the forum who have found answers and links for me that I was signally unable to do myself.

Won't know where to start to begin thanking all those who have been wonderfully helpful and generous with their time.  Actually, many of you kind and thoughtful people are on this very thread[:)]  Mille mercis.

[YCCMB]

As an aside, google translate has, of late, come on by leaps and bounds. I've been having to use it quite a lot lately for translating Chinese text and the translations are pretty accurate compared to what I've seen it do in the past. I know, because I've seen the same text form English and Chinese sources and its impressively accurate.

If you didn't know (which I didn't until very recently) you can even use it on speaker/microphone and speak into your smartphone then press the speaker icon and it will "speak" the phrase in the translated language for you. I witnessed a friend using it and, again, it was quite accurate.

[mint]

Ooooh, Betty, don't know about someone speaking for me......spooky!  What if it says things which I could never bring myself to say?[:-))]

[YCCMB]

Fear not, mint. You have to bring yourself to say it in English first, before it'll say it for you in French. No danger of it overstepping the mark unless you do ?

[mint]

Ah, ha, ha, ha, ha!  I am so reassured......er may be not......[:D]  I keep hearing about robots getting cleverer than humans.  What if it starts READING my thoughts and start doing a sort of oral predictive text?[:-))]

[Un autre Gallois]

What has all the posts during the last couple of days got to do with the original thread? Another thread hi-jacked! Exchanging insults etc must be the current pastime of choice. Little wonder that the forum needs some intensive care.

UaG

[Cathar Tours]

Spot on. Somebody could have given a brief example of a product in English then pointed to more detail in French and explain that people can use Google Chrome to read it on the fly.

It seems however that only fools use Google Chrome and that you have to be able to perfectly understand French to post on this English language forum. If your command of the French language is anything other then don't bother posting here.

I should think many might be interested in opening some sort of account that the OP was after given the state of GBP which incidentally even managed to be devalued against the Zimbabwean Dollar on Friday by nearly 10 dollars. It's a good gamble putting GBP into Euros especially if the UK does bomb out of the EU. You would certainly make more money than putting it into a UK savings account or bond. If you have a bank account in France (or any other EU country come to that) it might be worth considering.

[NormanH]

I think that the Euro may also suffer after Brexit, since the damage will be to both sides.

That would mean that the pound would slide a little less against the Euro than against some other currencies since both will sink...

But that is just me speculating

[Cathar Tours]

I think the saving grace for the GBP against the USD is the Orange Orangutan and his trade war with China. If you look at the USD against the Euro the USD has dropped quite a bit over the last few months from 1.24$ 30 1.17$ It also dropped quite a bit against the CYN last week and the UK imports a lot from China meaning their goods are becoming more expensive in the UK.

What is worrying is that the general health of GBP is not good. I mean lost 10$ against the ZWD (Zimbabwe a country which the IMF last week said was slipping into another crash in their economy!).

Probably explains why international investment, according to ONS, has all but dried up in the UK.

[mint]

I have no interest in gambling on the foreign exchange markets.  I merely want to have an amount of euros to live on should all the scaremongering about private pensions being unpayable to people living abroad does come to pass.  Whilst I think it is worse-case-scenario bogey stories, I do feel that some monetary fortifications might make life a little less uncomfortable.

Not talking about huge amounts, just enough for 2 or 3 years' living expenses whilst waiting for the fall-out to stabilise.  To my disappointment, all no- tax, no- social charges accounts have very limited amounts as their plafonds.  I'd never bothered looking before as the large part of our funds are kept in the UK and we use exclusively our Nationwide credit cards, thus evening out a bit the ups and downs of the exchange rate.

At least I now feel able to ask about the different accounts available with the bank chap when we see him.  Also I now understand why I couldn't put money into our Livret A's on line.....they are already at their limits.......gggrrrr...

[Cathar Tours]

I don't know much about Nationwide credit cards but I assume they are like any other debit/credit card and you certainly don't currently have any problem using them abroad including outside of the EU or as the EU calls them "third countries". No doubt they are part of either Mastercard or Visa which are international companies. However the charges may or may not go up for using them outside the UK.

I think what these "experts" are saying is that those like my father who have their pensions paid into their UK bank then transferred straight away to their EU bank at a generous rate may find they can't do that anymore or there will be extra paperwork to fill out. I mean how to expats in Australia, New Zeeland, Canada and the US cope?

The other thing is if the Brexiteers like creepy Moggy (I hate the EU so much I have opened three funds in another EU country to put my money in and that's what I am telling my chums to do) and Trumps secret love child BoJo (come on guys they look uncannily similar, the hair and all, you never know) are right the UK economy will just get better and better after Brexit you could end up getting 1.40 or 1.60 to the pound and you will be kicking yourself if you exchange now at what 1.10? Thats another form of gambling you could say.

[mint]

CT, the bods who know or are just trying on scare tactics have specifically said that state pensions are not included in the incapable of being paid categories.  They claim it would only be private pensions and annuities.

With Nationwide credit cards, you get the interbank rate of the day and there are no further charges subject to the usual conditions that you clear your cards on time, do not use it for cash and do not go over your limit.

Other one of your point, I am not too bothered if the pound is at 1.40, 1.60 or whatever.  Of course, it's always a calulated guess and you watch and then take a punt and change.  And do you know what, whichever day it is that you pick, the rate is always better the day before or the day after![:-))]

[Judith]

[quote user="mint"]And do you know what, whichever day it is that you pick, the rate is always better the day before or the day after![:-))]

[/quote]

So very, very true, Mint.  Can't win, whatever you do!!

[BritinBretagne]

When Britain leaves the EU it’s unlikely that the pound will rise above 1.25:1.00. Once the British government has taken back control they will do everything possible to keep the value of the pound down. Overpriced exports and cheap German cars will kill the economy dead if they don’t.

[Harnser]

"I merely want to have an amount of euros to live on should all the scaremongering about private pensions being unpayable to people living abroad does come to pass."

I thought that I should just put you right about this that you are worried about.

The original story about "pensions not being able to be paid to people living abroad " was brought about because their were and still are, doubts as to whether a pension company in the UK could legally pay pensions into EU. banks.

So to get round this, get your pension company to pay your pension into your UK bank account and then use a foreign exchange dealer such as UKForex, Currency Fair or Transferwise to change your money into euros and then pay it into your french bank - you'll probably get a better rate that way.

[andyh4]

Unfortunately Harnser, some UK insurance companies are advising rEU clients that they may not even be allowed to deposit money in a UK account if the recipient is based in the rEU.

Seems strange to me, since as far as I know the same restriction does not apply to someone living in say the US.

[Doodle]

We've had a LDD and an LEP for some years. The LEP we don't touch but the LDD which pays virtually nothing in interest is for any unexpected expense ie household repairs such as a replacement hot water tank the other year that cost just over 1000 euros and we can transfer the money quickly into the current account if necessary. Mrs KG

[NormanH]

I do exactly the same with those two [:D]