Full video

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the French are very welcoming and

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generous if you will take a step towards

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them they will at least meet you so we

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sold everything burnt the bridges you

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come across you've got to make a success

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wow and what is it about the southwest

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of France that attracts you so much uh

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the food the wine what did you miss is

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there something specific which you what

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would we miss culturally or um waitress

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you have to meet French to get to know

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them and and of course in our context we

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meet English language speakers how have

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you integrated into French life uh it's

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not possible it's not possible no no no

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you just can't the key is learning the

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language so the better you speak French

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the easier and more confident you are in

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integrating I don't know why we came to

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France I was happy to do it hi everybody

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Welcome to a new episode of easy English

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in 2019 there was an estimated of

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180,000 British citizens living in

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France 26% of those living in the

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specific region of the Southwest so we

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thought we'd head to one of the

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traditional morning markets to find

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Brits who have settled outside of the UK

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and asked them what brought them to this

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specific region of France what they like

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about France what they miss about the UK

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and most importantly how they've managed

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to integrate into French culture

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language and life before we get started

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if you're a regular easy English viewer

1:34

and you want to improve your English or

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just help support us then you can with

1:38

the link up here here we

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go what are you two doing in France in

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the southwest of France to be specific

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well we're both retired okay and we

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decided to retire to the south of France

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for the um for the for the lifestyle had

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already been in France before in the

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Southeast n what are you doing in the

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southwest of

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France uh well we have a second home

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here which we've had for 22 years what

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brought you to Southwest of

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France uh a

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[Music]

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whim a whim a whim yeah on a whim on a

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whim what you threw a dart at the m at

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the globe or something or no we just

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thought we going to live in France and

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then you swapped the cook desser for yes

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yes I mean I mean the Cod deser is nice

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but

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it's I called it golf Cabriolet country

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it was all a bit showy there were too

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many people there just to be seen you

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know how you pay extra if you want to

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sit out in the Terrace then if you sat

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inside because there's a value to being

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scene wow what is it that brings you to

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this region of France this sort of

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Infamous or famous region of France well

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we've lived here for 11 years so we used

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to come here just for us our holidays

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which is about 6 weeks a year but we've

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been retired now for 8 years so we're

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able to come down for 5 months or so

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during the year so we sold everything

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burnt the bridges you come across you've

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got to make a success w what then apart

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from the shiness of the East what

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brought you out to the West uh well my

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parents moved here in 95 and was it a

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successful whn I've been here almost 25

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years really oh yeah tell me uh what it

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is about this area that you love so much

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uh well we spent lots of holidays in the

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doo but it was too crowded and this area

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is much nicer it's more Agricultural and

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uh not so many people and traffic and

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and we love the food could you elaborate

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on the the lifestyle that you like about

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France um it's uh very relaxed yeah it's

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very very cordial the people are very

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friendly especially if you try to speak

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some French how easy is it to integrate

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into French life French

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culture I

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think it does help if you've

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got an open Attitudes Straight away and

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then if you have some language yeah

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skills

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uh cuz you can get much more out of the

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culture you can learn about the cuisine

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you can learn about the politics if you

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want to there's always politics involved

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in there but politics is everything it's

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the state of the roads the state of the

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schools the potholes whatever

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5:07

[Music]

5:09

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6:02

English to start your first lesson and

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get $10 in lesson credits how have you

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integrated into French life uh it's not

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possible it's not possible no no no you

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just can't why is that and if you were

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French and went to live in England you

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would be avoided by the English there

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was a site that dealt with u more of the

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uh cultural things which called commun

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Fran and it's a French lady in um groba

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who gives uh courses and talks a lot

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about the cultural background simple

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things like don't put your bread on the

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table upside down because it brings bad

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luck my French is pretty good actually

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and it really as I say that's what I've

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noticed it's been much easier to um uh

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to integrate with with with French

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people if you speak um significant

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amounts of French really and can have a

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conversation they appreciate it and then

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they try and speak a little bit of

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English themselves yeah nice it's like

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tandem learning yes yes and we're both

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learning French we now attend a French

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class that's good which is much better

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the French are very welcoming and

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generous if you will take a step towards

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them they will at least meet you coming

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towards you they're linguistically

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they're generous I mean half of English

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is French French and how's your how's

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your French uh non-existent non-existent

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did you ever consider like picking up a

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bit of it or French lessons oh I've

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tried and tried it just doesn't come no

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no I'm not very good with sound but then

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I I noticed that here this isn't a very

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typical sort of britishy French market

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so how do you get around how do you get

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by with buying

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stuff I take the wife with me do you

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miss anything from the UK been here too

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long to say

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that perhaps of a Sunday I do miss a

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good old fashioned English P what did

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you miss is there something specific

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which you what would we miss culturally

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or um

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waitress ah there's not much we miss we

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don't miss very much okay the traffic

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surrenders over there still it's much

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cleaner and tidier over here what is it

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you miss when you're away from England

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and

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France um Family mainly our

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daughter we we lived on the I mean

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living in Sheffield we lived on the edge

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of the Peak District so being able to

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walk

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Offroad um with the right to wander and

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and the scenery of the Peak District

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that's the one thing that's the one

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thing we do miss what would you say you

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missed most about England not being

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there for 25 years

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if you wanted a magazine in English you

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have to have it delivered right you

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can't get in a shop and flick through

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them but really there isn't anything is

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there any difference or what differences

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are there between the Brits and the

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French of the French people that you

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know here well I think generally people

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are much more

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polite living in France now reminds me

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of actually growing up in the 50s and

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60s in the UK I mean everywhere you go

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everyone will say Bon whatever context

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will say Bon and they're very very

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polite children yeah we found when we

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were when we first came and we were

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looking around and we have a picnic

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somewhere and children walk by they say

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BN up a te you know the children are

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much more better behaved in restaurants

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for example they don't tear around

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screaming they because they're used to

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staying up late for family meals evening

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markets oh yes evening markets they're

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Lely which would be banned in England um

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from health and safety and we love the

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evening markets yes and they have lots

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of music it's really nice there's a

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negative stereotype that comes with this

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region in Brits right or I don't know is

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that fair to say

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um yeah part of it it there's one side

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where there's the positive that people

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buy up derelict houses and renovate them

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because a lot of the French people

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wouldn't bother and then the other side

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like you do in any country

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um uh exp Patriots or immigrants tend to

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Clump together which can lead to some

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tension um yeah for Comfort but I heard

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one thing an English

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conversation not far from here where

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people were complaining about they'd

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gone back to England and there was a

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small section of Polish food in their

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local supermarket as opposed to the

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small section of English food in the

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French supermarkets here you've been

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here quite some time now and how do you

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feel about this kind of stereotypical

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Little Britain feeling that this area

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has is it good for English is it good

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for the French is it good for anyone or

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is the what are the

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connotations I think the English are

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probably slightly reassured by having

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compatriots around people who they can

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talk to

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because the English are the worst in

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Europe for language speaking the French

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aren't that much better by the way but

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at least they make an

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effort

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uh I mean yes if you can speak the

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language it just helps to get more back

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out of the society you re what you SE

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yeah basically thanks for watching this

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week what was your take on this week's

11:56

episode how do you feel about this

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little Britain area in the southwest of

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France have you been would you like to

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go would you like to move there and what

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tips can you give for helping people

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integrate into a new language or culture

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and as always we'll see you next time t