I own a house in the Dordogne, but live in London. One thing has always puzzled me - how does the Gites business work ?
I do not intend setting one up myself as I would probably make Basil Fawlty like like "Host of the Year", but others in the UK have asked me about it and I cannot understand why it works.
If I was going to stay in, say, Germany or Sweden, I would like to stay in a place run by Germans or Swedes. The same would apply to France - indeed all the more so as I have always found the French to be friendly, chatty, welcoming people. There is a good reason why we take the word "charming" from French - the French are.
Why would anybody choose to holiday in any foreign country in a house run by people from their own country ? It sounds like the worst bit of one of the grimmest Costas where British people eat sausage and chips all week long at "El Dog and Duck". If you only go abroad for sun and sea and are intimidated by anything foreign, especially the food (surely a small minded attitude which applies less to modern Britons than anybody else in the world), there is a reason.
But the people who visit France are there to see France and wallow in it.
I am genuinely at a loss to see how there can be any long time business in being a foreigner running a Gites in France. Surely anybody British who wants to stay in a Gites in France run by British people has, by now, bought one ?
I realise this might seem challenging to people. Clearly thousands are making a go of it. But is it - like London property prices - no more than an extended flash in the pan whose time is past ?
Guess a lot of Brits love to go on holiday abroad, but still in the comfort of a British environment. You find that also when looking at those scores of Britons colonizing particular parts of France in their second i.e. first homes. But there's absolutely nothing wrong with wanting a bit of "emotional comfort" when abroad. Those who don't need that, speak a bit of the language and are bit more adventurous you'll find definitely in French-lead gites, other accommodations and in the other case living in an area where's no other Briton in sight in a 25 mile radius.
And there's of-course the other group of people best described by their motto: "France is a lovely country, it even has some things that the UK doesn't have, but unfortunately it's also the place where French people are living". For them it might be excellent to commiserate the French attitudes / culture with their English hosts ;-)
I know a number of foreigners who have gites, B&B's etc. But all but two have some non-related activities on the side, simply because they can't take the risk of a bad tourist season.
I ran gites for 7 years and had both anglophone and francophone guests. Used to organise a barbecue where those who came provided a dish, we added wine, more food and the opportunity for all our guests to meet others. Everyone loved the place and many returned year on year. It had been developed by a french couple who ended up with a situation where guests minded each others kids and some of these people came back 10 yrs later to see how the place where they holidayed as kids had developed.
We provided english or french rental contracts, spoke english or improving french, happily invited our guests to chat/leave their kids to play with ours etc. The gites were by no means luxurious but were out in the countryside, loved by doctors, teachers etc. When our last year's guests found we were leaving they were all sad. The new owners run the gites as a property rental business - a different level of customer service.
Why did anglophones or francophones come to stay? - we responded to each enquiry within minutes of it being received (even at 1am) and tried very hard to respond with info appropriate to the requirements of each guest. I now work as a receptionist in a local hotel where I'm only allowed to reply with facts about room rates etc, no personal touch and people who have specific requests are seen as 'trying it on'
I'm not blowing my own trumpet but think that our level of customer service and immediate availability clinched our repeat business. :) - it didn't pay the bills though ;(
I'm paid, by the state, to teach English - we teach in the target language. If you are studying literature (rather than just reading for pleasure, and even then I prefer the original version when possible) you should study it in the original (Shakespeare translates very badly into French, very well into German and also into Persian...). Italian is widely available as a 2nd or 3rd language at school here (1000km from Italy). Do you actually know the vast majority of French people? We aren't all monoglot you know.
Excuse me Jane, but I believe France has almost as many Shakespeare scholars as England nowadays. I didn't know that, I looked it up. So why not Italian as well, certainly hereabouts with many second and third generation people of Italian origin there is revised interest...
Of course Dante is part of our common European cultural heritage, my point was that the vast majority of French, or any other people who are not Italian, would not be able to understand a sign written in Italian, whoever it was quoting, so it wouldn't communicate anything to anybody who saw it. Veronique the State may well pay you to speak the words of Shakespeare in English, my question would be why? And my point on Shakespeare was similar - most French people cannot understand or recognise the words of Shakespeare unless they are translated into French. As I am sure you know. I reply here as there is no option to do so on your reply to me.
Interesting question, I think Dante is far more part of 'European culture' than some people think, as too Goethe, Voltaire and a considerable 'shopping' list of others except that it has been shortsightedness on the part of those who shape national education has often narrowed our enormous choice down. Perché non utilizzare italiana dove non si parla ma è comunque più appropriato? (Blah, excuse my awful Italian!) Gleichfalls Deutsch oder sonstigen Sprachen.
Cate - the bits and bobs was self-mockery - but then you were too enthusiastic getting claws in as you always do with me to even think of that. The sarcasm about Quechua and Kinh does not become you. Of course you medics only need second rate Latin, so you are happy with that and your Russian and the other five. Geh' mit das und seid zufrieden, mehr kriegst'e nicht von mir.
Jane, I grew up bilingual with English and German, French was part of 'classics' at school and my first OH Corsican... As a postgrad I chose to work in Peru so Castellano had to follow but my Quechua up in the mountains was never that great. I have Italian from my present OH and the family that I picked up fast with the Latin and Spanish, Portuguese from when we lived there, Nederlands because it just seems so easy with German and English, took a Norwegian course when I lived there, have some KiSwahili from my time in east Africa, a little Kinh from work in Viet Nam, a tiny bit of Yoruba from west Africa and the odd phrases of umpteen languages I can say hello and bye-bye in. Given I was back and forth to Peru for nigh on 18 years my lack of good Quechua is more or less a shamelessness. Of all anthropologists I know, I am one with a small number of languages compared to the rest, especially non-European languages.
My OH does four languages as a matter of course, having studied in the Francophone world, worked and lived in South America and being with yours truly in the UK for a few years. Those are just the fluent ones...
Andrew, I've put your comment "you obviously piss people off a lot" on the strapline of my blog under your name. See it here jane-griffiths-my-book.blogspot.com - just so you know. Thanks for the accolade!
that wouldn't be a pidgin in fact, but let's not get technical here. Seems a bit bizarre though, to put up a sign in Italian when you are not in Italy or at the border with it. I don't think you'd get far communicating with French people by quoting Shakespeare at them in English
that's not a lightweight in many circles. I work in a multi-lingual environment and am something of a lightweight in that context, being comfortable only in English and French, with a good understanding of Russian and able to speak it though not fluently or idiomatically, same with German, fair knowledge of Japanese and bits of several others. What languages do you have, Brian?
Definitely am a lightweight in my professional circles. My OH speaks four fluently and puts me to shame with each of them, including the English... Too late to get better at it now though. I would love to have learned Kinh at least.
We run a gite in France, and I am sure you are correct, that the decision to rent from us is based on the presentation of the gite, marketing, facilities, price - certainly! - rather than the nationality of the proprietaires. We have broadly equal numbers of French and British guests, with a few other nationalities thrown in for good measure (Australian, Dutch, Belgian to name some) Going back to the original posting, I think it would be a lot more difficult to run a holiday let if living abroad. Do-able, granted, but I don't think I would want to do it.
What we all write here is just a snapshot of our thoughts, which is why it's easy to misinterpret the author's personal ethos. T clarify, while I do find it slightly juvenile to worry about the odd English word creeping into the French language as if that will change their whole culture overnight, I can say that I am very happy in France; my husband is French, children half French-half English and bilingual (can't imagine any dual-language or more household who wouldn't bring their children up speaking all the languages available), I work for a French company and teach English to French business people as well as young students. I note the current BAC generation are dynamic, actively seeking change and embracing the idea of expediting the evolution of popular culture, working practices etc. Things will happen in their own time. In the meantime we do need to remember the reasons why we came to France; the easy-going pace of life for one. I let off steam to my husband once in a while if, for example, my bank manager answers the phone during a meeting with me when he won't be disturbed if I call him because he is with a customer( bless him, my husband really gets it) and then go back to loving the other 95% of my life here. The grass is not greener, I'm not wistful about my life in the UK and I'm looking forward to what the future brings for France, my home.
Did I say you don't speak French, or complain about people in France speaking French? I think not. What I wrote was supposed to be under Nicole's post. I'd put the sign in Italian because it is a quotation, that's how Dante wrote it and I prefer to quote in the original language when I can. The reference to pidgin (in French we would say sabir) is with regard to English words creeping into French.
what is all this about language? I speak French all the time! Why on earth would I complain about people in France speaking French? I certainly did not. And I never said English people don't behave badly! Of course French people never get drunk, or drive drunk, we know this, don't we? Do try and understand, I wasn't complaining, just pointing to cultural differences. I don't shriek and whoop and holler in the workplace, French people do. I don't like my (Belgian) boss kissing me at New Year. I don't like other people I hardly know kissing me. I accept it because they are French or francophone, and that is what French people do. And why would you put a sign "Abandon hope all ye who enter here" in Italian? Round where I live nobody speaks Italian. German, yes. English, occasionally. French, always. Alsatian, often. Turkish, Kurdish, malinke, Malagasy, Arabic, certainly. But not Italian. Where I grew up, in Bedfordshire, a lot of people spoke Italian. Your point is?