Getting used to French working hours is pretty easy. You just need to plan ahead a little bit, and you can always find small things that are still ouvert (open) to hold you over if you’re caught in a long holiday or even a viewing trip.

So when planning a viewing trip to France to see many of the fine properties for sale with Cle France you will notice that we rarely book you in for a viewing between 12pm and 2pm!

It is also worth noting that "the French" rarely work Sundays and Saturdays are not always supported either, although most of Cle France agents work Saturday mornings [I guess protecting le weekend for family duties is not a bad thing] and it is what we "British" may have lost over the years with Sunday Trading and 24 hour opening! what do you think?

You maybe fine with all of that and working with the French schedule, until you need des médicaments (medicine) on a Sunday.

Waking up one Sunday morning not sure how you will be able to get des médicaments is not a fun way to start the day.

It happended to me one Sundsy... I was already sick, but I knew I could get over it with the right médicaments.

J’étais convaincu que (I was convinced that) I’d need to suffer through the day and just wait for lundi matin (Monday morning). After some research, I learned about les pharmacies de garde (emergency pharmacies).

Understanding the importance of l’accès aux médicaments (the access to medicine), des pharmacies take turns being open le dimanche (on Sundays). De cette manière (in this way) there is always une pharmacie ouverte nearby.

I knew “24 hour culture” didn’t exist in France, but was happy to learn la pharmacie de garde includes night services for emergencies. Even though you wont find a supermarket on every corner ouvert 24 sur 24 (open 24 hours), there’s always something open for an emergency.

I also found the useful website,at PharmaciedeGarde.com, for finding the closest pharmacie de garde.

Choose your département et ville (department and city), and it will show you which pharmacies sont ouvertes.

On that fateful dimanche, once I found la pharmacie de garde, I was able to get des médicaments and was feeling better by the afternoon!

Blog submitted by: Alex at The French Property Network - Cle France.

For everything you need to know about French property visit www.clefrance.co.uk

Living and working in France can be a delight but it can also be frustrating if you have deadlines to meet.

I remember a neighbour of ours (when we lived in the Mayenne in Pays de la Loire) who worked as an electrician and he often worked more than the maximum 35 hours allowed each week, he could not take this as an overtime payment [generally not available to French workers] so he had to take it off as 'time in lieu' which is why he was always not at work from January to April; he would store up the hours and take 3 months off a year! not bad eh?

Similarly shops and business opening hours can be seen as either calming and relaxing or a darned frustration when you need to buy something! most large supermarkets are opening from 9am to 6pm BUT village and town shops & business often close between 12:00 midday and 14:00 (2pm), this includes all DIY stores, banks, post offices and even fuel stations but not restaurants you will be pleased to know, and that is where you will find all the workers enjoying their 2 hour lunch break.

Photo by Alan Levine on Flickr.

So when planning a viewing trip to France to see many of the fine properties for sale with Cle France you will notice that we rarely book you in for a viewing between 12pm and 2pm!

It is also worth noting that "the French" rarely work Sundays and Saturdays are not always supported either, although most of Cle France agents work Saturday mornings [I guess protecting le weekend for family duties is not a bad thing] and it is what we "British" may have lost over the years with Sunday Trading and 24 hour opening! what do you think?

The French Pace of Life

But don't fret you will get used to it, learn to love it and when you live in France it has an almost calming effect on one's mindset and your pace of day to day living slows to a more natural and healthy rythmn.

People quickly notice the difference in les horaires de travail (working hours) between the UK and France. Even being aware of the holidays does not always mean you will know how to faire le pont (make the bridge). Knowing when things will be ouvert (open) and fermé (closed) is important no longer how long your stay.

A mistake I made going into my first long weekend: faire les courses (grocery shopping) many years ago. It was a tough few days finding whatever food I had leftover! De plus (what’s more), things being open 24 (vingt-quatre) sur 24 (24 hours a day) doesn’t happen as often in France as in the UK. I have wanted to faire les courses many times when it was too late and tout est fermé (everything is closed).

Par ailleurs (beyond that), being able to work on Sundays is a recent development. Until very recently c’était illégal (it was illegal)!

Even though la change (the change) already happened, le polémique (the controversy) remains. I learned about it during an exchange a few years ago, and hearing something that strange made me blurt out:

-Pourquoi c’était illégal de travailler le dimanche ?

Why was it illegal to work on Sundays?

The answer was all the more surprising:

-Vous êtes trop anglais, vous ne pouvez pas comprendre.

You are too English, you cannot understand.

Shocked at such a response, I didn’t press the issue. Au début (at first), I could not believe someone had said something so ridiculous to me. Years later I realise what they said was true. The idea of having such strict laws on when to work was too foreign to me.

Maintenant (now) I can appreciate the special care given to les travailleurs (workers) and I quickly got used to shorter working hours and longer holidays.

Ne vous inquiétez pas (Don’t worry) ! En pratique (in practice), Even during the long holidays, restaurants will still be open and des petits épiceries aussi (little supermarkets too). Il y a (there are) more things open, bien sûr, in the big cities, but even in the smaller towns you’re sure to find a kebab shop or two!

Just be sure to check le calendrier (the calender) and look for les horaires (the [working] hours) online if you can!

Blog submitted by: Alex at The French Property Network - Cle France.

For everything you need to know about French property visit www.clefrance.co.uk

Bon anniversaire, Harry!

It seems like it was a lifetime ago that I was reading the first Harry Potter book to my young son in the late 90s, he is now at University but still wants to watch the films when he is back home for Christmas!

Even though he is English, my son grew up in France from the age of 4 to 14 so education, leisure and reading was mainly in French of course; so he first read the Harry Potter books in French not English! Although not strictly linked to looking to buy a house in France we tend to find that property hunters who are looking to move to France, sometime in the future, can find some of the more obscure French terms help them impress and fit in with their neighbours.

So let's look at some of the names, places and events in the books and learn a little French along the way.

Let's look at some Harry Potter Terms in French

Bon anniversaire, Harry Potter !

On July 31st, the boy who lived turns 35. Since the first book was published in the summer of 1997, the 7 book series of fantasy and adventure novels by J.K. Rowling has become amazingly successful. Let’s look at some numbers:

The books have sold over 450 million copies worldwide, which makes it the highest-selling book series ever.

The books have been translated into 73 languages, which puts it in the top 10 list of the most-translated books in history. That’s a pretty big feat considering literary translation est extrêmement difficile (is extremely hard)!

'The French' are obsessed with the series as much as any other country.

There’s so much to say about the story, but the basic plot line revolves around a boy named Harry and his two friends Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger, all students at Hogwards School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, who try to stop Lord Voldemort from conquering the wizard world. That’s just a gross oversimplification of the story, but if you’re interested, you can read all 4,224 pages in the series to discover everything.

So are you curious how they would translate J.K. Rowling’s invented words like Muggle? C’est un Moldu en français. Hogwarts? Ever imagine what a hog’s warts look like? The idea was translated into French pretty well – it doesn’t have the exact image, but the reader is still presented with an unpleasant idea: Poudlard (roughly meaning pig lice).

To celebrate Harry’s big birthday, we are going to share some Harry Potter terms in French!

Ready? Allons-y  (let’s go) !

Les Titres (The Titles)

Gotta have these. They’re the base, after all…

Harry Potter à l’école des sorciers

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

Harry Potter et la Chambre des secrets

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Harry Potter et le Prisonnier d’Azkaban

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Harry Potter et la Coupe de feu

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Harry Potter et l’Ordre du phénix

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Harry Potter et le Prince de sang-mêlé

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Harry Potter et les Reliques de la Mort

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

 *****

Les Maisons (The Houses)

At Poudlard, you’re sorted into one of four different houses through the Le Choixpeau magique (the Sorting Hat). Below I’ve listed the 4 houses and a few of their traits. Through a few online tests, it would appear I’m a Ravenclaw. Any other Ravenclaw readers out there?

Gryffondor (Gryffindor) – courage, force d’esprit (strength of will), hardiesse (boldness), tolérence

Poufsouffle (Hufflepuff) – constance (dependability), patience, layauté (loyalty)

Serdaigle (Ravenclaw) [represent!]- créativité (creativity), érudition (learning), sagesse (wiseness)

Serpentard (Slytherin)– ambition, détermination, finesse, ingéniosité (ingenuity)

*****

Les Personnages (Characters)

Many character names have stayed the same. Some last names have been changed, though (looking at you, Neville Longbottom… er, Neville Londubat). For names that have stayed the same, I haven’t included them. Below you’ll find names that have been translated differently in the French text. I’m almost positive I’ve missed some. So many characters…

Anyway, let’s take a look!

Hogwards Staff

Argus Rusard – Argus Filch

Professeur Chourave – Professor Sprout

Professeur Gobe-Planche – Professor Grubbly-Plank

Maugrey Fol-Oeil – Mad-Eye Moody

Severus Rogue – Severus Snape

Hogwards Students

Neville Londubat – Neville Longbottom

Pénélope Deauclaire – Penelope Clearwater

You-Know-Who - In the French translation, Voldemort goes by both Voldemort and Lord Voldemort.

Here are the other names…

Tom Elvis Jedusor – Tom Marvolo Riddle. Just as the English name is an anagram for “I am Voldemort,” the same holds true for the French equivalent: Je suis Voldemort can be formed from the letters in Tom Elvis Jedeusor. This is a fantastic translation, too: jedeusor sounds like jeu de sort, meaning a riddle of fate.

Celui-Dont-On-Ne-Doit-Pas-Prononcer-Le-Nom – He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named

Tu-Sais-Qui – You-Know-Who

le Seigneur des Ténèbres – The Dark Lord

Ghosts

Mimi Geignarde – Moaning Myrtle

Nick Quasi-Sans-Tête – Nearly Headless Nick

Animals

Buck – Buckbeak

Croûtard – Scabbers (un croûte is a scab)

Fang – Crockdur

Miss Teigne – Mrs. Norris

Pattenrond – Crookshanks (patte means paw and en rond can mean crooked)

Touffu  – Fluffy (touffu means bushy)

*****

Les Lieux (et quelques objects)

(Places and a few objects)

Sometimes when I don’t know or forget a word in French, I’ll describe what it is to get my point across. How do you get to that street where you can buy all your wizard school needs…? No need to describe it when I can give you the name!

Before making your way into the halls of Poudlard (Hogwarts), there are a few things you have to do first. Maybe you need to pick up un hibou (an owl) or une baguette magique (yes, it could technically mean magic bread, but here it’s a magic wand)? No problem! Just head on down to Chemin de Traverse (Diagon Alley). You can get there by accessing the secret entrance in the back of Le Chaudron Baveur (The Leakly Culdron). Need to drop something off for safe keeping? You could go on down to Banque de Gringotts (Gringotts Wizarding Bank) and use a safe.

When la rentrée (beginning of the school year) arrives, you’ll need to catch the Poudlard Express (Hogwarts Express) on la voie 9 ¾ [that fraction is pronounced as trois-quarts] (Platform 9 ¾). If you get hungry on the train, you can always buy some Chocogrenouilles (Chocolate Frogs).

Once you’re at Poudlard, you can keep up with current events by reading La Gazette du sorcier (The Daily Prophet).

A little advice, though: do not steal your father’s car for any reason, or you may get une beuglante (howler) from your mother! Also, it’s not worth going to search for le Miroir du Riséd (the Mirror of Erised) because Dumbledore will just move it.

Are you a third-year student at Poudlard? Looking for weekend trip? Your class has been granted permission to visit Pré-au-lard (Hogsmeade)! There you can shop at Zonko (Zonko’s Joke Shop) and purchase une tasse à thé mordeuse (nose-biting teacup) or some savon sauteurs (frog spawn soap).

Are you unusual or scary? Maybe you need some material for your dark arts projects? You can buy all that on Allée des Embrumes (Knockturn Alley).

****

Les Horcruxes

Destroy these and you destroy Celui-Dont-On-Ne-Doit-Pas-Prononcer-Le-Nom!

Journal intime de Jedusor

Tom Riddle’s Diary

Bague des Gaunt

Marvolo Gaunt’s Ring

Médaillon de Salazar Serpentard

Salazar Slytherin’s Locket

Coupe de Helga Poufsouffle

Helga Hufflepugg’s Cup

Diadème de Rowena Serdaigle

Rowena Ravenclaw’s Diade

Harry

Professeur Quirinus Quirrell

Nagini

 ****

Le Quidditch

Quidditch is a game with 7 members per team. The players fly around on broom sticks while trying to score points against the other team etc etc, you know how it goes. Here are the terms in French:

un batteur – player

un poursuiveur – chaser

le gardien – the keeper

un attrapeur – seeker

les sognards – bludgers

le souafle – quaffle

le vif d’or – godlen snitch

Well, happy birthday, Harry! Thanks for the memories.

Blog submitted by: David at The French Property Network - Cle France.

This blog was originally posted on The French Language Blog pages.

My computer problems quickly led to hardware problems, which meant finding a DIY / hardware store. Les problèmes were that my hardware vocabulary isn’t very good in English never mind in French, and that it was still incredibly hot. I needed a very small screwdriver to take off the screws on the bottom of my laptop and get to its insides.

My original thought was to just go to le magasin d’informatique (the computer store) and ask them for what I needed, but on the way there I ran into un ami (a friend) and we had a brief conversation.

It went something like this:

– Ça va ?

– Oui, ça va. Je vais au magasin d’informatique. Mon disque dur a planté et donc j’ai besoin de le remplacer.

– Ah ouais ? tu sait comment faire tout ça ?

– Oui, il faut juste enlever les petites choses en bas et puis c’est simple à faire.

– Les petites choses ? Ah tu veux dire les vis ! Demande aux gens du spuermarché ! J’imagine qu’ils ont ce que tu veux.

Hey, how’s it going?

It’s going alright. I’m going to the computer store. My hard drive broke and so I need to replace it.

Ah yeah? You know how to do all that?

Yes, you just have to take out the little things on the bottom and then doing it is easy.

The little things? Ah you mean the screws! Ask the people at the supermarket! They probably have what you want.

So I went to le supermarché and asked:

– Excusez-moi, est-ce que vous avez la chose pour enlever les vis ?

– Un tournevis ?

– Oui c’est ça !

– Oui, suivez-moi.

– Voilà toutes les tournevis qu’on a.

– Vous n’en avez pas des plus petits ?

– Non, désolé. Tout ce qu’on a est ici.

Excuse me, do you have the thing for taking out screws?

A screwdriver?

Yes that’s it!

Yes, follow me.

Here’s all the screwdrivers that we have.

Do you have any smaller ones?

No, sorry. Everything we have is here.

Dans une ultime tentative (In a last ditch effort) I decided to ask another shop I passed, une bijouterie (a jewelry store).

– Bonjour Monsieur.

– Bonjour.

– Est-ce que vous avez des très petits tournevis ?

– Non, je suis désolé.

– Et bien, est-ce que vous savez où je pourrais en acheter ?

– Oui ! Allez au magasin de bricolage. Ils en ont j’en suis sûr.

Hello Sir.

Hello.

Do you have any very small screwdrivers?

No, I’m sorry.

Well, do you know where I could buy some?

Yes! Go to the hardware store. They have some I’m sure of it.

Vive la France!

And after asking a few people along the way where exactly le magasin de bricolage is located I found mon tournevis (my screwdriver)!

I learned trois nouveaux mots (three new words)! Now to learn the difference between un tournevis plat (a flathead screwdriver) and un tournevis cruciformes (a Philip’s head screwdriver)!

Voici un petit vocabulaire :

La vis screw

Le tournevis screwdriver

Le clou nail

Le marteau hammer

Le magasin de bricolage hardware store

Le matériel informatique hardware (computer)

Le hardware hardware (computer)

La quincaillerie hardware (tools).

Blog submitted by: Alex at The French Property Network - Cle France.

This blog was originally posted on The French Language Blog pages.

Just like a heatwave!

Heat-Related Vocabulary in French

For the past couple of days, anyone in France who’s stepped foot outside or even opened a window has certainly noticed that Mother Nature a allumé le chauffage à fond (has turned the heat up on high)! It’s actually a result of hot winds making their way up from Africa. France isn’t the only one experiencing une canicule (a heatwave): l’Espagne, le Portugal, et certaines parties du Royaume-Uni (Spain, Portugal, and parts of the UK) have all been affected.

It’s a big deal, too. Temperatures in some places are soaring up to 42°C (107.6°F), and for un pays qui n’est pas habitué à la chaleur (a country that isn’t used to the heat), this can be very dangerous. Unlike the US, not many houses have la clim (shortened form of climitisation, meaning air conditioning). On beautiful days, French people open les volets (the blinds/shutters) of their windows and let the air blow in. When the air coming through is hot, though, it doesn’t serve much of a purpose. Even if some homes are equipped with an air conditioner, it doesn’t mean you can always run them. À cause de la canicule (because of the heatwave), 830,000 households lost power overnight in the western side of the country this week. In 2003, 14,802 heat-related deaths were reported after temperatures spiked in France.

This year, to keep their citizens cool, the French government has put into a place un plan anti-canicule (anti-heatwave plan). If you’re in Paris, you can find public air-conditioned rooms. They’ve also released the graphics to help the public. We’ve reproduced one of the graphics below. The language is pretty easy. Click the image for the full-sized version. What do you understand?

Today we’re going to look at some vocabulary related to heat and the words chaud and chaleur.

Describing Hot Weather

Il faut chaud – It’s hot out

Il y a du soleil – It’s sunny

Il fait beau – It’s nice out

Il fait lourd – It’s heavy out

Il fait __ degrés – It’s __ degrees (don’t forget to use Celsius!)

la canicule – heatwave

un coup de soleil – sunburn

cramer – to burn (here, because of the sun)

Words/Expressions with “Chaleur”

la chaleur – heat / warmth

la chaleur accablante – sweltering heat

un coup de chaleur – heatstroke

être en chaleur – to be in heat (for animals)

faire une chaleur épouvantable – to be unbearably hot

l’humidité – humidity

un échange de chaleur – heat exchange (physics)

un four à chaleur tournante  – convection oven

une bouffée de chaleur – hot flash

une perte de chaleur – heat loss

Words/Expressions with “Chaud”

chaud(e) – hot

à chaud – immediate, initial

au chaud – warm (food, for example)

avoir chaud – to be hot (don’t use être here! read below.)

avoir eu chaud – narrow escape/”a close one”

avoir le sang chaud – to be hot-blooded

battre le fer quand il est chaud – strike it while the iron’s hot

chaud devant – coming through (said when you’re carrying things and need people to move)

chaud lapin – horndog (familiar)

un commentaire à chaud – a comment made right after an event

craindre le chaud – to be sensitive to heat

crever de chaud – to bake/boil (from being in the heat)

être chaud – to be horny (familiar)

faire chaud au coeur – to warm your heart

faire des gorges chaudes – make fun of someone

garder au chaud – to keep something warm

des habits chauds – warm clothes

mettre au chaud – to put something away for a rainy day

mourir de chaud – to die from heat

ni faire chaud ni froid/cela ne me fait ni chaud ni froid – I don’t mind either way

pleurer à chaudes larmes – crying, but with many, many years

une réaction à chaud – a lively response

refiler la patate chaude – to drop/get rid of something/someone bothersome or annoying

souffler le chaud et le froid – blow hot and cold (alternate between 2 differing opinions)

un chaud et froid – a sudden drop in temperature

Did I miss any? Feel free to leave a comment below.

Thinking of moving to France full time? - book a viewing trip with Cle France today!

Blog submitted by: Sharon at The French Property Network - Cle France.

This blog was originally posted on The French Language Blog pages.