In today’s issue we begin our survey on foreigners’ impressions of life in France. By discussing their likes, dislikes and their views on cultural differences and the working environment, as well as any linguistic issues, we hope to bring you closer to our reality.

We started with some questions for our Polish translator Anna, who has been living and working in Nice for about four months.  See her comments below.

       What I really like and appreciate here is the friendly attitude of the people: smiling at you all the time, wishing you ‘bonne journée’, ‘bon après-midi’ or ‘bonne soirée’ and always ready to help, not to mention how close we are to the sea and mountains here – which contributes greatly to the natural beauty of this country.

It may sound like a cliché but I have to admit that I am one of those people who adore French cuisine, especially ‘entrecôte au roquefort’. However, I do really miss the quality of the Polish bread and cottage cheese I’m used to having for breakfast.

I still find it difficult to get used to kissing people when saying ‘hello’ or ‘goodbye’ and I hesitate a lot when trying to decide whether you should kiss someone or not. Generally speaking, just to dispel the doubts of other foreigners, you kiss only your friends or your friends’ friends.

Illogical as it may sound to a foreigner, when the French say ‘8 or 15 days’, what they really mean is a week (7 days) or two (14 days). Nevertheless, every language has its own rights, so I hope one day I will be able to accept it.

Another thing I found unusual here was that the French public buses were never on time when you consulted the times quoted in the timetables - but after some time I realized that what they gave in the timetable was the time when a bus leaves its first stop and on the right you have the number of minutes it takes to arrive at your stop. So, be prepared to do the calculation yourself when you take a bus in Nice! Apparently, it’s not like that in other French cities. 

Unlike other European countries, the French celebrate Mother’s Day on the last Sunday in May and Father’s Day on a Sunday in the middle of June, whereas in Poland these dates are fixed and fall on 26^th May and 23^rd June respectively.  

As for the work environment, in France you work 35 hours per week, which is less than in other European countries but by no means less intensive. The local market on the French Riviera is mostly tourism-oriented and from July 2008 on it will be legal for Polish citizens to undertake a working activity in France. An advantage to business entrepreneurs is that the VAT in France is 19.6%, compared to 22% in Poland. Interestingly enough, in some companies you are paid an annual ‘attendance bonus’, known as the ‘prime de presence’ or ‘prime d’assiduité’, the latter being the term used in business literature. Yet, other than in factories, it’s rather uncommon in Poland, but it could be translated as ‘premia za obecność’ in Polish. 

To round off my comments, I would like to make a brief remark to translators working on financial texts from French into Polish and sometimes using English as a support. The French word ‘exercice’ has, among others, three meanings i.e: ‘practising’ or ‘healthy activity’ (both true friends of the English word ‘exercise’) and ‘financial year’ (a false friend) whereas ‘intéressement aux benefices de l’entreprise’ is a share in a company’s profit and does not mean ‘being interested in them’ J.