For nationality you have to organise your own language learning. And the exams are obligatory, with cery few medical exemptions.
fair enough, that’s what I’d read so far… how I wish I’d applied years ago, before the exam thingy got put in place for folk of my age… 
I was discussing this with new neighbours, while they enjoyed my orange cake. 
They were adamant that France would not backtrack on its promises to the CdSWA folk…
as years are gained, exchanging for a “longer” carte should be straightforward with no new hoops to jump through (this is the “promise”).
Unfortunately, none is in the French govt, but they seemed convinced enough to satisfy me…
It’s ridiculous to think that France would impose a language test on anyone renewing their permanent WA CdS.
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You say “ridiculous” but, sadly, there are folk truly concerned and feeling rather fragile about moving up the CdSWA chain …
even those who have their 10-year permanent resident - which will need renewing.
Reading and understanding French legal blurb can be confusing and the word “plurielle” being bandied about hasn’t helped… I’m being contacted by Brit folk/pals.
which is why I have been discussing the subject with French folk to try and get some clarification/support for my own view that “all will be well”. (they were chuffed at my faith in French Govt)
I would say extremely unlikely, rather than ridiculous. There is a general election in a few years time….and some political parties are rather negative toward immigrants. But since WARP’ists are such an insignificant part of the population I imagine all will be well.
I fully agree.
In any case WARP’ists are a finite breed, plus those who are most likely to have any issues with this are those who came here as retirees because those who came here to work will in most cases have learned the language. So the situation will resolve itself within the foreseeable future without any action by the government.
I have to say that from an administrative point of view I can see why a country would want to ensure as far as possible that all permanent residents are equipped to communicate with its various administrations in the national language and also to integrate into their communities.
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Actually Tim it isnt ridiculous at all. Governments of the time can and do impose changes because they can irrelevant of whether we the minions agree or not.
Governments can and do, but as I said previously this isn’t about governments. This is about one of the biggest PR issues the EU and U.K. have faced since the creation if the EC/EU. There is much more at stake here than the french government wanting to appeal to the lunatic fringe right of its own country in the same way the conservatives have in the U.K., the EU needs to be seen by the entire world as having absolutely clean hands in every aspect of Brexit. They need to be the ones who say ‘we’ve done everything we could, acted with honour and integrity, even in the face of those unreasonable idiots on the other side’, which is exactly the PR line they’ve taken from 2016 until today. No one really cares about the situation of a hundred thousand Brits in France or whatever, you’re right, they can and do what they like, but there are bigger things in play on a grander global scale that means, luckily for us, I suspect we will always be treated very well, probably considerably better than almost all immigrants to any country anywhere these days. I suspect all countries know the sensitivities around this issue very well and so unless there some maniac like Orban in will decide it’s really not worth flexing their muscles on such a minor issue. I could be wrong, only time will tell.
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This is a useful article about the compulsory ‘Formation Civique’
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There is clearly a sizeable difference in being able to have a basic social interchange - “where do you live? Do you have any family? What is/was your profession? etc” and a discussion of a technical issue like fosses, going 100% single phase from a mix of 1-phase and 3-phase and suchlike.
I remember at my FR oral wittering on at length about the firearms in the school armoury, my activities on the shooting team but was brought up short by being asked “Et, avez vous les mitrailleuses?” “Mitrailleuses ? 
… ah! oui! Il y a trois Bren Guns!”
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I prattled away at my GCE French Oral… I was taking that exam a year early and nervous, obviously over-enthusiastic to compensate.
I was asked to describe how I spent the summer months… and I got quite carried away…
We lived by the sea in those days and I spent a lot of time swimming in it or sailing on it… etc etc…
The examiner smiled and asked if I was sure I did all this “en hiver” and I confirmed, yes, absolutely… nothing healthier … wonderful way of life…
It wasn’t until I was outside that it hit me… “en hiver”… aaargh… ah well, I can have another go next year.
But I passed with Grade A… 
EDIT: and I never used my French for at least 10 years after that… it just sat and mouldered…
All speculation.
Yet some people *do* swim in the sea “en hiver”, so he couldn’t really prove that you were wrong 
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Exactly…
My spoken French was obviously good enough to impress … but I wasn’t to know that at the time…
I’d written-off any idea of “passing-early” and doing another language…
As it happens, I was able to do a one-year crash course in German… which means I can order a glass of beer and be very polite…
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ah… German - love it!
Vanessa, when she was at teacher training college in the Midlands (where we met) had a visit from her German pen pal’s parents who taught me a few German phrases which I remember to this day -
“eine Schachtel Streichhölzer”
“es schmeckt mir sehr gut”
But I was young then, and my memory much more able to remember languages… My memory these days is shockingly poor which is why my French is a struggle
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ha ha… I could never write in German… just gathered a few useful phrases and I startled our Maire the other day, when he muttered something in German (jokingly thinking I’d be fuddled) and I answered him back. No idea what I said, it just came forth… but it obviously impressed him.
(By the way, he is another fan of my orange cake…)
In return for his offerings… I offered Gabi’s father “bottoms up” which had to be explained - much to their amusement 
If you visit Germany and someone says “bottoms up” it probably came from Wolfgang!
We still have contact with Gabi - even after all these years.
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I don’t even understand any of that in English 
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