{"id":2783,"date":"2018-01-21T17:10:58","date_gmt":"2018-01-21T17:10:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/?p=2783"},"modified":"2022-04-13T15:42:23","modified_gmt":"2022-04-13T15:42:23","slug":"lingomap-being-a-young-person-in-a-french-speaking-society","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/lingomap-being-a-young-person-in-a-french-speaking-society\/","title":{"rendered":"LingoMap: Being a young person in a French speaking society"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bonjour \u00e0 tous! \u00c7a va\u00a0?<\/em> This is my first blog post for the\u00a0Routes into Languages LingoMap blog<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

I am a third year Law and French student at Cardiff University, and I am currently on my year abroad studying law at the Facult\u00e9 de droit<\/em>\u00a0(Law School) at\u00a0 l’universit\u00e9 de Nantes.\u00a0<\/em>As part of my studies in Nantes, I must attend\u00a0des cours magistraux\u00a0<\/em>(lectures)\u00a0et<\/em> des travaux dirig\u00e9s<\/em> (tutorials). This means I also have to\u00a0passer mes examens <\/em>just as a French law student would. The first couple of my blogs will be on the theme of being a young person in a French-speaking society.<\/p>\n

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La facult\u00e9 de droit \u00e0 Nantes<\/em> (and yes,that is a lecture theatre with grass on the roof)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I like to think I’m the perfect person to write a blog on being a young person in a French-speaking society, for what I hope are pretty obvious reasons. I moved to Nantes on the 1st September, so as of the writing of this blog I’ve been living in France for almost 4 months.<\/p>\n

Nantes is a multicultural city located in the west of France in the\u00a0Loire-Atlantique\u00a0<\/em>d\u00e9partement\u00a0<\/em>of France. Thanks to the university and its partnership with the Erasmus scheme, and the city’s world-renowned business school (Ecole centrale Audencia<\/em>), the city attracts a number of students from all over the world. Last term I was lucky enough to meet other students from such varied countries as\u00a0la Romanie<\/em>\u00a0(Romania), l’Espagne<\/em>\u00a0(Spain), la Norv\u00e8ge<\/em>\u00a0(Norway), la Colombie<\/em>\u00a0(Colombia) et l’Inde\u00a0<\/em>(India).<\/p>\n

Of course, studying in France is also the perfect opportunity to practise my French with other native speakers, and Nantes offers the perfect opportunity to socialise with other students from various parts of France or even other\u00a0pays francophones<\/em>. This variety gives me the opportunity to learn different regional slangs and colloquialisms, such as the crazy\u00a0verlan<\/em>, where the syllables of a word are swapped around to create an entirely different word e.g.\u00a0une femme<\/em> becomes\u00a0une meuf<\/em>. The word\u00a0verlan<\/em> is itself an example, coming from the word\u00a0l’envers<\/em> (reverse).<\/p>\n

Nantes have a relatively successful football team, called FC Nantes. They are also known as\u00a0Les Canaris<\/em> or\u00a0Les jaunes et verts\u00a0<\/em>as they play in a green and yellow kit. As football is one of my passions, I have been to several home games at the\u00a0Stade de la Beaujoire<\/em>. The stadium is well-known amongst french football fans for its\u00a0tribune Loire<\/em>, an all standing terrace, with the fans who populate it being known as\u00a0la brigade Loire<\/em>. These fans are famous throughout France for their loyalty and fervent support, with the terrace singing and swaying as one for the whole 90 minutes.<\/p>\n