Radio Series – French Community in Guernsey

Welcome back to our interview series on BBC Radio Guernsey! Accent has teamed up with BBC Radio Guernsey to discuss Guernsey’s rich international community and chat all things language, migration and culture.

This week, BBC Radio Guernsey’s Claire Cathcart interviews Guilhem Chêne, Accent’s French teacher, and half-French resident Caroline Barby, to find out about French culture and community on the island.

Guilhem talks about what brought him to Guernsey ten years ago and proposes the revival of the French community in Guernsey, which has died down in the past few years. He describes certain culture shocks he discovered when he moved here, and Guernsey’s interesting duality as an island with mixed French and English culture.

Caroline, raised in a French-speaking household in Guernsey, talks about the benefits of growing up bilingual. She talks, too, about living in Germany in her 20s, how she was able to pick up a third language so quickly, and compares living and working in France, England, Germany and South Africa.

They also discuss holiday destinations: where French people like to go in the UK, and what they think of the Channel Islands.

Listen to Guilhem and Caroline’s quiz on French and German idioms – you might do better than Claire and Jake did!

Tune in next week to listen to Accent’s German teacher, Ulrike and her husband to go into more depth on German community in Guernsey and teach us some more phrases.

Feel free to email us if you have any comments, questions or, if you are part of one of these communities, anything to add for the upcoming interviews!