Changes to the French language

In a bid to simplify the French language, the Ministry of Education has reminded schools to implement a series of spelling changes dating back to 1990 that appear to have gone under the radar until now. There are 2,400 spelling changes in total, which were recommended by the Académie Française, the guardians of the French language, 26 years ago. The Académie Française was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis X111. It was suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution but reinstated in 1803 by Napoleon Bonaparte. It is basically France’s offici

Is now a good time to buy property in France?

Although the pound has taken a bit of a beating from the euro in recent weeks, it is improving, and rates are still more favourable than they were until their height in 2015, so all is not lost for those buying a property in euros. Many people we speak to are also keen to buy their French property and ensure they have their European assets all tied up before the result of the EU Referendum in June. These factors, in addition to the still low property prices in France and low interest rates meaning that French mortgages are well worth considering at the moment, are making 2016 look like a good

The big merger of regions in France

As the new year has dawned, so we have a new map of France. There has not been a great deal of publication about these plans outside of the country but it has been talked about a lot over the last couple of years in France itself and it is true: as of 1 January this year, France’s 22 regions have been whittled down to 13 in an effort to streamline the country’s formidable bureaucracy. There were howls of outrage in 2014 when the plans were announced, with critics comparing some of the merged regions to forced marriages! This is perhaps not surprising for a country with such intense regional an

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