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AUTUMN 2025 EDITION
The summer has slipped away in a shimmer of rosé and cicadas, and suddenly France smells of rain and roasted chestnuts again. Autumn in France begins with la rentrée — that brisk, back-to-school energy when diaries fill, bakeries buzz, and everyone seems to stride a little faster. Then, as October ripens and la Toussaint approaches, the pace softens — markets glow with pumpkins and pears, cafés pull out their cosy blankets, and conversations start to linger a little longer.
In this autumn edition, we’ve got stories from our travellers, a look at language and technology, and a quick trip to Normandy, where Impressionism first took shape.
But before all that, let’s start with the word that opens every
French conversation: bonjour.
Why “Bonjour” Matters
If you remember nothing else from me, remember this: say “Bonjour”.
In France, it’s not a formality, it’s a key. It signals to people that you acknowledge that they exist and deserve respect. Skip it, and doors stay closed (sometimes literally). Say it, and you’re no longer a stranger; you’re part of the scene. I’ve seen Americans breeze into shops with “Hi, do you speak English?”, and the room freezes.
But start with a warm “Bonjour, Madame”, and suddenly, even if your French stops right there, you’ve honoured the ritual.
You’ve opened the door.
It’s the smallest word with the biggest impact.
Seeing Us Through Janine’s Eyes
You know that feeling when someone finally gets what you’ve been trying to explain? That’s what happened when Janine Marsh from The Good Life France came to see how we do things at Experience France. She wrote about her time in Saint-Germain-en-Laye — walking, chatting, learning French the natural way, with no pressure and no grammar drills in sight.
It’s a lovely, honest piece about how real-world French (with all its quirks and laughter) starts to click once you’re actually living it.
Tech Temptation: AirPods & Real-Time Translation
Have you seen the ads? Pop in your AirPods, let Siri whisper the French into your ear, and voilà, you’re “speaking French”. Except… you’re not.
You’re outsourcing the most delicious part of travel,
the stumble, the smile, the surprise of connection.
Language acquisition research (Krashen, Asher, all the big names) is clear: real fluency comes from comprehensible input and interaction. Not perfect sentences, not instant decoding, but hearing, trying, messing up, and laughing.
If you let your AirPods do the talking, you’ll miss the eyebrow raise of the baker when you bravely ask for “un pain au chocolat” and she replies, “Un ou deux ?” That moment, that heartbeat, is where French lives.
Cultural Spotlight: Normandy & the Birth of Impressionism
Stand on the cliffs of Étretat, and you’ll understand why Monet kept coming back. The light here doesn’t sit still, it dances, it flirts, it hides behind a cloud and then bursts through like champagne bubbles.
Normandy isn’t just butter and cider (though, yes, please pass the Camembert). It’s where Impressionism was born.
Monet, Boudin, and Renoir weren’t painting “things”,
they were painting moments.
Fleeting, imperfect, alive.
Learning French works the same way. You’re not memorising a vocabulary list; you’re catching the shimmer of a phrase, the warmth of a “ça va,” the surprise of someone’s laughter when you mispronounce “huîtres.”
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