Meet both my children, talking about life in three languages

The whole family's on the podcast this week. Come and say hello (or bonjour... or hej!)... Then let me show you the biggest fresh produce market in the world.

Imagine your Dad speaks English. Your mum speaks Swedish. Then you go out the front door and everyone’s speaking French, even at school.

Well, you’ve just imagined the lives of my two children: Otis, almost 5, and Astrid, almost 2.

The idea of life in three languages fascinates me, so I invited them both onto the podcast to chat about it. Of course, it’s a shorter episode than usual because if you think I can keep those two sitting still for more than ten minutes you’re having a laugh.

If you’re even remotely as intrigued by language as I am, I think you’ll like this episode. And as I said about a year ago, when Otis made his first appearance on the pod, this is all a matter of circumstance. We’re not giving them endless lessons on English grammar, we’re not getting them to repeat the alphabet over and over, this is just how our life happens to have turned out. It’s a very natural process and it seems to be working well.

Check out how it works and sounds by clicking play below.

Join me at the biggest food market in the world*

In other news, in about two days’ time (specifically 1.15am on April 2nd, Paris time), I will venture out to the world’s biggest fresh produce market*, just outside of Paris.

*(It depends how you define it, there’s another big produce market in Mexico, but this one in Paris is very big too.)

This place is called Rungis, have you heard about it? As far as I understand, this is where Les Halles food market moved after it grew too big for Paris in the late 1960s.

But I don’t know much more than that. The whole place is shrouded in a kind of professional secrecy. French restauranteurs go out there, buying their wares for the day. They’re scouring the fresh produce for the best quality and the best prices, and there’s a lot of action.

And I’ve heard the fish market on Wednesday night (read: Thursday morning) is a very big deal.

So, I’ll be out there in these very fish markets with tour guide April Pett, who scored some VIP passes to see this side of Paris that people don’t usually get to see.

And we’ll share it live, and free to view, on my YouTube channel on the link below. I assume the video will last about 30-60 minutes, depending on a million factors, including how long I can stay awake. I’m never up this late! But if it’s 1.15am for me in Paris, it’s likely a good time for you to watch live :)

Time for you (this week!)

• Los Angeles (PDT, UTC−7): 4:15 PM on Wednesday

• New York (EDT, UTC−4): 7:15 PM on Wednesday

• London (BST, UTC+1): 12:15 AM on Thursday

• Sydney (AEDT, UTC+11): 10:15 AM on Thursday

See you then, I hope!

If not, perhaps see you on one of my walking tours soon. This month has been one of the busiest ever. Here’s a picture from this morning on my own personal Marais tour! (Regular listeners and past tour guests probably know exactly where I’m standing and what I’m talking about).

Thanks for reading,

Oliver

PS: A big welcome to all the new members here and on Patreon, and I’m delighted with the feedback on my new PDF guide to Paris. A reminder: That guide is free for all members, on sale for everyone else.

Thank you, merci, tack!