I've said this before in another relocation thread: I'm an expat working in Paris in tech. Sure, everybody at work is able to speak broken English, but most don't enjoy it. Of other expats I know, the ones who went to the effort of learning French, even just the basics (and are working on improving it), are happy here. The ones who came without intending to learn French are miserable. Many French people aren't exactly welcoming to people who don't show effort. If you work in a startup, your ten French colleagues won't happily switch to English during lunch breaks just so you can follow the conversation. (As opposed to Scandinavia, say.)

You're welcome to come, it's great here. But don't come without wanting to learn French. You'll be unhappy.

French here. You have to learn french, people in the french administration aren't going to communicate with in you English.

Obviously in Paris more and more people know English since it's a touristic area. But it isn't like Berlin,Amsterdam or Brussels where you can live with very little local language knowledge. Correct french is a pain in the ass to learn, the language is needlessly complicated.

Frankly If I were a "foreigner" (outside the EU) who wants to move to a non English speaking European country, I'd go to Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden or Austria. I lived and worked in all these countries without problem and with little knowledge of the local language.

Just don't come here with 0 french and expect to find work, that's not realistic. If you are an "expat" (i.e. you already have a guaranteed job in France), then by all means...

I'm sorry, but ... typical French reaction (I'm French myself)

The government and the administration is trying to improve the climate on founders/visa/startups/tech, and yes, it's far from being perfect and there are a lot of pieces missing and a lot that could be improved, but, at least, they seem to be trying.

And then you come, and just tell people they should go somewhere else "because it will be too hard".

So, I'm all for warning that it won't be all pink and easy, but I don't think it ought to be as hard as you seem to imply.

One thing which is definitely true is learning a few words and know how to say "Hi" in French and that you don't know the language will go a long way.

After, that, if you feel like you want to stay in the country, you will naturally go towards learning the language anyway.

I lived 7 years in the Netherlands, and you can go mostly fine with just English (even though, in some more rural areas, it can still be hard despite the reputation of the country), but learning Dutch helped me integrate and "unlock" situations where English would not have been enough, just because it showed to the people involved I was willing to integrate better in the country and make efforts to be understood.

I think the problem is that there is a complete disconnect between those in government that are "trying" as you say, and those who execute the day to day bureaucracy.

Let's take an example directly from this announcement: "Apply to the French Tech Visa for Investors: Contact your local French Consulate or the local "Prefecture" (if you already reside in France) and follow the general route to apply for a "Passeport Talent"

Only those who live here will understand what this entails. The prefecture is a branch of regional government that is totally gridlocked with unnecessary paperwork.

2 things :

- they tell you explicitly you can contact the consulate, that's when you're not in France

- If you're already in France, there is a big chance you've already been in contact with the prefecture, so you'll know what it is. Besides, it's very googleable.

Finally, yes, the prefecture is definitely not the best place to hang out, but I'd be surprised if they did not get very precise and direct instructions on how to take care of those candidates.

Well, getting lost in translation is something normal, isn't it? I have been 1 year in Germany and I tried to learn German. If you don't want to learn a new culture/language it's going to be difficult for sure. Why a whole country should adapt to you? Some english speaking guys don't want to make effort to adapt and I really think that they miss the most important & fun part of travelling/living abroad. You can raise money in english in France. No issue on that.

We have nice startup here and nice developpers. But you can also find nice thinghs in other EU countries. Business is everywhere...

> people in the french administration aren't going to communicate with in you English.

They won't communicate in French either. They bark at you. And you bark at them. Whoever barks the louder wins.

Can ask what you do and how you have managed to live and work in all of those countries? That's quite a list.

I know a lot of english spoken only people in french startup.

Like not speaking the local language of any country : won't work in the long term.

I disagree. Not every country is the same.

I was in Berlin, and I was never spoken to in German (since I don't really look German), and I would ask the person if they spoke English just to be polite before I started speaking to them, and they would almost get offended. Actually, I hardly heard any German being spoken.

On the contrary, in Warsaw I had problems getting basic directions in English even if I asked young people on the street. They were either self-conscious or didn't know English, but either way they wouldn't speak to me in English. When I went to mini-markets and places where you'd find less educated people at the cash register, absolutely zero. Not even "bag".

I'm actually a French who lived 5 years in Berlin.

I can tell you that not speaking german was really a burden (again in the long term).

Everyone below 40 speaks english, but as soon as you have to deal with the administration, or just even the doctor, it really was a PITA.

Also, Even the tech support (e.g. for Internet) wasn't allowed to speaks English on phone.

I'm pretty sure the same "issues" apply to any country.

Yes.

My point wasn't that it's not a problem in the long term, but that in some countries it's also a problem in the short term.

In Poland I really felt unwelcomed on many occasions. The fact that they're extremely nationalistic doesn't help, I guess. I was surprised that even 18-year-olds wouldn't speak English to me. I'm now learning Polish.

That's odd, I felt very welcome when I was there hiking this summer. But then it might not have been in the same areas, plus the usual difference between the country and cities.

Definitely.

Also, you might just have gotten lucky (or me unlucky).

Generalizing is difficult (of course, it's impossible talking about these things without generalizing).

Large companies in Switzerland (e.g. telcos) often provides customer services in English.

Telcos, banks, insurances, and even some administrations.

When you have to provide service in German, French and Italian, adding English doesn't require a huge effort :)

My foreign friends would complain mostly about real-estate agents (it's a sellers market, they make no effort).

If you are happy to live in an expat bubble then it works, but if you want to connect with the locals it doesn't. Most friend groups won't change their language to english to include you.

In my experience, it depends.

With me, in Berlin everyone would speak English.

In Warsaw and Wroclaw, if I was brought in by one of the group, the whole group would speak English to not be rude. If it's random people, they wouldn't. Single guys or girls not in a group will speak English to you if you're hanging out with them.

I think it largely depends on who it is you're dealing with.

"uneducated" people and the elderly will be less likely to speak or wanting to speak English (cashiers are the worse, in my experience). Most young people will speak English. Programmers and startup people all speak English. Doctors speak English, etc.

From dating a Polish girl, and meeting some of her relatives and friends in Poland, I'd say it's mostly a problem of confidence. Once they started talking there was rarely a problem (at least for non-rare words), but a lot of them didn't speak English to non-Poles often enough to feel like they actually could.

I too believe that young people are just self-conscious, perhaps because they're not used to speaking it.

A lot of old people dislike foreigners to a certain extend, however, and I bet some of them wouldn't speak it on purpose even if they could. For instance, an old lady at a drugstore complained to the cashier at the register because I took too long picking some medicine, while "there were Poles waiting in line".

Let's just say that Berlin was more foreign-friendly in my experience.

I've met people who did well in Hong Kong for decades without learning the local language (Cantonese) and then haven't bothered to learn Mandarin since China took control 20 years ago.

It's pretty doable in Sweden, too. In Japan, Russia or Argentina, though, you'd be at an enormous disadvantage.

To be fair, HK is bilingual, at least in the sense that all government/utility/etc. forms are available in both Cantonese and English (these days also in Simplified Chinese).

Article 9 of the Basic Law stipulates: "In addition to the Chinese language, English may also be used as an official language by the executive authorities, legislature and judiciary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region."

So, it's quite easy to get along without Cantonese or Mandarin (or without English, for that matter).

However, without Cantonese, one only has limited access to what's going on in politics, civil society, show biz, etc.

In Switzerland (we already have 4 local languages) it is very common for people not to speak the local language. I have seen people leaving in Geneva for more than 20 years and still not speaking french. The swiss government is even translating the laws in English for foreigners.

If you live in Paris, you would probably be fine, but outside Paris you may have hard time finding people speaking english (that is, in the street, shops, etc). Sadly, foreign languages are not proper priorities in our education.

I lived in Rennes, and frequently visited Paris. Your post summarizes my experiences exactly. What's more--I learned French in university, but my accent and the native accent were mutually unintelligible for quite a long time.

Given France history (and bagage with England), many French people are very proud of their language. I believe that if one wants to really enjoy France, develop good friendships there, etc., one has to speak French. Or at least be learning it.

massive... I am actually relocating to France in a few days. French lessons are very high on the list, as few people want to speak English day-to-day. The workplace might be different, and Paris might be different, but for the rest - French is a must. The second amendment of the french constitution reads "The language of the Republic is French" they take their language seriously.

Entirely depends on where you intend to live. You'll even be treated better (IMO) in Paris if you speak English as opposed to broken French.

My best French, accent and all, is Pardon, je ne comprend pas Francais. Parlais vous l'Anglais?

To summarize: It depends where you'll end up and which tech area you're specialized in. Paris is often a good spot, south east as well (Monaco, Cannes, Nice) if you're specialized in hardware. Regarding the south-east part, english might not be too much of a problem since international tourism is a big part of the local economy, I even heard that Google used to look for a spot there until some local political figure blew it up due to personal interests conflicts. Also for the record, Paul Allen's yacht is frequently seen cruising around when it's time for the Cannes festival.

Human brains are wired to soak up languages. Anybody immersed in another language making a minimum effort, will be fluent enough in six months.

People who say they have experienced the contrary typically go to great length to speak and read their native tongue. It doesn't matter how much you tried at home with a book etc... Once you're immersed and have made the decision to understand and speak the local language, it's like your brain goes on steroid. It is difficult to imagine until you've experienced it.

After dealing with mandarin and sichuanese, sorry, I cannot agree with you. Some languages are just plain hard.

Not that big a deal. French people in startups tend to speak english.

I believe this is entirely too dismissive of a very complex and important subject.

As a native English speaker living in France, I would strongly advise anyone considering living and working here that it is absolutely critical to speak, read, and write a competent level of French if one is to be successful.

Sure, if you're going to just live in the center of Paris and spend all your time in the Expat crowd, you can get by, but it's disingenuous to claim that someone wouldn't be at a significant disadvantage in a French company if they only speak English.

I'm aware of several companies that claim they operate in English, but what this really means is that formal meetings and (some) emails are written in English, and all other conversation is in French.

Won't it be a problem when looking for funds though? People who can fund startups tend to be a bit older and might not have a good level of English (or will simply be more likely to help the startup if they can communicate in French).

You raise an interesting point. I mostly answered from the point of view of an engineer, for whom it's not the biggest issue not to speak french. For a founder though it'd make things more complicated. They'd need to have someone close who speaks french, especially since there is a bunch of paperwork to do to start a company here and some physical interactions with french administration where english speaking might not be guaranteed.

They will also be more impressed and glad that some foreigner is trying to create value in their country. I don't think language is really a barrier in this case.

Definitely not a problem with French investors. They're business people who will of course speak English.

The real challenge for a non-French speaking founder would mainly be in dealings with local authorities. You can't expect public servants to speak any English or have any English-translated documentation / forms available.

Honnêtement, je pense que vous allez être bien sans parler un mot.

This wasn't my experience living in Rennes, trying very hard to speak French. :(

As fine as you can be if you can not talk to about 90% of the people around you.

Google Translate for the lazy:

Honestly, I think you're going to be fine without speaking a word.

https://translate.google.com.sg/?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&client=tw-ob....

Real question for me is that how good french people are at speaking English? If I go there, I wouldn't be able to speak any French on day 1, so It would be nice if there is a decent percentage of people speaking English so that I get by until I learn Essential French.

> Real question for me is that how good french people are at speaking English?

Mostly irrelevant unfortunately, because the French will expect you to speak French once you are in France. I've experienced this many times in Paris among French people I know can speak English well enough to have a conversation.

When compared to a country that has high levels of English literacy such as the Netherlands, there's a major difference here.

You will be able to get by just fine in Paris for things like restaurants and hotels, but as soon as you have to deal with the government in any fashion, you absolutely must speak French.

In places other than Paris and the tourist areas of some major cities, it will be very difficult if you don't speak any French.

+1. I'd be interested in knowing this as well.