Montpellier Travel Forum

Hi! I have been working in Spain since august. When i arrived i could speak no spanish at all and now, 5 months later and after fairly extensive studying i am on my way to fluency and loving it. However, i have met a french guy who wants to return to montpellier and for me to join him. I would love to go, but would i find work when i got there, speaking only english and spanish? is french an easy language to learn and what is the climate??!! I'm not able to make a 'fact finding' mission as the transport between here and montpellier is very expensive and i would struggle to get time off work so i would either have to do it or not.

Thats a lot of questions to ask, sorry!

Hello Dan - you don't mention what part of Spain you have been living in but I guess Montpellier will be a bit different.

As your new friend is French you will probably want to learn to speak French asap - and you will have plenty of day-to day practise. It is different from Spanish but as you are a quick learner that should help.

You can find out quite a lot about Montpellier - at least to give you an idea -online . Have a look at the VT Travel Guides

http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Europe/France/Languedoc_Roussillon/Montpellier-101882/TravelGuide-Montpellier.html

and Google for additional information.

If you really feel this is a right move for you the weather won't matter.

Hi

The weather in Monpellier is typical of Southern France with maybe a bit more rain than Toulouse for instance. Espect as hot but maybe less dry than Spain.

As for a job, it will be very hard for you to find a job, even a menial job, if you do not speak French. The unemployment rate is at around 9-10% in France and you will be competing against applicants who can speak French, and Spanish and English.

If your friends wants you to join him, then see if he could accomodate you for a bit while you learn French. It is not considered as an easy language but it is not that different from Catalan (but quite different from Castillan). For a basic job (dish washing, cleaning or maybe bar tending where the clients are mostly foreigners) you could get away with basic conversation level without bothering too much about spelling and grammar. Any other job, you'll need good written level of French.

Jobs are likely to be easier to find when the 'tourist season' arrives but will most likely be for no longer period than May/June to September.

Bonne chance!

Weather in Montpellier : 300+ sunny days per year, and rainfall tends to be concentrated in overnight storms. Montpellier weather stats : http://www.the-languedoc-page.com/languedoc/languedoc-weather-history.htm

Montpellier is a university city (80,000 students). It also has many language schools. There are quite a few anglophones working as English teachers.

Montpellier is about 5 miles from the beach.

Montpellier is one of the most desirable places to live in France.

Some photos : http://www.the-languedoc-page.com/photos/languedoc-photo-index.htm


Peter