From the Editors
The sixth issue of French Accent has been a labour of love and more than just in a figurative sense. Aside from the pleasure derived from producing a publication such as this, the overriding theme of the May issue is the world of work in France. You will quickly notice that some aspect of the culture of work is present in almost every article, with the logical exceptions of our new text in instalments, natural gardening – a labour saving method – and Alexandra’s monthly audio contribution. Many of you have moved to France, or are contemplating doing so, with the intention of becoming active and productive inhabitants of the country, and a good many of you either have your own businesses, operate B & Bs or work for French firms. While it would be impossible to be all-inclusive in our choice of articles concerning this vast and often complicated issue, we have endeavoured to treat some of the more salient matters involved when one works in France and to provide you with some of the useful and important vocabulary both from the workplace itself but also from the administrative side of working or doing business in France. The theme of working in France also provided us the opportunity to trace the history of the labour union movement in France in our political column.
We are sure that those of you who have experience working in France have many comments, suggestions or anecdotes to share with other readers, and we encourage you to send them to us by e-mail*. In the near future, we plan to make it possible to submit comments on individual articles on the web site version of French Accent, which would make any commentary and further discussion among readers of a particular article much more readily available.
We were also extremely pleased and gratified with the response to our readers’ poll (see article on page 4). We greatly appreciate your comments, suggestions and opinions and especially your taking the time to fill out what was admittedly a rather lengthy questionnaire. We apologize for making it so long, but it was also very important for us to have your feedback on a number of important issues. You will notice already in this issue that we have begun to implement a few of your excellent suggestions (see the articles on Le Marais and Neuchâtel), and will strive to add more in the future as time and resources permit.
Happy reading!
*editor@frenchaccentmagazine.com
