Advice wanted about Martinique

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I am spending a week in Martinique at France Langue Martinique school to improve my French. I will be in a homestay. Does anyone have any advice on how to prepare for my trip or what to do?

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cc

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I donā€™t think there is some specific advice on the matter. What Iā€™d say is just read and listen a lot.

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I am reading up online about Martinique and have a tourist publication.

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Sounds like a cool trip.

My only contribution is my French teacher is middle school saying not to go to Martinique because they speak a different (substandard) French there. lol

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I am sure I will come back with a creole accent, but I am also looking for the sun.

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i was just there two weeks ago iā€™m sure your french will improve the people are very friendly and the atmosphere is very relaxed generally and you certainly going to get sun itā€™s hot lol

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How silly of him. Iā€™ve met a few people from there and they speak perfect French. Of course, they also sometimes speak creole but thatā€™s a different language. Anyway, a different accent wouldnā€™t be ā€œsubstandardā€

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Good to know. I wasnā€™t big fan of that lady and I eventually switched to Spanish because of it.

Ironically, in the one Spanish course I took at college (6 years later), I remember the (Peruvian) instructor pointing out that something I said was how they say it in Spain. She was a little snippy too, which I didnā€™t care for, so I countered by saying that my way, because it was the Castillian way, was the ā€œreal wayā€ to say it. Then she said that was racistā€¦and hated me ever since. :wink:

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Hi. People there speak standard French but with a specific ā€œcrĆ©oleā€ accent. They also speak the ā€œcrĆ©ole martiniquaisā€ which is a nice sounding pidgin, but never with tourists. My advice would be : donā€™t try to imitate the ā€œcrĆ©oleā€ accent. White people using this accent are usually ā€œbekĆ©sā€ (descendants of early European settlers). Maybe you want to have a look at Wikipedia to learn about the turbulent history of that area and the problems they are currently facing ; not everyone is friendly btw. Iā€™ve been there only once and Iā€™m not a specialist of the West Indies, so take what I wrote cum grano salis. However, I can guarantee you that the food is excellent - as long as you like red pepper!

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martinique is one of the safest countries to visit hundreds of tourists go they every year with no problems les bekes is a political and historical issue that has been allowed to continue by france but rarely ever effects tourists
La veĢriteĢ sur les beĢkeĢs - YouTube this link might explain it better but itā€™s in french and also only has french subtitles no english captions

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Thanks for the advice on the accent. As I am still learning, I usually try to imitate accents. I am not likely to be mistaken for local. And I do love spicy foods

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Wow, that video was quite enlightening, thanks for sharing. I now know to watch what I say.

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Thanks for the advice about bekes. I noticed the difference when I did not look like a tourist, but I never felt in danger.

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Thanks for the advice about bekes. I noticed the difference when I did not look like a tourist, but I never felt in danger.

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