Foncs giveth and Foncs taketh away

[L Austin France]

They've done it again!
Had our tax notification last week showing a largish tax refund into our bank.
It happened two years ago when we discovered it was to do with a Fonc wrongly inputing the UK rent we receive which is taxed in the UK.
My wife's just returned from the tax office where, after the usual 'discussions' with an extremely rude dragon behind the screen who hurled abuse at her insisting everything was her fault, she had to resort to insist on talking to the office manager.
Five very amicable minutes with the manager sorted things out & she left with a promise that the dragon would be 'talked to' & paperwork sent to enable us to repay the tax refund.
How on earth do folk manage in this sort of situation if they lack sufficient 'french'?

[Liz]

Around here they ask me !

[Quiksilver]

How on earth do folk manage in this sort of situation if they lack sufficient 'french'?

Good question, LAF. I think the short answer is that either they enlist the help of the folks that do speak French, or they muddle through, probably in blissful ignorance of what has gone/is going wrong. It's a big factor in the number of Brits in this area who choose to return to UK as they age.

[Hotrodder]

I muddle through. In the early days I was advised to practise the "French Shrug" and pull my trouser pockets inside out to illustrate the futility of trying to get money out of me by shouting. The ploy still works but thanks to the dissemination of info on expat forums I rarely have and opportunity to use it.

[L Austin France]

How on earth do folk manage in this sort of situation if they lack sufficient 'french'?

Good question, LAF. I think the short answer is that either they enlist the help of the folks that do speak French, or they muddle through, probably in blissful ignorance of what has gone/is going wrong. It's a big factor in the number of Brits in this area who choose to return to UK as they age.

We came here with very limited schoolboy/girl French. In those days there was no internet for instant translations, no other English speakers to help us so a well thumbed dico was our best friend. We'd sold our UK house & were living here in what was our maison secondaire so having deliberately burnt our bridges it was sh!t or bust.
For ages we made absolute tits of ourselves getting to know the locals & signing up to the various things necessary to live here but slowly enough French stuck to enable us to converse which, albeit stilted, gave us the encouragement to continue.
My wife is now getting on for fluent whilst lazy, & a bit mutt, me is content to 'let her get on' with the admin. side of things whilst I deal with the 'buildery' sort of things where I've built up a good technical vocabulary. I realised I'd actually learnt a fair bit of French when I won my first argument with a recalcitrant merchants salesman who had for years shoo'd me off with 'machine gun' French. Boy was that a turning point.
I can sympathise with folk who've no aptitude for language but blimey! it must be hard to exist in a foreign country where communication is difficult.
I plan on turning up me toes here so come what may I'll continue to confound the Frogs with my Devonshire/Ros Boeuf French accent.

[exile]

I can beat that LAF. Just received our Avis d'impot. They have refunded everything I have paid this year (several thousands) because they have taken all of our income as rev. étrangers - which I assume means they think I am being taxed elsewhere.

Thankfully in the past the contact in our not local tax office has been very amenable and helpful. I hope she is still there.

[Mangetout]

I wonder why it is that more than often it's the woman in the partnership who ends up getting a better understanding of the lingo? It's a genuine question. I'm not taking a swipe at the men. I've had a few french people, friends and professionals, ask me why and I can't answer because I don't know why. Of all my expat friends, 99% of the time it's the woman. Comments?

[Quiksilver]

I can beat that LAF. Just received our Avis d'impot. They have refunded everything I have paid this year (several thousands) because they have taken all of our income as rev. étrangers - which I assume means they think I am being taxed elsewhere.

How tempting..... I'd be inclined to stash it away and let them sweat when they discover their error

[Quiksilver]

I wonder why it is that more than often it's the woman in the partnership who ends up getting a better understanding of the lingo? It's a genuine question. I'm not taking a swipe at the men. I've had a few french people, friends and professionals, ask me why and I can't answer because I don't know why. Of all my expat friends, 99% of the time it's the woman. Comments?

I noticed that too, Mangetout. I'm pretty sure that (generally) mens' and womens' brains funtion differently, with different aptitudes. Not wishing in any way, shape or form to be sexist (God forbid!) but perhaps men are more into logic, calculation etc. while women are more skilled at languages, creative stuff?

[L Austin France]

I wonder why it is that more than often it's the woman in the partnership who ends up getting a better understanding of the lingo? It's a genuine question. I'm not taking a swipe at the men. I've had a few french people, friends and professionals, ask me why and I can't answer because I don't know why. Of all my expat friends, 99% of the time it's the woman. Comments?

In our case it's because my wife was the company secretary of our UK business & previously worked in a bank.
She dealt with most of the financial stuff, still enjoys the challenge & feels the need to be involved in all things like that in our French life.
She's a very outgoing person who was running the local keep fit sessions within 2 years of our arrival & has many friends in the local horsey circle.
Me on the other hand am a lazy bugger who is more than happy to let her get on with these things after forty years of running the company with meetings galore & the phones ringing all day. I've a few good french friends here & play boules twice weekly with the locals where I 'hone' my bad French.
The answer to your question could be that most blokes are like me & are more than happy to let the missus get on with 'stuff' where they are more likely to pick up & use more 'French'.
I get by fine & there are few situations I can't deal with in the language of my chosen country but there's no doubt my wife is the better French speaker & good luck to her. I've probably got the best French vocabulary as I've always thought that it's impossible to talk about a table if you don't know the word for one but she's spent years pouring over French conjugations which have certainly paid off for her whereas lazy old me................
Together we're a good team so I'm happy with that.