We will come over also to the Charente ...but Joep must work for another few years ...until then we are traveling with our campervan and looking the place to be
Nice vidéo; no problems with your speed talking. i'm learning English ( i'm french). I don't speak ( or write) it very well yet but i think listening to podcast, seeing film ( and reading books) have incredibly improve my vocabulary, accent, understanding and listening skills. My advice for learning french: enjoy and do things in french you personnaly enjoy as i do in english. Best wishes from south east France.
@@Escapetofrance-Charente Hi friend from Perpignan, 🌴🌞 First, thanks for accepting slowing down a little in your speaking. Your accent is pronounced, and it's harder for me to understand. But it helps me progress in understanding different accents. Yes, I think learning a new language, such as French to English or the contrary, is difficult because each of us needs to reverse the words. It doesn't flow naturally when you first hear people speak and try to understand the meaning of a conversation. It takes a lot of time. Your interlocutor speaks while you try to catch the first phrase; the person is already at the second, but you're always attempting to understand the first. 😅It's a true brain gymnastic. It needs a lot of concentration, and it's quickly exhausting mentally. Good advice would be to attempt to watch French TV information channels on TNT. When the presenter talks about the day's events, he articulates and often speaks slower than in a French conversation. It helps a lot to catch the pronunciation and learn new words. The same goes for watching a lot of YT French video entertainment (reactions, sketches, culture, history, travels, etc.). It's what has helped me improve my English the most. The best tip for your American friends is to learn French for at least two or three hours daily (including the advices I gave you in these three hours, not necessarily at one time; they dispatch this at different moments in the day) before coming to France. Interacting with the locals will consistently change their appreciation of the way of life here in France. It will also change their minds, making the adaptation shorter and more accessible. They're welcome here. Peace, folks. ☮👈😎
@LetsChillPage Thank you very much. Great advice for sure. I’m trying to find Top Gun in French to watch as I know this by heart. And definitely RUclips will help me Thank you for your kind words Passez une bonne journée mon amis
I'm an American that moved to France 3 years ago now. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else, honestly, and don't want to ever live in the US again. Life just suits me so much more here. Anyway, I wish Katie and Chris well on their move. As far as learning French, I do pretty well myself now, and was able to converse at least some before I moved here because I was so motivated. I started off doing the Pimsleur courses, which are 30 minutes a day, every day. You can get pretty far with that. I then took online conversational French with the Alliance Française. That was excellent, and they are among the most skilled at getting you to a good level and confidence. You're on the right track with watching film/video in French. I'll tell you what worked for me on that: watch actual French programming, and at first you may need to have English subtitles, then work to graduate to French subtitles. Interestingly you'll soon find that you see a difference in what was said in French and what the subtitles say. Sometimes in major ways (like vouvoyer in the subtitles, and tutoyer in the actual dialogue, and swear words are often toned down drastically in subtitles). After a while you'll need the subtitles less and less as you train your ear and build your vocabulary. Also, a French program I highly recommend for many reasons is on France 2: Affaire Conclue. It's a fun program, they do not use a lot of slang, but there are lots of accents, they don't speak unbelievably fast, and you'll learn a lot. It's a program where people bring in antiques, or items of decor, etc., and there's a "commisaire priseur" that evaluates the items, gives history about it, about the designer if known, all kinds of fun info, and then gives an auction value for it. Then the person takes their item into an auction room where there are 5 buyers (usually antiques dealers, and it rotates among the same group of people, all of whom are fun to watch and listen to), and they bid on the item. And the seller has the option of accepting the highest bid. It'll train you a lot on the numbers, daily objects (and rarer ones), and so much more, plus it's so enjoyable to watch. If you have Canal+ you can watch it on your own time through streaming.
@@RonRobertson-lafrance Hey Rob, thank you so much for your comment and advice. I really appreciate it for sure. France is a wonderful country and we’d never go back without a fight. Hope you keep watching the channel 👍🇫🇷
We've just returned from 10 days in Scotland, and I've missed a few of your videos. I started catching up with this one this morning. I must say that we completely identify with Katie and Chris! We, too, are from the Washington, DC area. We, too, are tired of "wash, rinse & repeat" -- so well said, Katie! We have three years to plan our retirement, and we have definitely decided to buy a place in France. I speak intermediate-level French, but I'm hoping to be much more fluent three years from now. Hubby is struggling, but he'll get there! As it happened, we ran into a group of 3 men from France who were checking into the same hotel when we were in the Scottish Borders last week. I (very bravely) engaged them in conversation, and they were truly overjoyed that I was an American learning their beautiful language! Question for Chris and Katie... Do you have family who will be missing you here in the states when you move? If so, how has your impending move been received by family and friends?
Well done you on speaking French with the French at your hotel. Very brave and it’s something I would have tried to do. Best of luck with your move for the future. I’ll let Katie and Chris know there are more comments for them 👍🇫🇷
Good luck Katie and Chris! You can do all the prep you want but there comes a point where just you have to jump - and don't forget to enjoy the journey! 😊
A Friend of mine taught himself English by listening to punk albums and learning the lyrics, his English was very good but also very peculiar at times in his choice of words.
Le français que vous avez parlé avec les poules est très bon. Et votre accent aussi est très bon. Félicitations. Vous êtes doué 👍 Et bienvenue à Katie et Chris 😉
I'm French and in my teenage years I lived in Charente Maritime (17), the department next to yours. Very interesting video. It amazes me that some Americans want to come and live in France. Here we usually hear about the other way round, French people wanting to leave France because of lack of opportunities or whatever. Welcome to France, to you and your American friends who seem like very nice people. All the best to them. I taught English for many many years and among the many things that you can do to improve your French is maybe if you're watching a show or a film, streaming or DVD, try to turn on Close Caption, (French subtitles I mean) so if you didn't understand a word you can see it written, and next time you hear it you'll know it. Just a little tip but every little thing helps. 🙂
What a lovely chat with Katie and Chris. I also worked long hours up at 4 am, it is never the right time, just do it. The community have been overwhelming welcoming something that just would not happen in the UK, good luck xx
If Rob and Lisa are any indication of the hospitality of the expat community in France We are going to be right at home. In addition, ALL of our interactions with French locals have been gracious and kind.
Le français est facile à apprendre pour les anglophones car plus de 40 % des mots anglais proviennent du français. "Journey" par exemple vient de l'ancien français "jornée" qui correspond au voyage que l'on fait dans sa journée. Et voilà, vous avez appris le mot "journée" !
Hey there, nice of you to speak french to the chicken. You are actually doing quite well for a beginner. As for the accents, I have trouble finding them in the "caractère spéciaux " as I am well over 50 and my arms are really too short. I watched your video about parents meeting at your children's school. You must not worry about your level of french. "L'éducation "Nationale" uses a very private language. You can understand some words but not any sentence !
Pretty good french with the chickens, you're on the good way to become fluent 😀 Yes you speak really fast, sometimes it's a bit hard for french people like me to understand it well. But a good training anyway. If you can try to become a bit more "frenchified", take your time to live, and breath, and speak ... 😋
Thank you so much. Our children will be fluent a long time before me for sure, but I’m getting there slowly. I’m still trying to speak more slowly but it’s difficult lol 👍🇫🇷
@@Escapetofrance-Charente I spent one year in Manchester (United) when I was 11 (first form, and I'm retired now). When I came back to France, I was dreaming in english and spoke english when I woke up, before realizing I was back in France 🙂 So yes, your children will be be very quickly frenchified
We've all got to learn somewhere. It was lovely that some of your French subscribers corrected the unpleasant character! Keep on succeeding with your very beautiful french👍❤
Brilliant you’ve met a lovely American couple moving to France next April. Love it. Yea I can see why lots of people are moving there. I praise the fact that the French have Sunday as family day no using power tools they want everyone to relax. Also the 2 hour lunch break. Wish I had that in my working days. It reckon that’s why there’s so many angry people in the world. They spend the majority of their days working. Good for you picking up the pace of your learning French language
"the little wiggly thing" awww , what a lovely way to call la cédille (pronounced sey-deeye) . as a French person used to speaking with expats , I certify you that your French is already pretty good . One Brit friend from East Anglia who's now been French for 35 years learnt the language from scratch from : 1] a list of must-know slang words I wrote for him like "bagnole" "au pieu", and " bouquin" , 2] from comic books for kids with a lot of text and not too many puns.The pictures helped a lot.
As a retired teacher, I’m interested in the difference in teaching in the UK and France. The teaching of grammar in the UK wasn’t good. It is improving. It doesn’t help that English is a loose language with several tenses being used in any given sentence and obviously, little is gendered. In contrast, French is a logical and methodical language. So if the subject is plural, so is the adjective. Plus, as grammar is so well taught in French schools, when we use French incorrectly, we’re just not understood. You are doing really well.
Thanks Jane so much. Robbie’s French teacher told us it’s really difficult to teach French children French for the same reason, especially written French. Children obviously learn spoken French at home and then the Teachers have to unpack it…..especially as French is a written Latin language with lots of silent letters It’s gonna be a long hard slog 👍🇫🇷
@@Escapetofrance-Charente we start French lessons October to July as we’ve been on a waitlist. We arrived just before Covid when everything was shut or didn’t start again. So, we’re really behind. Formal French lessons will hopefully help us catch up. Funnily enough, we’ve learned more informal/slang French from the TV than we should probably use.
Good vid, Robb! The observations that the Americans from DC made about the USA's "quality of life problems" were very accurate. I agreed with every one of them. ("Super Easy French" and "Easy French" on YT might be worth a look as well, btw...)
I think people asking you to speak slower mainly want to train their hearing as what we learn in school is very close to how Rees-Mogg speak both in accent, pronunciation and speed. And if I remember correctly my time, the same haughtiness. What most French people are used to are Londoners speech and American English in movies that don't always let you hear the many accents English speakers have. Like in French movies and TV, it's mostly Parisian's French and accent. You rarely hear other regional accents and idioms.
Hi my husband and I think you’re doing great with the French language. Veg patch doing well. You all look really well and healthy. Videos are great. Best wishes to you all
Some people are just a holes. Truer words were never spoken my friend. As someone who used to live outside dc a couple of years ago, those people are just going to love it here. Night and day. We live near pau, and life is fantastic. As far as learning French goes, we also do the duolingo, but we have a tutor from the village come by twice a week to help, mainly with pronunciation. She's fantastic, 84 yo, worked for a time in Ireland, so her English is great. She is actually a defacto grandmere to our youngest. I didn't see myself retiring to France, but now, never want to leave. At least for any length of time. Cheers.
Brian, how lovely that you have a French neighbour that helps you out. I need to find me one of those for sure. Katie and Chris will love it here I’m sure. Thanks for the comment 👍🇫🇷
Do not despair! French is not that difficult! French tv helps ! Also magazines with photos like Paris Match! I learnt in a few months! Years later I can now choose to read in English or French depending on the author!
Great vid, and happy to see some US peeps doing the same thing I am doing - but they'll get there soon er than I , I suspect. I was hoping for Spring, but thinking September now to avoid the possible dearth of long-term rentals that may be shorter-term rented over the summer through August. Also: where did you find that awesome alphabet video? Must have!!! (Sue)
@@SueIsRetiringToFrance Hi Sue, thanks for the comment. The songs off RUclips. Loads of them in there. Yeah September the rental prices drop right down. That’s what we did 👍🇫🇷
Info pour les auditeurs: 1) vous pouvez ralentir la vitesse du débit 2) vous pouvez activer les sous-titres en français : au bout d'un moment vous allez acquérir des tournures de phrase sans avoir eu conscience de les avoir apprises😊
It seems lots are moving to the Charente. We can't all be wrong😁 You are so right, life is too short for regrets. Too often in my porfessional life i met people with grand plans for latere in life/retirement that never came true due to ill health or death. I dont want to be on my deathbead wishing I had doen something Time will fly by for Katie and Chris, Spring is not far away. We start our move in mid Octobert and hope to be in our new home for early December. Currently sitting surrounded by packing boxes which is stressful 🤣 I at least get to excape to the Charente for a week shortly, for a business handover. Would love to hear your view on buying a car in France, I saw the vlog when you picked your one up and the delay. But why did you pick that dealer etc. Im planning to do what you did by bringing our car down for the move and then returning to UK to sell it through we buy or similar.
Yeah we can’t all be wrong. Charente is amazing for sure. There are loads of main dealers in Champniers selling new and used (d’occasion) cars. Whatever is on the windscreen is wrong. You need to pay another 900 euros ish for tax etc ontop of that. You’ll also need a utility bill, if not EDF a mobile phone one should suffice Hope that helps mate 👍🇫🇷
As far as I'm concerned, listening to French radio and watching French television are the very best ways to learn how people really talk. Particularly the stupid game shows are useful, because the words are simple and there are plenty of visual clues to help you understand. Formal classes often teach you the wrong stuff.
@@Escapetofrance-Charente c’est une très belle région rurale un peu endormie pas riche non plus mais où il fait bon vivre si l’on accepte de renoncer à certaines futilités de la société de consommation Je suis originaire de Niort un peu plus au nord : plus actif mais la vie reste très cool (hélas c’est moins cool pour y trouver un travail)
I'm from the States, and live in a small town in the Midwest. Our town is small, laid back and peaceful. I don't get where that lady says that in the States they can't find that anywhere. Anyway, I like your channel. Laters!
We are wanting to do the same, move from the US. Looking for a small farm/detached property. What exact area are they locating in? Any recommendations would be much appreciated.
We are looking around the Cherante area, but the right property was in the Limousine or northern Dordogne departments we would be open to those areas as well
Kate and Chris. Does Your current US State have a Driving Licence exchange agreement with France? If not, consider changing your licence in another US State or you could end up having to re-sit a driving test in France unnecessarily.
bah alors là! bang! if you do speak french to ppl as you speak to your chickens nothing can stop you, don't speak about KFC to french poules, they would start a revolution ;) great vid Rob !
I'm from the North East of England,and we speak even faster, its something to do with standing around in the cold. Lol. The fun is that I understand what they are saying even though they think I am thick. Lol. DIane et Eliott le Chien
My wife sells on eBay, and the rare negative reviews are what gats her attention, it’s hard to ignore them but more people are positive than negative. You are going well, just keep going and rise above the connards.
Lovely to see Confolens. We usually go every year, but haven't been able to this year 🥲. Never been in the Asiatique as yet, but have used the chipoil over the road a couple of times. Café des Sports a few times too! We have family in Champagne Mouton (nearish to you possibly?) and can definitely recommend Cafe de la Paix if you like really good beef cooked perfectly over the open fire. Thanks for the vid. Really enjoyed it as usual.
Thanks Steve, Confolens is our fave place in France. Champagne mouton is ten mins away from us and we’ve been to the cafe but not eaten there yet. Will have to give it a go 🇫🇷👍
Have you thought about being a volunteer firefighter? You're athletic, you have your British first aid certificates, i guess? You don't need to be French citizen and since you speak English, it will be a good basis in the summer with English tourists.
Lol il commence justement par parler des français qui se plaignent dans les commentaires qu'il parle trop vite pour les français, et vous, vous en remettez une couche 😄. Il répond d'ailleurs avec humour que vous n'allez pas apprendre l'anglais correct avec lui 😊. Il parle vite comme les gens du nord de l'Angleterre d'où il vient. Mais ces commentaires de certains français l'ont un peu agacé et il dit qu'il y a des c*nnards partout. 😊 Un conseil, mettez les sous-titres automatiques, il y a parfois des erreurs mais la plupart du temps c'est correct.
Merci beaucoup à vous tous. J'essaie de mon mieux de ralentir et d'être compris, mais c'est parfois difficile. Je ne me plaignais pas que les téléspectateurs français veulent que je ralentisse, je soulignais simplement que je devais faire plus d'efforts. Passez une bonne journée à tous.
Hello, don’t forget many english words became from french (30% approximatly). Don’t be afraid about grammar ; many french people make errors too specially with conditionnal tense and use only present tense, future and composed past. Î’m used Babbel to learn italian and it’s nice but I don’t know how is to learn french because it’s m’y native language. Try it… and good luck ! You made many progress with your chicken because they don’t be critical. Don’t worry too if french people correct you, it’s friendly because we are used to be corrected at school with teachers ( that the reason why french people is shy when they speak english) and we continue when we are adults.
Je pense que la plus grande " difficulté" que vous aurez en français sera de ralentir le rythme 😉 Il n'y a pas d'accent tonique et toutes les syllabes sont prononcées sur le même ton.. Par exemple lorsque vous dites "Angoulême", il faut dire AN-GOU-LEM 😁 J'avoue que je n'ai pas compris l'autre nom de ville que vous avez évoqué, précisément à cause de syllabes avalées.. Personnellement j'ai commencé à comprendre la langue de ma femme ( le portugais) en regardant les chaînes d'info😁. Le vocabulaire n'est pas trop élitiste et à priori les journalistes s'expriment à peu près correctement.
Je pense qu'il parle de "Confolens", en Charente, qu'il prononce comme "Conflans", ville des Yvelines. @Rob if you read this, if it is "Confolens" you spoke of, it's rear "con-fo-lan". Les chaînes infos, c'est pas une bonne idée en France. Il faut minimum un niveau B2. Les anciens journalistes ont un vocabulaire plus riche et pas vraiùent utile pour la vie de tous les jours. Les jeunes parlent trop vite pour entraîner l'oreille d'un débutant.
@@allegromoderato7404 Il y a aussi le fait que vous avez votre femme qui vous parle probablement aussi en Portugais tous les jours. Ça donne des bases plus solides. Sans compter que Rob a aussi des difficultés d'apprentissage académiques. C'est pour ça que je pense que ce n'est pas bon pour lui de vouloir aller trop vite.
@@allegromoderato7404 😂 En langue parlée, ceux qui ont une bonne oreille ont plus de facilité et apprennent plus vite. Ils peuvent associer un mot écrit au son qu'ils entendent. Sinon, il n'y a que la pratique progressive qui donne des résultats suffisants et relativement rapide.
As you're a Top gun addict, try to find the french film " les chevaliers du ciel" it was inspired by the Tanguy et Laverdure cartoons ( bande dessinée) Same humour in the film, the flights filming are real, the making off of the film is interresting too. And if you do 't understand all in first viewings, you could enjoy the flights views ! I mostly learnt english while leaving in a share flats with foreign student, fun fact I better understood the Liverpool girl than the Windsor one ! And after I married a british, my kids are bilingual as my granddaughters will be. Family meals are a mix of french and english as my kids only speaks english to the granddaughters but french between them 😂. After my divorce I try to relearn german, it was my first foreign language at school and was fluent after sommer holidays in our twin town in Bavaria ( Bavarian Swaben exactly) fluent but with some bavarian/ souabe accent 😂 I found a YT channel with Jeanne and did her classes it's fun ! After as I was close to retirement, I used all my rights to training to do a course with Lingoda (90 hours ) I really like that, small class maximum 5 and was sometimes alone with the teachers ! My courses was paid for me but they do some promotion like Spring. You could have a look or even z free try. There is also a good App ( not free) Gymlish with french, english, german, Spanish, Italian. I do the german one, not bad at all ! There are also free tries. I play also with Duolingo, but the french isn't so good then not sure about the german ! And thanks to VPN I watch german TV ( Krimi police series or films) and mostly follow my Unicorns games ( American football team of Schwäbisch Hall) I don't understand every words (70-80%) but I understand the meaning. Being constant improve a lot too, better 10mn every days than 2 hours every fortnight ! 👍 Pour votre conversation en français avec les poules !
Thanks Brigitte. That’s amazing that you speak so many languages. Well done you. Thank you for telling me a little of your story, very interesting No doubt our meals with the family will be pretty much the same with our children Thanks for all the advice Passez une bonne journée
Bienvenu à vous tous, que du plaisir de vous avoir dans notre pays !
Merci beaucoup. J'apprécie vraiment ça
We will come over also to the Charente ...but Joep must work for another few years ...until then we are traveling with our campervan and looking the place to be
Poor Joep lol. Won’t be too long I’m sure 👍🇫🇷
Nice vidéo; no problems with your speed talking. i'm learning English ( i'm french). I don't speak ( or write) it very well yet but i think listening to podcast, seeing film ( and reading books) have incredibly improve my vocabulary, accent, understanding and listening skills.
My advice for learning french: enjoy and do things in french you personnaly enjoy as i do in english. Best wishes from south east France.
Amazing comment and advice thank you. I’m looking for Top Gun in French at the moment as I know it by heart 👍🇫🇷
@@Escapetofrance-Charente Hi friend from Perpignan, 🌴🌞
First, thanks for accepting slowing down a little in your speaking. Your accent is pronounced, and it's harder for me to understand. But it helps me progress in understanding different accents.
Yes, I think learning a new language, such as French to English or the contrary, is difficult because each of us needs to reverse the words. It doesn't flow naturally when you first hear people speak and try to understand the meaning of a conversation. It takes a lot of time. Your interlocutor speaks while you try to catch the first phrase; the person is already at the second, but you're always attempting to understand the first. 😅It's a true brain gymnastic. It needs a lot of concentration, and it's quickly exhausting mentally.
Good advice would be to attempt to watch French TV information channels on TNT. When the presenter talks about the day's events, he articulates and often speaks slower than in a French conversation.
It helps a lot to catch the pronunciation and learn new words. The same goes for watching a lot of YT French video entertainment (reactions, sketches, culture, history, travels, etc.). It's what has helped me improve my English the most.
The best tip for your American friends is to learn French for at least two or three hours daily (including the advices I gave you in these three hours, not necessarily at one time; they dispatch this at different moments in the day) before coming to France. Interacting with the locals will consistently change their appreciation of the way of life here in France. It will also change their minds, making the adaptation shorter and more accessible.
They're welcome here.
Peace, folks. ☮👈😎
@LetsChillPage Thank you very much. Great advice for sure. I’m trying to find Top Gun in French to watch as I know this by heart. And definitely RUclips will help me
Thank you for your kind words
Passez une bonne journée mon amis
I'm an American that moved to France 3 years ago now. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else, honestly, and don't want to ever live in the US again. Life just suits me so much more here. Anyway, I wish Katie and Chris well on their move.
As far as learning French, I do pretty well myself now, and was able to converse at least some before I moved here because I was so motivated. I started off doing the Pimsleur courses, which are 30 minutes a day, every day. You can get pretty far with that. I then took online conversational French with the Alliance Française. That was excellent, and they are among the most skilled at getting you to a good level and confidence. You're on the right track with watching film/video in French. I'll tell you what worked for me on that: watch actual French programming, and at first you may need to have English subtitles, then work to graduate to French subtitles. Interestingly you'll soon find that you see a difference in what was said in French and what the subtitles say. Sometimes in major ways (like vouvoyer in the subtitles, and tutoyer in the actual dialogue, and swear words are often toned down drastically in subtitles). After a while you'll need the subtitles less and less as you train your ear and build your vocabulary. Also, a French program I highly recommend for many reasons is on France 2: Affaire Conclue. It's a fun program, they do not use a lot of slang, but there are lots of accents, they don't speak unbelievably fast, and you'll learn a lot. It's a program where people bring in antiques, or items of decor, etc., and there's a "commisaire priseur" that evaluates the items, gives history about it, about the designer if known, all kinds of fun info, and then gives an auction value for it. Then the person takes their item into an auction room where there are 5 buyers (usually antiques dealers, and it rotates among the same group of people, all of whom are fun to watch and listen to), and they bid on the item. And the seller has the option of accepting the highest bid. It'll train you a lot on the numbers, daily objects (and rarer ones), and so much more, plus it's so enjoyable to watch. If you have Canal+ you can watch it on your own time through streaming.
@@RonRobertson-lafrance Hey Rob, thank you so much for your comment and advice. I really appreciate it for sure.
France is a wonderful country and we’d never go back without a fight.
Hope you keep watching the channel 👍🇫🇷
We've just returned from 10 days in Scotland, and I've missed a few of your videos. I started catching up with this one this morning. I must say that we completely identify with Katie and Chris! We, too, are from the Washington, DC area. We, too, are tired of "wash, rinse & repeat" -- so well said, Katie! We have three years to plan our retirement, and we have definitely decided to buy a place in France. I speak intermediate-level French, but I'm hoping to be much more fluent three years from now. Hubby is struggling, but he'll get there! As it happened, we ran into a group of 3 men from France who were checking into the same hotel when we were in the Scottish Borders last week. I (very bravely) engaged them in conversation, and they were truly overjoyed that I was an American learning their beautiful language! Question for Chris and Katie... Do you have family who will be missing you here in the states when you move? If so, how has your impending move been received by family and friends?
Well done you on speaking French with the French at your hotel. Very brave and it’s something I would have tried to do. Best of luck with your move for the future. I’ll let Katie and Chris know there are more comments for them 👍🇫🇷
Welcome in France, Katie and Chris !
Good luck Katie and Chris! You can do all the prep you want but there comes a point where just you have to jump - and don't forget to enjoy the journey! 😊
Merci Cathy 👍🇫🇷
A Friend of mine taught himself English by listening to punk albums and learning the lyrics, his English was very good but also very peculiar at times in his choice of words.
@@TimGarner-u7s Now that’s funny lol
Le français que vous avez parlé avec les poules est très bon. Et votre accent aussi est très bon. Félicitations. Vous êtes doué 👍
Et bienvenue à Katie et Chris 😉
Merci bien et passez une bonne journée
Merci. Nous sommes très heureux de venir
Love the alphabet song, Katie and Chris hit the nail on the head, we slow right down and relax when we come over.
@@johnhanson5565 Thanks John. Katie and Chris pretty much hit the nail on the head as to why we all come here 👍🇫🇷
I'm French and in my teenage years I lived in Charente Maritime (17), the department next to yours. Very interesting video. It amazes me that some Americans want to come and live in France. Here we usually hear about the other way round, French people wanting to leave France because of lack of opportunities or whatever. Welcome to France, to you and your American friends who seem like very nice people. All the best to them.
I taught English for many many years and among the many things that you can do to improve your French is maybe if you're watching a show or a film, streaming or DVD, try to turn on Close Caption, (French subtitles I mean) so if you didn't understand a word you can see it written, and next time you hear it you'll know it. Just a little tip but every little thing helps. 🙂
@@JustinCase99999 Thanks Justin, I’m currently looking for Top Gun in French. That’ll be a good start for me as I know it by heart 👍🇫🇷
@@Escapetofrance-Charente Grandes boules de feu ? 😄
@@JustinCase99999 C’est ça exactement lol
@@Escapetofrance-Charente Top Gun on French TV this evening! In 40 mn in fact. 😁 Monday 23rd September, on W9, at 9:10 pm. 😊
@@Escapetofrance-Charente Top Gun on French TV this evening! At 9:10 pm on W9. I hope you have time to catch it. 😊
What a lovely chat with Katie and Chris. I also worked long hours up at 4 am, it is never the right time, just do it. The community have been overwhelming welcoming something that just would not happen in the UK, good luck xx
Thank you so much. Hopefully Katie and Chris will read this 👍🇫🇷
If Rob and Lisa are any indication of the hospitality of the expat community in France We are going to be right at home. In addition, ALL of our interactions with French locals have been gracious and kind.
Merci beaucoup et de rien 👍🇫🇷
Le français est facile à apprendre pour les anglophones car plus de 40 % des mots anglais proviennent du français. "Journey" par exemple vient de l'ancien français "jornée" qui correspond au voyage que l'on fait dans sa journée. Et voilà, vous avez appris le mot "journée" !
Hey there, nice of you to speak french to the chicken. You are actually doing quite well for a beginner. As for the accents, I have trouble finding them in the "caractère spéciaux " as I am well over 50 and my arms are really too short.
I watched your video about parents meeting at your children's school. You must not worry about your level of french. "L'éducation "Nationale" uses a very private language. You can understand some words but not any sentence !
@@agnesmichel1286 Thank you so much for your comment and your advice. Really appreciate it. Hope you keep watching 🇫🇷👍
Do not worry about minor negative comments. I agree with your opinion of those that do rudeness.
Thank you. I like the saying from A Game of Thrones ‘A lion does not concern himself with the opinion of a sheep’ 🇫🇷👍
@@Escapetofrance-Charente Very philosophical for a Friday night/Saturday morning!👍👍
@mototakahe836 Merci et de rien 🇫🇷👍
Welcome in France!!
Merci bien 👍🇫🇷
Pretty good french with the chickens, you're on the good way to become fluent 😀
Yes you speak really fast, sometimes it's a bit hard for french people like me to understand it well. But a good training anyway. If you can try to become a bit more "frenchified", take your time to live, and breath, and speak ... 😋
Thank you so much. Our children will be fluent a long time before me for sure, but I’m getting there slowly.
I’m still trying to speak more slowly but it’s difficult lol 👍🇫🇷
@@Escapetofrance-Charente I spent one year in Manchester (United) when I was 11 (first form, and I'm retired now). When I came back to France, I was dreaming in english and spoke english when I woke up, before realizing I was back in France 🙂
So yes, your children will be be very quickly frenchified
We've all got to learn somewhere. It was lovely that some of your French subscribers corrected the unpleasant character! Keep on succeeding with your very beautiful french👍❤
@@dianesmith5254 Aww thank you Diane for saying that about my accent.
And it was lovely that the French helped me out too 👍🇫🇷
Brilliant you’ve met a lovely American couple moving to France next April. Love it. Yea I can see why lots of people are moving there. I praise the fact that the French have Sunday as family day no using power tools they want everyone to relax. Also the 2 hour lunch break. Wish I had that in my working days. It reckon that’s why there’s so many angry people in the world. They spend the majority of their days working. Good for you picking up the pace of your learning French language
@@charmees6637 Thanks Char, deffo too many angry people in the world. The French culture is the way forward for sure. 👍🇫🇷
"the little wiggly thing" awww , what a lovely way to call la cédille (pronounced sey-deeye) . as a French person used to speaking with expats , I certify you that your French is already pretty good . One Brit friend from East Anglia who's now been French for 35 years learnt the language from scratch from :
1] a list of must-know slang words I wrote for him like "bagnole" "au pieu", and " bouquin" ,
2] from comic books for kids with a lot of text and not too many puns.The pictures helped a lot.
@@issey1456 Lol thank you so much. I’m going I have to research those slang words now for sure
Merci pour votre commentaire 🇫🇷👍
@@Escapetofrance-Charenteargot c est bien si tu bafouilles avec un gars du coins et sa va être pour toi un avantage c est plus familier donc direct
Merci bien. Je suis d’accord. Passez une bonne journée 👍🇫🇷
As a retired teacher, I’m interested in the difference in teaching in the UK and France. The teaching of grammar in the UK wasn’t good. It is improving. It doesn’t help that English is a loose language with several tenses being used in any given sentence and obviously, little is gendered. In contrast, French is a logical and methodical language. So if the subject is plural, so is the adjective. Plus, as grammar is so well taught in French schools, when we use French incorrectly, we’re just not understood. You are doing really well.
Thanks Jane so much. Robbie’s French teacher told us it’s really difficult to teach French children French for the same reason, especially written French. Children obviously learn spoken French at home and then the Teachers have to unpack it…..especially as French is a written Latin language with lots of silent letters
It’s gonna be a long hard slog 👍🇫🇷
@@Escapetofrance-Charente we start French lessons October to July as we’ve been on a waitlist. We arrived just before Covid when everything was shut or didn’t start again. So, we’re really behind. Formal French lessons will hopefully help us catch up. Funnily enough, we’ve learned more informal/slang French from the TV than we should probably use.
@@FrugalQueeninFrance Good that you’re at least on a list. I’m searching for Top Gun in French as I know that by heart. I’ll get there one day 👍🇫🇷
Good vid, Robb! The observations that the Americans from DC made about the USA's "quality of life problems" were very accurate. I agreed with every one of them. ("Super Easy French" and "Easy French" on YT might be worth a look as well, btw...)
Thank you Raymond. Life in the US sounds very similar to the UK 👍🇫🇷
I think people asking you to speak slower mainly want to train their hearing as what we learn in school is very close to how Rees-Mogg speak both in accent, pronunciation and speed. And if I remember correctly my time, the same haughtiness.
What most French people are used to are Londoners speech and American English in movies that don't always let you hear the many accents English speakers have.
Like in French movies and TV, it's mostly Parisian's French and accent. You rarely hear other regional accents and idioms.
That’s really interesting to know. Media and movies certainly play a huge part in this, and not for the greater understanding I suppose
Hi my husband and I think you’re doing great with the French language. Veg patch doing well. You all look really well and healthy. Videos are great. Best wishes to you all
Thanks so much Linda and hubby. That really means a lot. We are getting there slowly but surely. Glad you enjoyed the video :)
Some people are just a holes. Truer words were never spoken my friend. As someone who used to live outside dc a couple of years ago, those people are just going to love it here. Night and day. We live near pau, and life is fantastic. As far as learning French goes, we also do the duolingo, but we have a tutor from the village come by twice a week to help, mainly with pronunciation. She's fantastic, 84 yo, worked for a time in Ireland, so her English is great. She is actually a defacto grandmere to our youngest. I didn't see myself retiring to France, but now, never want to leave. At least for any length of time. Cheers.
Brian, how lovely that you have a French neighbour that helps you out. I need to find me one of those for sure.
Katie and Chris will love it here I’m sure.
Thanks for the comment 👍🇫🇷
Well done for talking to the chickens in French. You have a good accent!
Cedilla, for the squiggly thing under the C (cédille in French)
Thank you so much. accents half the battle lol
Merci 👍🇫🇷
Do not despair! French is not that difficult! French tv helps ! Also magazines with photos like Paris Match! I learnt in a few months! Years later I can now choose to read in English or French depending on the author!
@@lorrainebareste Lol you are the first person who has ever told me French is not that difficult. You must have a knack for languages 👍🇫🇷
Great vid, and happy to see some US peeps doing the same thing I am doing - but they'll get there soon er than I , I suspect. I was hoping for Spring, but thinking September now to avoid the possible dearth of long-term rentals that may be shorter-term rented over the summer through August.
Also: where did you find that awesome alphabet video? Must have!!! (Sue)
@@SueIsRetiringToFrance Hi Sue, thanks for the comment. The songs off RUclips. Loads of them in there. Yeah September the rental prices drop right down. That’s what we did 👍🇫🇷
Info pour les auditeurs:
1) vous pouvez ralentir la vitesse du débit
2) vous pouvez activer les sous-titres en français : au bout d'un moment vous allez acquérir des tournures de phrase sans avoir eu conscience de les avoir apprises😊
Merci beaucoup, c'est un très bon conseil.
Very interesting ! Thank you
@@elsenm3965 You are very welcome. Thank you for watching 👍🇫🇷
Nice video, you are a nice guy i wish you the best. 😊
Ty
It seems lots are moving to the Charente. We can't all be wrong😁
You are so right, life is too short for regrets. Too often in my porfessional life i met people with grand plans for latere in life/retirement that never came true due to ill health or death. I dont want to be on my deathbead wishing I had doen something
Time will fly by for Katie and Chris, Spring is not far away. We start our move in mid Octobert and hope to be in our new home for early December. Currently sitting surrounded by packing boxes which is stressful 🤣 I at least get to excape to the Charente for a week shortly, for a business handover.
Would love to hear your view on buying a car in France, I saw the vlog when you picked your one up and the delay. But why did you pick that dealer etc. Im planning to do what you did by bringing our car down for the move and then returning to UK to sell it through we buy or similar.
Yeah we can’t all be wrong. Charente is amazing for sure.
There are loads of main dealers in Champniers selling new and used (d’occasion) cars. Whatever is on the windscreen is wrong. You need to pay another 900 euros ish for tax etc ontop of that. You’ll also need a utility bill, if not EDF a mobile phone one should suffice
Hope that helps mate 👍🇫🇷
the thingy under the 'c' is called a cedille. So it is called a c-cedille.
or a cedilla in English
They are used for ça or çon in words to make pronounce sa or son (ça, garçon) instead of ca and con, pronounced ka or kon, like carte, conduite
But you will manage. One day, all will beCome clear and easy.
It is sûre !
Thanks Joep 👍🇫🇷
Merci bien
As far as I'm concerned, listening to French radio and watching French television are the very best ways to learn how people really talk. Particularly the stupid game shows are useful, because the words are simple and there are plenty of visual clues to help you understand. Formal classes often teach you the wrong stuff.
Thank you so much for your advice. We do listen to radio but it’s way too fast. Game shows are a good shout so thank you for that 👍🇫🇷
I think it’s a Cidilla. Not sure 😅😅😅
It is thank you. Much appreciated 🇫🇷👍
Fichtre ! Déménager de Washington DC à la Charente doit être un choc
Oui, mais un choc incroyable et merveilleux
@@Escapetofrance-Charente c’est une très belle région rurale un peu endormie pas riche non plus mais où il fait bon vivre si l’on accepte de renoncer à certaines futilités de la société de consommation
Je suis originaire de Niort un peu plus au nord : plus actif mais la vie reste très cool (hélas c’est moins cool pour y trouver un travail)
@@guzy1971 Merci pour votre commentaire et je suis tout à fait d'accord, la Charente est très belle et nous aimons tout ce qui s'y rapporte
tu parles bien français bravo ❤❤❤😊
Merci a vous. Passez une bonne journée 👍🇫🇷
I'm from the States, and live in a small town in the Midwest. Our town is small, laid back and peaceful. I don't get where that lady says that in the States they can't find that anywhere. Anyway, I like your channel. Laters!
Thanks Cynthia. Chris May answered that when he reads the comment 👍🇫🇷
We are wanting to do the same, move from the US. Looking for a small farm/detached property. What exact area are they locating in? Any recommendations would be much appreciated.
We are looking around the Cherante area, but the right property was in the Limousine or northern Dordogne departments we would be open to those areas as well
@@Jean-MarcBordeauxThanks, for the feedback
Kate and Chris. Does Your current US State have a Driving Licence exchange agreement with France? If not, consider changing your licence in another US State or you could end up having to re-sit a driving test in France unnecessarily.
Sorry for the late response, but yes we currently live in VA.
Try not to let the overly critical comments take away from your natural easy go lucky attitude and sensible demeanor
Thank you so much. What a nice thing to say say
Merci bien et passez une bonne journée
bah alors là! bang! if you do speak french to ppl as you speak to your chickens nothing can stop you, don't speak about KFC to french poules, they would start a revolution ;) great vid Rob !
Thanks Ray. Managed to get by today at the Préfecture just speak French with out my google translate. Very pleased with myself 👍🇫🇷
I'm from the North East of England,and we speak even faster, its something to do with standing around in the cold. Lol. The fun is that I understand what they are saying even though they think I am thick. Lol. DIane et Eliott le Chien
Hey Diane, how is your French accent coming from the north east?
@@Escapetofrance-Charente I only have a Yorkshire accent. Lol.
lol 👍🇫🇷
The main problem in french language is grammar : tenses are build in a similar way than spanish.
I agree. Both are Latin languages
My wife sells on eBay, and the rare negative reviews are what gats her attention, it’s hard to ignore them but more people are positive than negative. You are going well, just keep going and rise above the connards.
Thanks Peter. That means a lot and I really appreciate your comment 👍🇫🇷
Lovely to see Confolens. We usually go every year, but haven't been able to this year 🥲. Never been in the Asiatique as yet, but have used the chipoil over the road a couple of times.
Café des Sports a few times too!
We have family in Champagne Mouton (nearish to you possibly?) and can definitely recommend Cafe de la Paix if you like really good beef cooked perfectly over the open fire.
Thanks for the vid. Really enjoyed it as usual.
Thanks Steve, Confolens is our fave place in France. Champagne mouton is ten mins away from us and we’ve been to the cafe but not eaten there yet. Will have to give it a go 🇫🇷👍
Do. You won't regret it!
❤❤❤
👍
Merci bien
👏👏
@@nativetexson Thanks Glen 👍🇫🇷
Bravo, vous parlez en français à vous poules, vous allez faire des progrès lentement mais sûrement
Merci bien. Les poules ont compris, je pense
"Cue slow mo" 😅😅😅😅
Wonder what the French is for that lol
@Escapetofrance-Charente well today I just learned what "C'est Parton" means!! - 😅😅😅
@@ChateauTales lol
Pas mal le français pour les poules !
Merci bien et passez une bonne journée
Have you thought about being a volunteer firefighter? You're athletic, you have your British first aid certificates, i guess?
You don't need to be French citizen and since you speak English, it will be a good basis in the summer with English tourists.
Rob's an ex-cop who retired because of PTSD. Thus the choice for Charente and that specific location, quiet and far from noisy and stressful cities.
@@Belaziraf Hoo ok PTSD="stress post-traumatique" so something more quiet indeed
Good call, would love to but my mental health would suffer
Merci bien. Very supportive so thank you
Very very quiet 👍🇫🇷
It’s very important to speak French to french animals, indeed 😅.
Je suis d’accord completement 👍🇫🇷
Salue Chris et Katie, bienvenue chez vous en France les enfants.
Merci
ç = "c" cédille (une cédille)
Merci bien 👍🇫🇷
Il porte des charentaises .... 😁😁👌
oui je le fais Merci
Merci de penser aux français qui vous suivent et de parler plus lentement. Je vous comprends assez bien mais plusieurs mots m'échappent.
C'est pareil pour beaucoup d'anglais qui regardent sa chaîne sur youtube. Soyez heureux que Rob ne soit pas écossais !!! 😂🤣😂
Lol il commence justement par parler des français qui se plaignent dans les commentaires qu'il parle trop vite pour les français, et vous, vous en remettez une couche 😄. Il répond d'ailleurs avec humour que vous n'allez pas apprendre l'anglais correct avec lui 😊. Il parle vite comme les gens du nord de l'Angleterre d'où il vient. Mais ces commentaires de certains français l'ont un peu agacé et il dit qu'il y a des c*nnards partout. 😊 Un conseil, mettez les sous-titres automatiques, il y a parfois des erreurs mais la plupart du temps c'est correct.
Merci beaucoup à vous tous. J'essaie de mon mieux de ralentir et d'être compris, mais c'est parfois difficile. Je ne me plaignais pas que les téléspectateurs français veulent que je ralentisse, je soulignais simplement que je devais faire plus d'efforts. Passez une bonne journée à tous.
lol
Hello, don’t forget many english words became from french (30% approximatly). Don’t be afraid about grammar ; many french people make errors too specially with conditionnal tense and use only present tense, future and composed past. Î’m used Babbel to learn italian and it’s nice but I don’t know how is to learn french because it’s m’y native language. Try it… and good luck ! You made many progress with your chicken because they don’t be critical. Don’t worry too if french people correct you, it’s friendly because we are used to be corrected at school with teachers ( that the reason why french people is shy when they speak english) and we continue when we are adults.
Thanks so much for the lovely comment and advice. I really appreciate any help or guidance that is offered 🇫🇷👍
Je pense que la plus grande " difficulté" que vous aurez en français sera de ralentir le rythme 😉
Il n'y a pas d'accent tonique et toutes les syllabes sont prononcées sur le même ton..
Par exemple lorsque vous dites "Angoulême", il faut dire AN-GOU-LEM 😁
J'avoue que je n'ai pas compris l'autre nom de ville que vous avez évoqué, précisément à cause de syllabes avalées..
Personnellement j'ai commencé à comprendre la langue de ma femme ( le portugais) en regardant les chaînes d'info😁.
Le vocabulaire n'est pas trop élitiste et à priori les journalistes s'expriment à peu près correctement.
Je pense qu'il parle de "Confolens", en Charente, qu'il prononce comme "Conflans", ville des Yvelines.
@Rob if you read this, if it is "Confolens" you spoke of, it's rear "con-fo-lan".
Les chaînes infos, c'est pas une bonne idée en France. Il faut minimum un niveau B2. Les anciens journalistes ont un vocabulaire plus riche et pas vraiùent utile pour la vie de tous les jours. Les jeunes parlent trop vite pour entraîner l'oreille d'un débutant.
@@Belaziraf Vous avez peut-être raison pour les chaînes d'info en France.
Je sais que cela a marché un peu pour moi..
@@allegromoderato7404 Il y a aussi le fait que vous avez votre femme qui vous parle probablement aussi en Portugais tous les jours. Ça donne des bases plus solides. Sans compter que Rob a aussi des difficultés d'apprentissage académiques. C'est pour ça que je pense que ce n'est pas bon pour lui de vouloir aller trop vite.
@@Belaziraf
Non pas du tout..
Ma femme ne me parle jamais portugais, elle l'a presque oublié,voire effacé de sa mémoire 😁😁
@@allegromoderato7404 😂
En langue parlée, ceux qui ont une bonne oreille ont plus de facilité et apprennent plus vite. Ils peuvent associer un mot écrit au son qu'ils entendent.
Sinon, il n'y a que la pratique progressive qui donne des résultats suffisants et relativement rapide.
Learn French with Alexia U tube helps me.
@@johnhanson5565 Thanks John 👍🇫🇷
lnteresting, surprised they didn't mention trump 😂
Definitely off camera lol
We are definitely not fans.
1st step: learn french. No need to be fluent at the beginning. But let’s around an intermediary level. Otherwise, you’re lost.
@@iparipaitegianiparipaitegi4643 Couldn’t agree with you more, thank you 👍🇫🇷
Good everything to you but you do speak very fast and at times it's difficult to understand you
I'm not trying to be mean
M
@@miriammuskal5402 Good everything back at ya Miriam. I’m trying my best to slow down 👍🇫🇷
As you're a Top gun addict, try to find the french film " les chevaliers du ciel" it was inspired by the Tanguy et Laverdure cartoons ( bande dessinée) Same humour in the film, the flights filming are real, the making off of the film is interresting too. And if you do 't understand all in first viewings, you could enjoy the flights views !
I mostly learnt english while leaving in a share flats with foreign student, fun fact I better understood the Liverpool girl than the Windsor one ! And after I married a british, my kids are bilingual as my granddaughters will be. Family meals are a mix of french and english as my kids only speaks english to the granddaughters but french between them 😂.
After my divorce I try to relearn german, it was my first foreign language at school and was fluent after sommer holidays in our twin town in Bavaria ( Bavarian Swaben exactly) fluent but with some bavarian/ souabe accent 😂
I found a YT channel with Jeanne and did her classes it's fun !
After as I was close to retirement, I used all my rights to training to do a course with Lingoda (90 hours ) I really like that, small class maximum 5 and was sometimes alone with the teachers ! My courses was paid for me but they do some promotion like Spring. You could have a look or even z free try.
There is also a good App ( not free) Gymlish with french, english, german, Spanish, Italian. I do the german one, not bad at all ! There are also free tries.
I play also with Duolingo, but the french isn't so good then not sure about the german !
And thanks to VPN I watch german TV ( Krimi police series or films) and mostly follow my Unicorns games ( American football team of Schwäbisch Hall) I don't understand every words (70-80%) but I understand the meaning. Being constant improve a lot too, better 10mn every days than 2 hours every fortnight !
👍 Pour votre conversation en français avec les poules !
Thanks Brigitte. That’s amazing that you speak so many languages. Well done you. Thank you for telling me a little of your story, very interesting
No doubt our meals with the family will be pretty much the same with our children
Thanks for all the advice
Passez une bonne journée
Ne t'inquiètes pas Chris, le parlé Français viendra tout seul l'ami et tu verras que les "jurons sont les plus faciles à retenir ah ah ah!!!.
Je suis d’accord completement 👍🇫🇷
@@Escapetofrance-CharenteBetter say: Je suis entièrement d'accord OR Je suis tout à fait d'accord.
@@michellemobakeng5938 Thank you. This all helps me