This can be stressful especially if you are not comfortable using French to explain delicate situations or if you just simply don’t have the vocabulary to fully explain yourself. Luckily Paris is a cosmopolitan city with many expats, that have limited French or even speak no French at all.
Special note about doctors: Doctors are not allowed to advertise in France, so they may be hard to find!
How to find English speaking professionals on the Internet
There are several ways you can find English speaking professionals in Paris, the first being the Internet. A thorough Internet search including the type of professional you are looking for, and the area that you live in will give you a foundation to start with.
There are many sites that can help you and some professionals even advertise themselves as English speaking such as Trip Medic. There are also sites specifically for expats in France that can help you find any information you may need while living in Paris like Angloinfo. Many services in Paris have an English version of their websites, for example, public hospitals have a general website in English.
Looking at English Expat Forums
There are many expat websites such as Internations, that give expats all kinds of information on what to do when you move to a new country. They also have forums for people to ask questions and be answered by someone in the community who has been through similar experiences.
Even TripAdvisor has a forum to help people find English speaking doctors in Paris.
Looking the old fashioned way with Yellow Pages and newspapers
The French Yellow Pages or Pages Jeunes in France, can be a great resource to start your search in Paris. You need to look under “M” for médecin (doctor in French), and “A” for avocat (lawyer in French) or “d” for dentiste. There is also the FUSAC which is an English magazine in Paris for English speakers. It has lots of relevant information on things you may need in Paris.
Looking for information at English speaking Embassies
A good resource is Embassies as they generally have a list of English speaking professionals for their citizens overseas. The Embassies such as the America, Australian and Canadian Embassy keep their lists on the English version of their website, under a theme such as Residents in France or Living in France. Many lists are sorted by city, and profession although not all professions can be found on their websites. The easiest professions to find on embassy websites are doctors and lawyers. You do not need to be a citizen of a specific country to see their list.
If you need more tips you can check our article on the best expat blogs in Paris to find further advice.
If you want to have more tips, join our community of language ambassadors. To do so, apply for one of our jobs in Paris France for English speakers. We currently have nanny jobs in Paris France, jobs in Paris France for non-French speakers, jobs for Americans in Paris France...
