Travelling Provence France

Learning French in Provence

For an independent person like Ailsa, giving up her job, her own home and moving to a country with a different language, a language she didn’t speak, was not easy. But love won out and in 1994 she moved to Monaco to be with Steve. Later that year they were married.

Ailsa and Steve first met in 1989 but it wasn’t until 1992 that they started going out together. Ailsa worked as a computer operator at Solihull Magistrates Court. Steve was an accountant in Birmingham and in 1993 was transferred to the Monaco branch of his company.

From 1994 to 1996, the Emmott’s lived in rented accommodation in Monte Carlo. Steve had basic A-level French when he moved to Monaco but he also had a facility with language and was a confident, outgoing person. For Ailsa, it wasn’t so easy. Ailsa is shy but she knew if life in Monaco, and later France, was going to work, then she had to learn French.

I’ve met many young couples here; the husband works, the wife doesn’t and unless the wife makes the effort to learn the language and to make friends, she will become very isolated and lonely. As Ailsa says, ‘Wives can’t just sit there and wait for their husbands to come home, they must get out there, learn the language and make an effort to meet new friends.’

You’ll find, on the Côte d’Azur and particularly near to Italy, that people in shops, restaurants and public offices speak Italian as their second language, not English. This is beginning to change as English becomes more and more important in the French education system but if you don’t learn the language you will miss out on a great deal. Read more