The Yorkshire Vet: Strengthening the French connection - Julian Norton
Bonjour, je m’appelle Julian. Je suis un directeur et un veterinaire à cette practice,” I said to one of two vet students who had arrived earlier in the day. Oriane and Juliette were fourth year students from a university just outside Paris.
They contacted us several months ago, asking if they could spend a fortnight with us at Thirsk. We always like to help students when and where we can, but this was the first time we had been approached by anyone from France. As a committed Francophile, I was very keen. We knew they were likely to be highly enthusiastic if they wanted to make the effort to come to another country and tackle work experience in a different language. It reminded me of when Anne and I travelled to the furthest part of mainland Britain to a bustling vet practice in Caithness, when I was a fourth year student. That had stood us in good stead. Everyone loves an enthusiastic vet student. And, if nothing else, this could be a good opportunity to practise our French!
Oriane nodded politely. She seemed to understand, so I ploughed on in my considered and semi-pre-planned French. “Vous habitez où?”
“En French où quand nous restons en Yorkshire?” Juliette replied. It turned that out one was from somewhere north-east of Paris and the other from Southern Brittany (I think). Also, they were staying in an Air BnB “à côté de Aldi”. So far, we understood each other. I explained that I wouldn’t be back at in the Thirsk practice until Thursday, but I was looking forward to continuing our discussion then. After their first day, Anne came home to report that they had been excellent- attentive and knowledgeable, but also with perfect English, both completely understanding not just the veterinary language but the informal chatting and joking within the practice. She also reported that they had commented that my French was very good. This was kind, but something of an overstatement of the truth.
I’d promised that I would try and speak in French for the duration of their stay, but it turned out that their almost flawless English rendered my attempts totally redundant. We all agreed it was better in English, but when I did make embark on a conversation in French they were encouraging, always replying in slow and simple vocabulary so I could understand and keep up.
On the middle Saturday of their stay, we suggested that they take the train to York, for some sight-seeing. Once again, my GCSE basics came into action as I gave directions to the station and described that, once there, the famous city walls were “En face de la gare.” But it was not all plain sailing. Later in their stay, we were discussing types of medication used to treat vomiting and nausea in dogs. The standard drug is called maropitant, with which they were familiar. Oriane asked about another drug, which was occasionally used in France, called Ondansetron. I was baffled for several minutes, as my studious French mind heard the words “on dance citron”. All I could conjure up was an image of a person dancing with a lemon, until I realised we also used Ondansetron for vomiting!
Apart from the occasional misunderstanding, the sojourn was very successful and the girls saw some interesting cases, from complex orthopaedic surgery to critically ill rescue dogs and constipated cats. I hope they furthered their veterinary knowledge. Part of their mission was to improve their English, although as far as we could tell, this wasn’t necessary. But I hope their stay was also symbolic of an ongoing entente cordiale between our countries. We have more in common than that which divides us. And long may this continue.