Favorite CITIES in France, Belgium, Switzerland, etc?

[Pecosa]

Hello,
We are a family of four from the US/UK and we are currently living in Pau. Our lease runs out mid-July and we are trying to decide where to move to next.
Logically (for English speaking jobs) it would be Paris, but we just can't seem to find affordable housing (no surprise there) so we are trying to land in a large enough city where there will be some demand for English speaking jobs.
We also want to be in a fairly large city that offers the cultural stimulation we desire (as well as not needing a car).
In France, I can think of Toulouse, Montpellier, Bordeaux, Strasbourg, Lyon and Paris, but that is just because I don't know ALL of the options out there.
What about Brussels?!
My biggest concern is LANGUAGE as our limited French (but will keep working on that!) will always keep us mostly unemployed without the English option.
Any tips?
Advice?
Can people write in with favorite cities in France or Belgium (or Switzerland, Luxembourg....we just need French to be MOSTLY spoken/taught in schools for our kids vs other non-English languages)???
I would love to get some opinions on this matter as we are needing to decide VERY soon.
Cheers,
Beth

[coloma gold]

Originally Posted by Pecosa

Hello,
We are a family of four from the US/UK and we are currently living in Pau. Our lease runs out mid-July and we are trying to decide where to move to next.
Logically (for English speaking jobs) it would be Paris, but we just can't seem to find affordable housing (no surprise there) so we are trying to land in a large enough city where there will be some demand for English speaking jobs.
We also want to be in a fairly large city that offers the cultural stimulation we desire (as well as not needing a car).
In France, I can think of Toulouse, Montpellier, Bordeaux, Strasbourg, Lyon and Paris, but that is just because I don't know ALL of the options out there.
What about Brussels?!
My biggest concern is LANGUAGE as our limited French (but will keep working on that!) will always keep us mostly unemployed without the English option.
Any tips?
Advice?
Can people write in with favorite cities in France or Belgium (or Switzerland, Luxembourg....we just need French to be MOSTLY spoken/taught in schools for our kids vs other non-English languages)???
I would love to get some opinions on this matter as we are needing to decide VERY soon.
Cheers,
Beth

Beth,

Regardless of the city, it seems your biggest drawback is not knowing the french language. I would really strongly focus on that issue if you hope to succeed. Good luck on the job/city issue

[Piperade]

Nantes has been voted as having the best quality of life in France taking a number of considerations into account.
Might be worth a look..
Nantes city guide, France - Time Out Travel
and
Nantes: Weekend to remember - Telegraph
P

[Bevdeforges]

Brussels is probably more forgiving on the language score - but mostly in the international organizations (NATO, EU agencies, etc.) and those can be terribly hard to break into. (EVERYONE wants to work in the international civil service - so they can ask for and find multi-lingual folks with little or no difficulty.)

Within France you need to recognize that the French are fanatic about "qualifications." If you are trained in a certain field, they tend to be very suspicious of you if you're interested in a job not in that field. Experience actually counts for less than the academic credential.

With only basic French you're looking at teaching English (and it would be very useful to have some sort of TEFL or other teaching credential) or working for a large multinational company in a very specific role - probably at a manager level at the very least.

Luxembourg is great - and something like 40 or 45% of the population is made up of foreigners - but job wise, your best shot there is banking or finance at a reasonably high level. Schools in Luxembourg start out in Letzebourgisch, then teach (hoch) German starting at about age 6 or so and introduce French at about age 10 or 11 and English shortly thereafter. Then in high school they take a 5th language. The people actually speak Letzebourgisch or German, while most government paperwork is conducted in French.

If you're thinking of going the auto-entrepreneur route (i.e. setting up your own business) you probably want to be in an area with a large anglophone expat population for starters. Once you are more comfortable with the language, you can expand a bit to the French speaking population. But it takes a while (figure at least a couple years) to get yourself established.
Cheers,
Bev

[palmtree]

Hi Beth,

We are looking at Annecy as Geneva is not too far away. There are other places closer to Geneva (still in France) which supposedly are very nice too. Intention is for my husband to commute to his work in Geneva. He is French and has always said we should move to Switserland however I prefer going to France so this is a compromise.

My cousin who has lived his entire life in the Caribbean is transferring to Geneva in May (for his work), he travels to Geneva several times a year. I can't figure out why he would leave a very nice lifestyle behind (I'm thinking of the sun and white sandy beaches with crystal clear blue waters), guess he's fed up of that lol!!! but it is a sign Geneva and surrounding areas offer a good quality of life.

I think you should try to concentrate on one thing at a time, focus on learning the French language.

Good luck! Merc

[Pecosa]

Thanks to all who have replied/commented.
I KNOW I need to learn French, but I can't afford the immersion programs or the classes and I am having difficulty finding someone who wants to do an English/French language exchange.
It always takes time to get established in new communities and with so much of my energy going to get my kids settled in schools (tons of paperwork) and trying to get my US husband legal (terribly confusing and MORE paperwork) I fear my need to learn French is coming in last.
I love the language (I have a BA in French and Spanish) so, believe me, this is KILLING ME!!
I can't believe the language situation in Luxembourg--that's amazing. I have a friend who grew up there who now lives in London and she actually speaks FIVE languages (I am green with envy).
We are doing a trip from Pau to Bordeaux to Lyon to Strasbourg to Luxembourg to Brussels and back home again to Pau to do some investigating...we shall see.
Keep the tips and opinions COMING--it helps so much.
Thanks,
Beth

[Bevdeforges]

Beth,
If you've got a degree in French, you don't need immersion courses to get your French up to working fluency. You just need to go out there and force yourself to use the French you already have.

When I was looking for work in Europe, I listed my German as "fluent" on my CV. I have a degree in German but it had been (at that point) at least 12 - 15 years since I got my degree. I'd had a chance to use my German a bit during the year I was working in the UK, but I was admittedly pretty rusty.

You only ever learn to USE a language by putting yourself out there, feeling like a stuttering fool, and finding out that, gee, you actually made yourself understood. I've been living here 15 years now - and I still suffer every now and then from "stumble mouth." You just get used to it after a while. The French are probably a little less tolerant of us foreigners messing with their language than most other nationalities, but to my way of thinking, it's their problem. We're doing our best.
Cheers,
Bev

[Pecosa]

Thanks for saying that, Bev.
I am terribly insecure about most of my skills so I tend to undersell myself--partly the way I am and partly due to so many years being mostly a stay-at-home mum.
I know the best bet is to just 'get out there' and improve, but that's hard to do when that involves trying to get a job!
I appreciate your input so much.
~Beth

[Suzele]

Another option could be living in Alsace and working in the Basel area. We have a huge English speaking population and they all work for one of the big pharmaceutical companies or in Banking and Finance.

I know plenty of people who barely speak German or French and work in Basel. And the companies are so big that there are many different types of jobs you could have.

Basel is expensive to live in though so a lot of people live in France just across the border.

Anyway...just an option for you

For improving your French (or any language for that matter), I've found that watching TV in that language has really helped my ability to find the right words...

It takes a while to be able to understand everything on TV but it's worth every minute when you find yourself better able to talk to people.

Another thing that has worked for me is listening to an audio book and following along with the written book.

There are SO many things you could do to improve your French...and one of them is likely to be something you would enjoy...anyway..that's my experience with helping people learn a language or two...I work with people who think they have problems learning languages

I've got an entire section on ways to learn foreign languages at www.thought-detective.com

Good luck with your move!
Suzele

[annie_en_amerique]

Besancon and liege