A video on how Mauritius life compares to London life (with kids)?

Hi Sophie

Well done. Great initiative!!!!!! There are so many people who have loads of questions around this exciting, adventurous and at the same time daunting journey. A great way for people to hear the good & challenging sides of making a move.

Cheers
Tim

You're welcome! I know it's something I would have loved to know more about when we were still in London, so thought I'd share my knowledge and experience ;-)

Amazing , thanks so much.... we move in March and also looking for as much info as possible at the moment

You're more than welcome Cara :-) Which part of the island are you moving to? Shout if you have any questions.

Very informative. That's unfortunate about the stray dogs though. And regarding the shopping, there would seem to be an opening in the market for someone bringing in higher-end goods?

Ahhhhh why can't I play the video ?
We are moving to somewhere in the North coming in November to decide.
Where do you live and what ages are your kids ?
xx

Cara,

If you can't get that link to work, you can find the video directly on YouTube. Just do a search on "London vs. Mauritius: Life with Kids" and it should come up.

Great video. Will be of tremendous help to other expats.

However Creole is by far the most widely spoken language in Mauritius. French is mainly the language of the media and that of French-Mauritians with some spillover among a few others.

Found it and super helpful, thanks so much xxx

Sorry about the link - you need to add the www. before it for it to work, or just search on YouTube as suggested ;-)

Re stray dogs - there are charities who go round sterilising strays which is dealing with the problem at the source, and apparently it is much better than it used to be.

Not sure about high end shopping - I just miss my standard High Street shops from London, but that's just me ;-)

We have found that 99% of the people we speak to here speak French no problem, but not everyone speaks Creole. Also media is in French. So I would say that if you are going to choose one to learn then French would be your best bet. Having said that we're learning Creole too, and it's great fun :-) Although a lot trickier as everyone writes it differently and I'm a visual learner!

Also we have a friend who speaks English and Creole, when she goes into shops she speaks in Creole, they reply in French and she then explains that she doesn't speak French and they then switch to English....

Anyway glad people are finding it helpful :-)

You summed it up pretty well... It will be a great help to people contemplating on migrating to Mauritius. Good initiative, well done.
P.S. I have memories of Nice and moreso Cannes (Midem every January), doesn't beat Mauritius except for the marina and shopping. When one weighs up the priviledge of bringing up young children here, the choice is clear. Happy children make happy parents? Can't have it all, right?

FranglaiseMummy wrote:

We have found that 99% of the people we speak to here speak French no problem, but not everyone speaks Creole. Also media is in French. So I would say that if you are going to choose one to learn then French would be your best bet. Having said that we're learning Creole too, and it's great fun :-) Although a lot trickier as everyone writes it differently and I'm a visual learner!

Also we have a friend who speaks English and Creole, when she goes into shops she speaks in Creole, they reply in French and she then explains that she doesn't speak French and they then switch to English....

In areas with high expat population like Tamarin, Flic en Flac and Grand Baie where many French-Mauritian also people live, French is widely used, however beyond that, the real native language of Mauritius is definitely creole

One of the interesting things about the media is the evening news service on MBC it is shown English French and Creole .  The daily newspapers are 99% in French or creole there is the strange part of the daily life in Mauritius is that people such as politicians etc start to talk in French but sometimes halfway through a sentence will say a phrase in English.  There is a summary of the weeks news each week in an  English journal called Weekly which is available on subscription or with the daily papers at most of the supermarkets

Frenchieg - I love it here because it reminds me of bits of France, bits of England and then a lot of exoticness :-) And happy children make happy parents, also happy parents make happy children :-)

WinstonH - ah yes, I was just basing it on where most expats are most likely to settle as that's who the video is for ;-)

Leslie - I absolutely love this huge mix of the three languages, and it always makes me smile when I hear a phrase in English on the radio in the middle of a French conversation or speech.