Bienvenue au bulletin d'information d'Infolangues. Cette newsletter trimestrielle a pour but de vous divertir et de vous informer sur l'actualité de la formation linguistique dans nos régions.

A slice of life
I've got a problem - or perhaps it's a confession: I think I'm becoming French! I've fought this feeling off for some time now, but finally I've got to face up to it as the symptoms are becoming harder to hide.

First signs were that I was drinking more wine than beer, more coffee than tea. But then I developed the taste for oysters and foie gras, and I found myself on the slippery slope to 'Frenchness'. When I stopped calling this latter food item, 'pâté' de foie gras, I don't recall, but it shows how my linguistic habits are slowly becoming frenchified. Similar are the 'bien joué's', 'merde's' and 'la vache's', to which I now subject my badminton partner, or the 'oh-la-la's', 'n'importe quoi's' and 'eh-ba-di-don's', I now utter (1) whilst watching the news.

Oh, Mon Dieu, Mon Dieu. What ever should I do? I've started wearing perfume, slippers and 'pantacourts', and when I see myself in the mirror I'm sure that a bushy Gallic moustache and beret would suit me fine. On holiday, rather than appreciating the scenic views or local architecture, I now spend the mornings studying menus outside restaurants in preparation for the daily midday routine of gorging on the local culinary delights. Sunday mornings, I stand in long queues outside bakeries to fetch the crusty baguettes. I know the names of more French football players than English. I no longer use the bidet for washing my feet. I can open champagne without spraying the ceiling. I go to bed long before midnight wearing pyjamas. I fancy (2) Claire Chazal and think that Patrick Poivre d'Avor is 'sympa'. In fact, in most areas of life, 'la vie Française' is now governing my life.

In most areas, but not all. When it comes to driving I'm strongly determined to hold out. Yes, I can still park a car between two white lines. I don't yet queue jump; flash (3) cars to bully (4) them out of my way; treat the péripherique as a grand-prix circuit, or drive, read a map and use my mobile phone all at the same time. Furthermore, I stop at traffic lights and zebra crossings. I signal when exiting roundabouts (5). I get into lane well in advance and remain prepared to avoid the concentration lapses of others. But with time, maybe this too will change.

After five years in France, perhaps it is now time to admit defeat and lose my appreciation of fish and chips, cricket and English country pubs. Perhaps I should just accept that the French are better at sport than the English and that English food is BAD! Actually, I don't think it will be too hard for I've always believed there's some French blood in me - somewhere. And that's a fact, for I've always known that I'm the best lover in the world.

Phil
Formateur

Actualité de la formation : quelques éclairages sur la mise en œuvre du DIF :
La loi du 4 mai 2004 relative à la formation tout au long de la vie instaure un nouveau dispositif, le Droit Individuel à la Formation (DIF). Il s'agit d'un droit individuel de 20 heures de formation à l'initiative du salarié, cumulable pendant 6 ans à concurrence de 120 heures.

Deux ans après sa création, et alors que les salariés peuvent actuellement prétendre à environ 40 heures de formation, comment le DIF est-il envisagé aujourd'hui ? Ces quelques chiffres tirés d'une enquête publiée par le CEGOS en mars 2006 donnent un premier aperçu de la situation ;

- 84% des salariés pensent que la réforme et le DIF vont favoriser le développement des compétences " tout au long de la vie "
- 75% confirment que la loi va concourir à réduire les inégalités d'accès à la formation
- Pour 46% des salariés, une formation est motivée par la recherche d'une meilleure qualification professionnelle
- 30 % de salariés déclarent avoir un projet précis de formation dans le cadre du DIF, mais seulement 3% ont fait une demande en 2005

Les salariés semblent donc attendre d'avoir capitalisé suffisamment d'heures pour s'engager dans une formation plus longue. Ils souhaitent également en priorité s'orienter vers des formations relatives à leurs compétences métier afin de renforcer leur employabilité.

Cécile
Conseillère en formation

New words in English
Après Noël, voici les soldes. Pour être à la page, voici quelques nouveaux mots créés par les médias en 2006* à utiliser pour parler de vos achats :

- Regifting : If you can't think of a gift for someone, have you ever been tempted to give that unwanted present you were given last birthday ? If the answer is yes, then you know what regifting is: the recycling of unwanted presents.

- Shopgrifting: It's a tempting idea: buy the shirt one day, wear it to the party, carefully repackage it the next day, take it back to the shop, get your money back. Result: you wore something new but didn't spend any money! If you've thought of doing this, then remember this is shopgrifting, which sounds frighteningly similar to something which is totally illegal: shoplifting

- Trolleyology: You see somebody really good-looking at the supermarket checkout and then notice that their trolley is full of beer and frozen hamburgers. Suddenly your opinion of them changes: maybe they're too lazy to cook decent food and just spend all their time slumped in front of the TV. The name for the psychological assessment you have made is trolleyology, the study of how the content of a person's shopping trolley shows something about their personality.

Jeremy
Responsable qualité formation

* Macmillan Words of the year.

Prochaine newsletter à paraître en avril 2007