Maudit anglais !

That’s a good question, but I don’t know the answer, as my experience is strictly from working in the trades here. One thing to note is that the mayor’s office has a huge say in all that, and as someone mentioned above, there are often regulations on things like roof colour, so that houses in a given neighborhood all have matching roof tiles. I have friends that built a house nearby that the mayor hated because it wasn’t conformist enough for his tastes (they had incorporated lots of wood, resultant in a house with a more North American-style trim), but he’s totally fine with bland-ass white squares with red roofs, lol.

Actually it’s more about building the houses as cheap as possible, because although French houses are generally much sturdier and better insulated than North American homes, building codes are not really well controlled here. They don’t even do plumbing and electrical inspections in new builds.

This is normally only a problem when conversing with monolinguals. Almost anyone who has expended the immense energy required to learn a second language will understand that language ability and intelligence are completely separate.

That being said, it is a shitty feeling that I have experienced many times.

If you think for one second that corporations don’t run the government in France, then tell that to the gendarmerie, who are as we speak posted all over my area in order to protect the construction of a new highway that nobody wants. Oh, and the highway isn’t free to use, either. After all, how else would the company building it pay to put it there?

While I can’t say that you’re wrong, Age of Empires 2 has a solid and extremely loyal community, and they just released a new expansion that everyone is super happy with (especially compared to the last two.)

Fair enough. Guess there’s really nothing that is truly universally liked.

Most people know who Pogacar is in France, because anyone who has cable likely watches the Tour de France. It’s kinda like the Super Bowl, even people who don’t care about cycling tend to have it on at least in the background.

This is super common on the west coast of Canada (and I assume the United States as well.) Most of my friends from there say it constantly.

Filler words are normal, and every language has them.

France: If English is the second most common language, then as soon as you leave Paris or a really touristy spot, you’re fucked.

“Prolly” is how I pronounce it in speech, especially in the middle of a sentence.

I feel like one of the hardest things to master for non-native speakers, especially those who speak Romance languages, is the pronunciation of consonants that occur in the middle of phrases. It’s not a hard and fast rule, and depends on the speaker, but those said middle consonants are often very understated, especially in fast speech. I can always tell a Spanish or French native speaker because they would pronounce it: pro-Ba-BLEE, with the clear, distinct, staccato-like intonation of their mother tongues.

How are you trying to pronounce it? At least in my accent, the “ch” is just pronounced like a “k”…

KEM-ist-tree

No predators? Guess you haven’t seen the video of an orca literally exploding one with a headbutt so that it’s calf could eat it…

I’m not Turkish, or trans, but I am a Canadian who left the country and will likely never move back. All of your concerns regarding my country are unfortunately valid, life is oppressively expensive there.

But your English is excellent, “fuck me sideways” made me chuckle as that’s a very natural expression in colloquial Canadian. Don’t give up, you’re young and the world is your oyster. If you have a Canadian passport, maybe look into some of the youth mobility visas that are available for Canadians under 30. Most commonwealth countries, and many European nations, take part in the program.

Guilty as charged. I knew Lt.Dan was likely a bot, but his (it’s?) questions were interesting and engagement seemed high so I said fuck it and responded anyway.

Baguette and Saint Marcellin, or Mont d’Or, or even Tomme de Brebis.

KFC is terrible in France. Then again, so is McDonalds, and both are waaay too expensive for what you get.

I actually prefer Burger King here, which is something cause in the states it’s… not great.

Native English speaker who learned French to a high (B2-C1) level as an adult here: not even a little bit, and any parts that you think you got the gist of are likely misunderstood.

English, with custom key bindings for accents etc. Mostly because I hate AZERTY with a passion.

I’m almost there, except every once in a blue moon I come across a website or service (usually gov’t related) that refuses to take my proton.me address.