Welcome back to Forked Tongues: Conversations with Foreigners Living in France!

Episode 17! A new year, a new episode! 

My guest for this special occasion is Victor Santander from Peru. He's a great guy, very knowledgeable on many different subjects, and passionate about sharing that knowledge.

We had a great discussion, spending time in Peru and France, and touching on some of my favourite Forked Tongues topics: food, language, family, French behaviour, as well as other unexpected subjects that I'll let you discover.

I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did!

Thanks for listening!

Derek Rawson

Welcome back to Forked Tongues: Conversations with Foreigners Living in France!

Episode 16! The first conversation in over a year on the podcast. 

To mark this special occasion, my guest is Kerry Varo from the US. He's a young guy, open, friendly, fearless. A talented baker, musician, and polyglot (his parents are  Mexican), he has been in France for almost ten years now and has had many interesting experiences.

We had a great discussion, touching on some of my favourite Forked Tongues topics: French food, the French language, French behaviour, as well as other unexpected subjects that I'll let you discover.

I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did!

Thanks for listening!

Derek Rawson

And this is the song I talk about at the end of the episode, Cancion Mixteca: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CO7vTfkCbqo

Welcome to Forked Tongues: Conversations with Foreigners Living in France!

Episode 15 of the journey but, once again, not your usual FT episode... 

This episode, dedicated to two of my favourite things: Paris and the movies, is a small FT homage to poet, Charles Simic, who died in January. In it, I read his piece: With Gene Tierney in Paris, taken from a book of film appreciation called O.K. You Mugs: Writers on Actors.

With humour and poetry Simic describes his experience of being a young immigrant in Paris in the 1950s and falling in (complicated) love with Hollywood starlet, Gene Tierney.

I hope you enjoy it!

Thanks for listening,
Derek Rawson

Hello all!

It's been too long... 

But I'm happy to let you know that Forked Tongues will be returning soon with new episodes. New conversations with fascinating foreigners talking about their experience of this equally fascinating country that is France.

The adventure continues! I hope you'll join me.

Thanks for listening.

A bientôt!
Derek Rawson

Welcome to Forked Tongues: Conversations with Foreigners Living in France!

Episode 14 of the journey, but not your usual FT episode as it's not exactly a conversation...

This episode is dedicated to French food, as seen through the eyes of one of my favourite writers, Jim Harrison. In it, I read his piece, Thirty-three Angles on Eating French, taken from his first collection of food writings, The Raw and the Cooked:  Adventures of a Roving Gourmand.

Jim Harrison's glorious pen and unmatched lust for life are very much on display here.

So come spend a moment with myself and Jim Harrison...  I'm sure you'll enjoy his words and insights as much as I do!

Thanks for listening,
Derek Rawson

Welcome back Forked Tongues: Conversations with Foreigners Living in France!

Episode 13! The first episode of 2022.

In this episode I speak with Lesley Webster, a retired English teacher and passionate Francophile, who has been living in France for 20 years now. I met Lesley 10 years ago but hadn't seen her since, so our conversation was a great opportunity to not just catch up but learn about her life and life-long love of France.

Our discussion takes us from her first visits here as a young girl to becoming a French citizen a few years ago, and much more in between!

So join me for another Forked Tongues conversation. I'm sure you'll find it as interesting and entertaining as I did!

Thanks for listening!

Derek Rawson

Welcome to episode 12 of Forked Tongues: Conversations with Foreigners Living in France!

In this episode I'm joined by Jim (and Janet) Neve, an English couple who live in the Pyrenees Orientales where I spent two weeks during this year's French summer holidays. When I visited them at their home they were busy looking after their grandson but kindly took time to speak to me about their life in a beautiful corner of France - at the foot of Mount Canigou!

We discussed many aspects of French daily life: invitations to apéros, dealing with tradesmen, getting a French driver's licence, bringing pub culture to a French village, and all kinds of cultural differences that exist between expats and the French.

I hope you enjoy our conversation!

Thanks for listening,
Derek Rawson

Welcome back to Forked Tongues: Conversations with Foreigners Living in France!

This is Episode 11!

The French summer holidays are over, and the French rentrée (back to school) is too. A new (French) year begins... the second year of existence for this podcast! 

For this first episode following the summer break I spoke with Michael Strutt, an Englishman living in Vernet-les-Bains in the Pyrénées Orientales where I spent two weeks this summer.

Affable, insightful, and incredibly knowledgeable, Michael is also a real Francophile, coming to France countless times since his first visit at the age of 14.  Our conversation covers many topics: his early experience of France and French people (in the UK), the British connection to Vernet-les-Bains, the Anglican church there with the only set of bells in France that can be rung in the English style, local history, speaking and reading French, understanding French etiquette, to name just a few.

This was a fascinating discussion with a very interesting and generous man. I'm sure you'll enjoy it as much as I did.

Thanks for listening!
Derek Rawson

Hello all,

Just to let you know that Forked Tongues is taking a short French summer break before returning with new episodes - new conversations! - from September.

There's also a new email address for any comments, questions, or anything else you might like to share : ForkedTonguesPodcast [at] gmail.com

Don't hesitate to send me a message!

Thanks for listening.

A bientôt!
Derek Rawson

Welcome to Episode 10 of Forked Tongues!

In this episode of the Forked Tongues journey I'm joined by Eduardo Martini from Brazil.

Eduardo hasn't been in France for very long but his experience has been interesting and unexpected, by turns enjoyable and challenging, arriving for his second, current stay just days before the Covid pandemic hit the country.

Our discussion covers his background in Brazil, his arrival in Poitiers, his wedding here when he hardly understood the language, learning the language, having a baby in France, French neighbours, French restaurant etiquette, and much more!

I hope you enjoy our conversation!

Thanks for listening,
Derek Rawson