Moving to France is something which many Brits yearn to do and it is easy to see why: here is a large and very beautiful country offering a wealth of history, stunning towns, wonderful countryside, an excellent health and education system and space – yes, lots and lots of space.

The key to a successful move to France lies in integrating into the French lifestyle and to do this, you need to communicate which means – yes, you have it – you have to learn at least a little French! One of the main reasons why people sometimes return to the UK, having set out to move permanently to France, is that they lack communication skills and so begin to feel isolated.

Take a good friend of mine – let’s call him Alan. Alan was a single dad and took the brave step of moving to France with his three children, then aged 6, 13 and 14. A carpenter by trade and having sold up in the UK, he realised his money was going to go a lot further when it came to looking for property and reckoned he could make some sort of a living with his trade.

Having always loved France, he picked an area he knew from childhood holidays and ended up buying a large house needing extensive renovation about an hour north of Toulouse in the Midi-Pyrenees region. He managed to enrol his children in local schools and set about making himself known in the area – although his house was somewhat isolated, beautiful though it was.

He did a great job on his house with the help of his 2 sons and all 3 children thrived in school, so much so that they quickly became fluent in French. His daughter actually came top of her class in French!  Alan made friends reasonably quickly, primarily in the expat community, which is alive and well in most parts of France, and even joined his local football team. He had not set about learning French however and it remained limited so as time went on he began to feel increasingly lonely. After just over 2 years, he made the decision to up sticks and sold his house and returned to the UK.

Now, admittedly, Alan may have found it difficult being a single parent in a foreign country but leaving that aside, and whatever your circumstances, the moral of this story is that it is most important to take proper steps to learn French ideally before you get to France and certainly once you are there. It doesn’t just rub off on you unfortunately, unless you are around 6 years old!

Being able to speak the language to conversational degree will pay enormous dividends and may even make the difference to your staying permanently in France. Think about it: you will be able to understand the culture, deal with day to day authorities such as the bank, your local Mairie and – most important of all - build friendships much more easily. Learning a language at any age brings with it a huge sense of contentment and definitely dusts off the brain! Communication is vital to us all and taking French lessons at the outset will benefit you enormously as your life enfolds in France.