Free: Aperitif, French conversation, Concert...

Monday 2 October: Apéritif
A new association aimed at integrating French people in Edinburgh has been created in August. It is linked to FIAFE, and they are organising an Aperitif, in the French Institute. More info here!
Where? French Institute
How much? FREE!

Tuesday 3 October, 9-11pm
French/English @The World on Thistle Street - come and practise your French or your English with friendly native speakers....
Where? The World on Thistle Street
How much? FREE!

Wednesday 4 October: 7.30pm
The Gipsy Kings: "The legendary French band return to keep the flamenco tradition flying."
Where? Edinburgh Playhouse
How much? £36.50

Thursday 5 October: 6.30pm
MARIONAS (concert)
Gordon Ferries is musical director of the Baroque ensemble Symphonie des
Plaisirs and he teaches lute and guitar. This concert is an opportunity to
discover period instruments used in baroque compositions, as well as
French and Spanish, with dancing accents borrowed from mediterranean
music.
Where? French Institute
How much? Entry free

EXHIBITIONS::::::

Toulouse-Lautrec and the Art Nouveau Poster
"A display of French poster prints, spanning from the Romantic period to the start of the Art Nouveau movement, including 15 works by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec."
When? Until 22 October
Where? City Art Centre
How much? £5 (£3.50-£14 family)

To look forward to in October and December:

Wednesday, October 18 at 8:30 PM

The Edinburgh French Conversation Meetup Group

Au Bar in Edinburgh (map)

20 Oct: 12.45
Travel and Study: George Reid in Holland and France
"Dr John Morrison examines George Reid's travels to Utrecht, The Hague and Paris between 1866 and 1871."
Weston Link
Free

24 Oct: 7.00
Phoenix: "Groovy French popsters who marry the best of 70s pop with a club sensibility."
The Arches (Glasgow)
£12

24 Oct: 12.45
Painting Idleness: Boudin in Normandy and the South of France
"A talk on Boudin's paintings of tourists on the Normandy Coast by Frances Fowle."
Weston Link
Free

30 October
Disco Bidochons
"La Disco Bidochons est de retour le lundi 30 Ocotobre. Pour les novices, c'est une soirée francophone en boite, environ tous les 2 mois. Ca se passe au Red Vodka Club, 73 the Cowgate, de 22h à 3h, entrée gratuite, boissons pas chères, et on a meme du ricard et de la chartreuse. Pour plus d'infos ou pour toutes suggestions, contactez moi thierry.dullieux@netcourrier.com"

14 Dec: 7.30
Scottish Chamber Orchestra: The Old Rivalry
"A comparison of dance music and symphonies from France and England featuring the composers Rebel, Charpentier, Haydn, Handel and Purcell by director and harpsichordist Richard Egarr."
More info: www.sco.org.uk
Queen's Hall
£8-£24 (£6-£18)

Lise

Association Edimbourg Accueil

A new association aimed at integrating French people in Edinburgh has been created in August. It is linked to FIAFE.

They are organising an Aperitif on Monday the 2nd of October, in the French Institute.

More info here!

================

Une nouvelle association qui a pour but d'intégrer les Français nouvellement arrivés à Edimbourg vient d'ouvrir ses portes.

Ils organisent un apéritif le lundi 2 octobre, à l'Institut Français d'Ecosse.

Pls d'infos ici.

Les petits nouveaux...

As every year, here are a few blogs from French students recently arrived in Scotland, and more particularly in Edinburgh... Mostly written in French!

Lxox

• Scotland Trip
• LUMOS NEWS
• Simon, Edimbourg, et les cacahuètes au beurre
• La grande vadrouille
• Le blog de Jen
• E & E
• Live in Scotland (in Glasgow)
  

Why learn another language?

I have met quite a lot of new students in the past few weeks, and inevitably the question of why they want to learn French crops up at our first meeting as [a] I am curious, and [b] well, there is no real [b] - I am just curious!

Most of the time, people get quite embarrassed, and mutter quickly that

in Britain, we are very lazy and we expect everyone to speak English when we go somewhere on holidays or for business...

I often have to disagree with this statement: I have been teaching French since 1991 in Scotland, and have seen a lot of very motivated individuals, who undertake the study of French either for a short holiday or because they love France or for business related reasons... There was never the sense, for me, that British people were particularly lazy, or that they were uninterested. All I have seen in the past, and even today, is a bunch of sensitive people, who want to improve on themselves.

Do I think that languages should be promoted better at school? Of course, I do. I am annoyed that languages are often not compulsory at school: a lot of my older pupils do find it very draining to try and cope with the basics of the language when they have not acquired them at school. I am angry as well at the lack of grammar these days in the curriculum: grammar may seem evil and overrated, but I can assure you that it really helps if you want to speak in another language in a way that is not full of clichés, like a little parrot.

Anyway, here are some of the comments made by my students on their registration forms:

• I'd like to be able to get by in France on my own
• Switzerland!
• I enjoy travelling and would hopefully like to move to France in a few years
• I have a property in Nice
• Plan to live in Paris for 2 months next year
• To be able to communicate in another language in the hope that I can one day move abroad
• To be able to speak French in France
• Why not?
• To have fun
• To keep the brain occupied with something else than computers
• I love the language
• Rugby world cup!
  
• My interest and to assist with my work
• For pleasure!
• To try and maintain my level of French and also improve on it
• I travel a lot and would like to live in a Francophone country.
• Enjoyment: keep up skills and knowledge
• Because one day I will be fluent
• My girlfriend is French and I want to communicate with her family.
  
• If I don't keep practising I'll forget it all

As you can see, there are plenty of reasons why people want to take up French, or brush up on their existing skills! Some people do it just for the hell of it - a bit like like climbing the Everest - because it's there - while others have a specific objective in mind: property, retirement, love, sporting events...

Learning another language is difficult and can be disenheartening at the best of times (hey, look at me - I have been struggling with English for the best part of 16 years... Although fairly fluent, I still find things I don't know, and I still mispronounce words for everyone's enjoyment!!)

I have just started last February to take up Russian though, and I have to say this has been a truly humbling experience, as the language is quite remote from the other languages I have been known to speak with more or less fluency. You do go through ups and downs: when you finally think you are beginning to 'get it', something else crops up, and you're back to square 1... The other thing that has really bugged me is, you practise things in class, bits of 'conversation' etc... and you arrive in the country: you are lost! Can't seem to do anything right! But in the end if you keep at it, you reap some rewards: you manage to buy your own train tickets, you have a kind of conversation with other people, you get a glimpse of the country from the inside, you compliment someone on the meal they have prepared in a language they understand (well, or kind of understand, given my half-baked Russian)... Just those little things make it all worthwhile...

More on why you should learn another language here, and more on the debate of how to improve Britain's language skills.

Lxox