This is what is happening in Guingamp: Soir de ferveur hier à Guingamp, avec le grand pardon – Guingamp – Religions – ouest-france.fr.
Category: France
According to this article: London is France’s sixth biggest city
300000 to 400000 French citizens live in London alone. That’s a lot of people who need to hear the gospel, who is reaching them out? What about a French speaking Evangelical Church? Read the article on the BBC website:Â BBC News – London, France’s sixth biggest city.
The Voice
French people have got a funny relationship with their language. They give t almost a godlike status. There are laws regulating it. If you make a slight mistake people will usually let you know, which can be very discouraging for learners. Yet, the latest reality TV show has got an English title: the Voice. Why didn’t they choose: “la voix”?
The myth of the French peasant
The last Breton class ended with a discussion on food shopping. We had been talking about supermarkets, and someone said he never shopped in a supermarket, then another one said his wife only goes to the supermarket for those things you don’t find on the market such as toilet paper or detergent.
If you listen to French people, you’d think that the majority of  French people do their shopping at the local butcher’s or on the local farmers’ market. There are still lot of independent butchers, bakers… in France, but the reality is somewhat different. According to Francoscopie, only 3.4% of the working population is working in agriculture; That’s about 875000 people (in 2007). In 1946, they were 7.5 millions.
In the French mind, French farmers still live on a small farm, following ancestral practices. The reality is somewhat different.
Only 21% of French farms have a surface of 20 hectares or less, this represents only 2% of the cultivated land. French farming is one of the most efficient and industrialised in the world, not far behind the USA in terms of productivity.
So, where do French people do their shopping? The answer is simple: like anyone in the western world, they go the the local supermarkets. But on special occasions, they will go the the local butcher or baker, or attend the farmers market.
French people and their bread (2)
Following our last post on “French people and their bread“, I had a look in the yellow pages. I counted 11 bakeries in Guingamp and the immediate surroundings, for a population of about 23000 inhabitants. That’s one bakery for every 2090 people.
Deomp de’i
A big demonstration to defend the use of minority languages is organized  on 31st March in Quimper. There will also be similar demonstrations in other parts of France on the same day. French is the only officially recognised language in the country. An agressive promotion of the French Language over the 20th century has marginalised local languages. Until not so long ago, Breton children would have been punished if they spoke Breton at school. But many people today want to have the right to use their own local language. I think it’s fair. I would have been interested to attend, but I’ve got a commitment in the evening on the same day. Click on the picture to access the official website for more details.
