On Being Franglais

On Being Franglais

Becoming officially both French and English has made me ponder to what extent I am either. The thought has been accentuated by the fact that both of my closest English friends will shortly be joining the general post-Brexit exodus of English people from the area. I shall then be one of only two Brits in the village and the other I hardly know; he doesn’t participate in village life. In most ex-pat communities I have observed, the English remain primarily and essentially English, however they interact with the native population; is that true o me too?

By upbringing I am certainly English. By education I am primarily English but a slight mixture, schooled in England but predominantly studying French. When I was young I didn’t allow foreigners to criticise my country; I had to defend it, a reflection of my nationalist education. Now I dislike all forms of nationalism.

By culture I am a mixture too, enjoying English and French music, films and literature equally. By language I am definitely English; my understanding and mastery of French is good but will never be as good as that of my English. By experience I must definitely be English, having lived over 60 years of my life there, even though I have travelled extensively.

By lifestyle I think I am decidedly more French than English. I particularly love food, wine and humour; someone once wrote that the French at play are a gladdening sight and I would heartily endorse that. Certainly I seem to have avoided the English Calvinist tendencies which seem life-denying to me.

So what is it I most appreciate about each country? I can’t separate the people in general because they are just that: people in general. I also have the problem in making a comparison in that most of my life in England was spent working; I was retired in England for only a few years and decided almost immediately that I wanted then to live in France. So my experience here has been just in retirement. Throughout my life I have had French friends, felt at home in France and empathised with typically French attitudes.

Having decided to live in France, what do I miss about England? There isn’t much. True I would see more of my family if I were in England but they have their own, mostly busy lives,so my contact though more frequent would always be brief and peripheral. We can and do visit one another. In spring I miss the deciduous woods that I loved in England at that time of year and that are not present in my part of France. I also miss uniquely English pubs occasionally and a pint of good bitter but that is about it.

Against that my friends in England were far between and here they are close at hand. Here I experience a strong sense of community, which I value and never experienced in England after my very early years. I’m not sure whether that is a function of living in a small village rather than living in France but one of the most commonly used French words is “solidarité, getting together, supporting one another to achieve things. It reinforces the sense of community.

Politically I am not enamoured of either government though certainly very much less so of the current English one. The French government has lurched to the right following the prevailing trend in Europe but still takes better care of the elderly and those on modest incomes, like me, than does the current English government.

How to sum up? Maybe it is just a matter of attitude and preferences. I certainly believe I am happier now in France now than I would be in England. Whether that makes me more French than English I am not sure. If someone were to ask me whether I was English or French I’m not sure either how I would answer.. Saying Franglais would be a cop out. Maybe I would say that I was not sure but that I was certainly European. That is obvious geographically but to the extent that England has distanced itself from Europe via Brexit it probably makes me more French than English.