Hundreds of new speed cameras to be installed in France

[jongood]

French campingcartistes are really a friendly bunch even they do look a little serious ! They are a little afraid if they don’t speak English but approach them and they will try to communicate lol I have been a member of a French camping-car club for 15 years and the only English speaking member but from day one when my French was v basic they were very welcoming . I am sure another funster can confirm this too .@moulin87

I think the Frenchmans fear that they would have to speak english is underestimated by the average Brit. I can get by in French and have had many interesting conversations with camping caristes over the years.

IMHO the onus is on us to make an effort to learn even the basics of a language, I try and ensure I at least know how to say '2 beers please' in the local language

 

[jongood]

And if you care about and don’t want to fall foul of the French cultural code, a good book to buy is The Bonjour Effect

Ive not see that book but the sentiment is spot on, the french are somehow compelled to say bonne ******** - Bon soire, bonne apres midi, bon appetite, bon route, they just see it as good manners and friendly.

Jon

 

[Jaws]

Brittany is renowned for its drinking, inbreeding, anti establishment outlook, amongst many other strange habits....

So THATS where all the Norfolk folk have gone !!!

 

[Steadycam]

Do not forget that in three years time or so New vehicles will have to have speed restriction on them forced non speeding to whatever the local bureaucrats deem is the BEST speed to cause trouble. GPS controlled as well built in. If you thought the elephant racing with the lorries was bad, imagine total limiting of one of those new cars, foot to the floor and stuck in a place you do not want to be, if the other driver speeds up to the LIMIT. All these things are to prove the control freekery that officialdom want so badly. Total control over you from birth to death in the Brave New World sorry, new world order. So I do not speed, but there will always be the place where it needs defined action to stop from doing it, imagine every infringement recorded on GPS, i mean EVERY one, over the limit bringing a penalty.
The UK government also are going along with it and that leads me to think they KNOW we are not leaving you know what.

You are totally correct. We were never leaving. We cant leave its not what was intended by the system and like they did in 2008 with the Irish referendum when they rejected closer union there was long debate and 18 months later there was a second referendum and they voted to adopt the Lisbon Treaty . So it would appear that there was never going to be an opportunity to say no really. Hence why your statement is true that common laws can be set as we will be in a common union and they know it. Because they DO know it.

 

[PhilG]

Well i guess i will have to be careful on the 15 miles of French Roads i use.

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[Camdoon]

Never been breathalysed in the UK but they even tried to breathalyse my 16yo shotgun son. Last French police who stopped me at a motorway asked whether the chat was to be in French or English so been stopped twice in France in the last five years while the last time in the UK was 29 years ago.
The French have a problem with English being the lingua Franca, at least those of our baby boomer generation. Macron is the first French President to openly talk in English. It is another major cultural difference with no-one "owning" English while the French and Canadians have committees which decide the formal names for Disks Compact and any other new technology. It is difficult to even imagine a Royal Commission handing down what we can and cannot say. Being told what to do by the great and the good runs against the British psyche. We do not learn other languages because there is no need to and which one would you choose? There are colleges throughout the UK with courses which teach English as a foreign language and the course I took had 2 Italian students. Learning English is a big business. Song lyrics at Eurovision are now almost exclusively in English.
I have found ignoring people rather than speaking to them is a mainly Southern English trait rather than of any other UK region,

 

[PeteH]

Attempting, to learn and use the language of any country you visit, is a courtesy. Having said that, Which language of choice would you learn?. Business languages (apart from English) could include, Primarily, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, with others?, French however is not one of the "primary" any-more. Even being able to make contact, and initiate conversation, even if you ultimately revert the English, Will IMV be an advantage. But at the end I cannot see "English speakers" being able to compete with the fact that many "Foreigners" see the ability to speak English as an advantage to them.

 

[Lot lover]

@PeteH - more than a courtesy, it is common sense. Visiting a doctor or hospital reveals that few if any of the notices and signs are in a language other than French.

A case of when in Rome etc

 

[Camdoon]

@PeteH - more than a courtesy, it is common sense. Visiting a doctor or hospital reveals that few if any of the notices and signs are in a language other than French.

A case of when in Rome etc

plus qu'une courtoisie, c'est du bon sens. Visiter un médecin ou un hôpital révèle que peu, voire aucun, des avis et des pancartes sont dans une langue autre que le français.
Google is your friend.
Google est ton ami

 

[Allanm]

Mrs A was in a Leclerc a while ago. An English lady came in and asked a young French assistant where the Nutmeg was, in English of course. When it was obvious he didn’t understand, she kept saying “ Nut meg, nutmeg NUT-MEG... “ then left exasperated because she couldn’t get what she wanted. The young lad shrugged and carried on.
So, how long does it take to check google translate for Nutmeg?

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[Camdoon]

Mrs A was in a Leclerc a while ago. An English lady came in and asked a young French assistant where the Nutmeg was, in English of course. When it was obvious he didn’t understand, she kept saying “ Nut meg, nutmeg NUT-MEG... “ then left exasperated because she couldn’t get what she wanted. The young lad shrugged and carried on.
So, how long does it take to check google translate for Nutmeg?

Depends on how educated and motivated the staff are to cater for their customers' needs.

 

[klaatu]

It's not all bad news, though. If you stick to the speed limit and use your indicators, you may get stopped by les gendarmes... and given one or two hundred euros.

https://www.francetvinfo.fr/societe...-la-route-les-francais-felicites_3270141.html

 

[filopastry]

@Camdoon beware of the great god google ... whilst I use it frequently there are in wait, many embarrassing cock-ups for those who use it without caution. A great tool but if one visits frequently a little homework, confidence and dropping the Brit reservedness will pay huge dividends. We know of folks who have lived here full time more than 15 years and speak not a word of French, shame on them and a shame for them too ... they miss out on so much of life. "We do not learn other languages because we don't need to" is a terrible reflection of the British mentality from back in the days of the Empire, probably not a good stance for today.

 

[Allanm]

Depends on how educated and motivated the staff are to cater for their customers' needs.

You could try by going into Tesco to ask for noix de muscade

 

[Lot lover]

@Allanm - btw the words " lady" and "woman" are not interchangeable.

The woman in question plainly lacked the intellectual capability to go and look for herself . Oh what a world we inhabit in this century.

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[Camdoon]

You could try by going into Tesco to ask for noix de muscade

Why? My English is up to asking for things in English

 

[Camdoon]

@Camdoon beware of the great god google ... whilst I use it frequently there are in wait, many embarrassing cock-ups for those who use it without caution. A great tool but if one visits frequently a little homework, confidence and dropping the Brit reservedness will pay huge dividends. We know of folks who have lived here full time more than 15 years and speak not a word of French, shame on them and a shame for them too ... they miss out on so much of life. "We do not learn other languages because we don't need to" is a terrible reflection of the British mentality from back in the days of the Empire, probably not a good stance for today.

But that's exactly what the French cannot understand - French is no longer the Lingua Franca.

 

[Camdoon]

@Allanm - btw the words " lady" and "woman" are not interchangeable.

The woman in question plainly lacked the intellectual capability to go and look for herself . Oh what a world we inhabit in this century.

Customer was always right in my day.

 

[Lot lover]

Possibly but this woman is not a customer.

 

[filopastry]

Customer was always right in my day.

After 20+ years working in retail/restaurants/pubs and bars ... the customer is frequently not right and often rude, ignorant, bad mannered and has the misconception that because they are paying a small fee they have the right to treat servers as servants. "In my day" is probably another throw back to bygone times preferred by those who cannot/will not live in the present in the belief that in bygone times all was good in the world.

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[PeteH]

I would have thought that, LIVING in any country, it would be a great benefit to learn that Countries language?. Conversely the necessity for occasional travel would not automatically require a full appreciation of conversational dialect?.

BTW. This country is the ONLY one I know that does provide Translators FREE for Patients at our Cash Strapped Hospitals. It Spain for example, we where asked if we needed translation and if so the facility would be provided AT OUR COST.

 

[yodeli]

Thanks for that..I am NOT sad people, I am people who have been ripped off to the tune of more than few €s more than once by French people.
I have ( in a hotel in Normandy ) been deeply insulted by the woman who ran the place ( so much so that without prompting her husband came to find my son and I and apologised ), been the butt end of ros buef jokes by a camp site manager talking over my shoulder to a bunch of cronies who were drinking at the bar in reception ( I know very little french but I know enough ), plus almost countless other incidents.
Hence by dislike of staying longer than I have to in France
In the past 12 years we have visited 23 countries.. France is the only one this sort of thing has happened to us in


Yes, I know that the UK can be just as bad if not worse but two wrongs have never made a right

Final thing.. You are a fairly new member ( 18 months but barely 160 posts ) so proly are unaware..
On this forum we do not tell folk to 'get a life', correct wrong spelling, correct wrong grammar or call anyone sad for having an opinion
Those things are considered pretty bad form.. but as I said, you are fairly new and if you did not know about the 'rules' fair enough

I'm very sorry you had such a bad experience.... May be you could call in at my place some day and I would make sure you leave with a different opinion.
Living on and ruling (I'm the boss's voice!) a stadium, let me tell you I know quite a few French who are so very rude, I nearly punched one in the face... hand ball coach came behind me and hold me .... I was in such a fury!
But then.... you will always cross the path with some rude, unkind, disrespectful people, whatever the country. The more it goes , the more it seems to be a general rule... world just goes mad, and it's not only the French

 

[yodeli]

the South of France is not very welcome.
Planning to go to Croatia, via Belgium, Germany, Austria, this

South is BIG! There's the South West and the South Est ... Nice, Cannes.... poshy places with poshy people therefore not always pleasant places nor pleasant people, but you will find nice people there too. I feel so sad that so many of you make such a general rule about people's behaviour on little even very bad experience. I've had my share of difficult situations in the UK but as far as I can remember I've never put the whole country and its people on the same scale.

South West is not the same , and lots of room to park for the night or more, at my place to start with..... BTW .... I live in South West and I'm French!

 

[spitfire]

South is BIG! There's the South West and the South Est ... Nice, Cannes.... poshy places with poshy people therefore not always pleasant places nor pleasant people, but you will find nice people there too. I feel so sad that so many of you make such a general rule about people's behaviour on little even very bad experience. I've had my share of difficult situations in the UK but as far as I can remember I've never put the whole country and its people on the same scale.

South West is not the same , and lots of room to park for the night or more, at my place to start with..... BTW .... I live in South West and I'm French!

Well said Frankie. I have now lived in France for nearly 15 years and agree there can be rude people but in general i have been welcomed with open arms and have so many french friends. In the UK I have also met rude people and on sites with french number plates pretty much ignored with eyes cast down but also met lovely people . It is lovely for a french person to say it as it is because I think many Bris think we have rose coloured spectacles as immigrants !! And of course that B....t word does not help ago french relations !! But I am Scottish so French always quote the Auld Alliance to me lol

 

[Jaws]

I'm very sorry you had such a bad experience.... May be you could call in at my place some day and I would make sure you leave with a different opinion.
Living on and ruling (I'm the boss's voice!) a stadium, let me tell you I know quite a few French who are so very rude, I nearly punched one in the face... hand ball coach came behind me and hold me .... I was in such a fury!
But then.... you will always cross the path with some rude, unkind, disrespectful people, whatever the country. The more it goes , the more it seems to be a general rule... world just goes mad, and it's not only the French

You are so right Frankie...... And knowing you I have no worries about the welcome we would get !

While I have your attention may I ask a question ?

As mentioned, quite possibly the worst experience suffered was at the hands of a woman who owned a small hotel in the Normandy region.
I have since been told by some people that many of the older generation despise the English because of what happened in either WW1 or WW2 ??
I have no idea of the truth of this, and wonder if you can supply any information ?
If it is true, the woman's actions would be far easier to accept.. History can cause many prejudices that are deeply ingrained.. Does not make them right but does give a reason and one I can readily understand

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[yodeli]

@Jaws I have no idea indeed. I guess it all depends on the region. I would think that mainly the West coast was feeling much more involved in the WW1 and WW2. They are the ones who met the Brits. It is so difficult for me to understand grieves such a long time after events.

In my region, it is all about Algeria's War and from Toulouse up to Marseilles it's a permanent subject of quarrels.

On wednesday I was next to Limoges in a little town called Bessines and I had a room in one of their best hotels. There, I found a nice Lady who said to me that English people were far more welcome in her hotel than French. She said she was amazed by their correctness and their way to always be happy with everything. So you see, I tend to think that quite a lot of English stay too near to the West coast, and don't give a chance to people who don't feel that much concerned by History, simply because they don't have all the ceremonies which keep memory alive. Not that I think it should be forgotten, but sometimes it also keeps grieves , angriness at the top....

 

[Pilote87]

French campingcartistes are really a friendly bunch even they do look a little serious ! They are a little afraid if they don’t speak English but approach them and they will try to communicate lol I have been a member of a French camping-car club for 15 years and the only English speaking member but from day one when my French was v basic they were very welcoming . I am sure another funster can confirm this too .@moulin87

I have been a member of a French camping car club (C C C Centre) since 2007 and can say that the vast majority of the members have been very welcoming. I sometimes joke that I only joined in order to get free French lessons. Of course, as in all spheres of life, there are the tiny minority who are less friendly, but out of a membership of around 400 I can probably count those individuals using just my fingers.

One thing which being a club member, and attending rallies does give is an insight into some of the less well-known parts of France. I thought I knew the regions around Calais / Dunkirk reasonably well, but, just one example, last September we went underground at Arras and saw where the New Zealand miners had set up an operation to tunnel under the German lines in WW1.


J

 

[filopastry]

There is also the fact that some folks simply bring out the worst in others, one must wonder if those who consistently find discord are themselves the source of it. I do find myself in the boil often but that is I fear, because I have a tendency not to ignore "the elephant in the room". I do try very hard, not to be rude, but do not suffer fools easily.

 

[Northernraider]

Oh yes they do, normally find its worse in France

Surprisingly I've not had a single van parked next to me while I've been here ...the ones that do arrive on the same parking area have been parking away from me.

 

[Northernraider]

Speed camera signs!!

They can't even put a sign up warning of a low bridge.

5 miles of road with no turning points and the warning sign is 20 feet from the bridge.

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