This blog series is an adaptation of the material in my newsletter called From the Devil’s Coach House and follows our adventures moving to France and building a band new recording studio, as well as establishing ourselves in the French music industry.
The Story So Far…
Towards the end of 2021, things were going pretty slowly chez nous. We still had the old, asbestos roof on the coach house and were struggling to find the artisans to come and do the work. France still had a lot of Covid measures in place, so things hadn’t opened up properly with regards to music and nightlife, but things were starting to shift. I had been working from a temporary studio set up in the master bedroom, while Anikó and I slept in the guest room. It wasn’t ideal, but we were making it work.
What had reopened in France were schools and colleges. As soon as that happened, I set out to find a French language course. Like many Brits, I had “studied” French in school and had managed to develop enough language skills to ask for a ham sandwich… and that was about it. However, now I had chosen France as my home, I didn’t want to be one of those Brits who spend a lifetime in a country without ever coming to terms with the lingo. Also, in a practical sense, I wanted to be able to work with French people and not find myself trapped inside some kind of anglophone clique.
I do have sympathy for a lot of Brits. I think we are raised with the idea that we can’t learn languages, and, because of the dominance of English internationally, to a large degree, we can get away without other languages. They say that, to learn a language well, you need the opportunity and the necessity. Sadly, for us anglophones, we rarely have both of those things at the same time.
I had the slight advantage that I had learned another language in my thirties. When I lived in Hungary, I studied Hungarian every chance I got. A big part of it was the challenge. If ever you meet a Hungarian, they will tell you that their language is the most difficult in the world and that it was impossible to learn.
Well, that’s just a red rag to a bull, to me.
French, at least, is much more closely related to English, so, if anything, I was confident that it wouldn’t be as hard to learn as Hungarian.
Initially, I signed up for two lessons of 3 hours a week, which was a great start. One thing that amazed me about this course was that it was entirely free. Free education? Imagine that! The classes were good, although the level was very mixed, but it wasn’t enough for me; I wanted to learn faster.
Here is the amazing thing: Brittany runs full-time, French language courses for foreigners that last five months and are not only free, but you get a very generous stipend - at least equal to unemployment benefit - to attend one. How’s that for encouraging integration and employment opportunities?
Of course, attending college full-time for five months when you are trying to build a studio and develop a business in a new country does seem a bit mad, but I’ve always preferred the short, sharp shock. I figured that, while some Covid regulations were in place, and I couldn’t really do a whole lot on the studio, there wouldn’t be a better time for me to go back to school. Also, if I could get French under my belt, then, when things really opened up, I would have all my skills in place to jump right in, in France.
So, that’s what I did. December 2021, I returned to college to study on a full-time course in French language, culture and citizenship.
Find out what happens in the next blog post.