Elodie Noutais — Working with France | French & Intercultural Training for Norwegian Teams

The real barrier isn’t language — it’s the codes behind it

Your team communicates with French partners every week — emails, calls, meetings, negotiations. Whether they work in French, in English, or in both, something keeps getting lost.

Decisions stall. Emails are misread. Meetings run differently than expected. Your Norwegian directness is perceived as bluntness. Their French indirectness looks like evasion. Neither side names it, but both sides feel it.

The problem isn’t vocabulary or grammar. It’s cultural fluency — the invisible operating system that governs how the French make decisions, build trust, handle disagreement, and read signals. Speaking French doesn’t give you these codes. And working in English doesn’t protect you from missing them.

Working with France gives your team the linguistic and cultural tools to work with France as insiders, not outsiders — in whichever language the conversation happens.

Is this for you?

Built for three decision-makers

HR & L&D Manager

Measurable training with full reporting

Pre- and post-programme assessments, progress dashboards, and completion reports ready for your kompetansefond applications and budget reviews.

Team Manager

Your team operational with French partners, fast

6 weeks, 15–20 minutes per module, 100% asynchronous. No scheduling conflicts. Your team gains the cultural reflexes that make meetings, emails, and negotiations with France actually work.

CEO · Country Manager

French partnerships that deliver results

The cultural friction slowing your Franco-Norwegian projects isn’t visible in dashboards — but it shows in timelines, retention, and missed opportunities. This programme removes it.

The programme

Working with France

6 weeks · 12 modules · 100% asynchronous. Two integrated tracks that give your team both the words and the codes.

Track 1

Operational French

Phonetics calibrated for Norwegian speakers — pronounce names, places, and key terms correctly
Professional email codes — openings, closings, and registers of politeness that signal competence
Meeting survival kit — follow a French agenda, catch key interventions, signal agreement and disagreement
Numbers, dates, and contractual terms — the vocabulary that prevents costly misunderstandings
Social expressions — the small words that change how the French perceive you

Track 2

Cultural Intelligence

Communication styles — Norwegian directness vs. French indirectness, the culture of the unsaid, managing susceptibilities
Decision-making — consensus vs. hierarchy: who really decides and how to influence the process
The French relationship to hierarchy, diplomas, and the Cartesian mindset
Time, deadlines, and “le système D” — why French flexibility isn’t chaos
Meetings, negotiations, and the business lunch — unwritten rules no one explains
Values that drive behaviour — liberté, individualisme, esprit critique at work

Format: Video · Audio · Interactive PDFs · Quizzes · Immersive scenarios — 15–20 min per module, on your own schedule.

Live workshops and group sessions available as a premium option for teams who want direct interaction.

Discuss your team’s needs →

Extend the programme

Language & sector add-ons

Optional modules to deepen the linguistic dimension or adapt the programme to your industry.

🗣️

French from Zero

For complete beginners. Core survival vocabulary, pronunciation fundamentals for Norwegian speakers, essential greetings and social formulas. No prior French required.

📧

Professional French Intensive

Deeper linguistic modules: email drafting, phone and video call vocabulary, meeting participation, and the art of formal and informal registers.

Sector-specific modules

⚡

Energy

Oil & gas, renewables — terminology, contracts, and communication in Franco-Norwegian energy partnerships

⚓

Maritime

Shipping, offshore, port operations — regulatory vocabulary and stakeholder communication

🏠

Real Estate

Selling French property to Scandinavians — notaire processes, legal terms, client-facing French

✈

Tourism

Hotels, agencies, luxury travel — service vocabulary and French hospitality culture

Ask about add-on modules →

Elodie Noutais

French language & intercultural trainer

⁠🇳🇴 Fluent Norwegian speaker · Oslo

CCFN - Chambre de Commerce Franco-Norvégienne

A French trainer who understands both sides

I train Norwegian government professionals at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs — diplomats, development specialists from NORAD, and officials from the Ministry of Climate and Environment and the Ministry of Children and Families. I prepare them to operate in French-speaking countries and international institutions including the United Nations, the European Parliament, and the African Union.

Before Oslo, I trained executives from L’Oréal, Loewe, Schneider Electric, and other international companies through CERAN’s intensive immersion programmes, and Oxford academics through LiveFrench.net.

Working with France isn’t adapted from a generic template or generated by an algorithm. It’s built on lived experience — by someone who is French, lives in Norway, speaks Norwegian, and has learned a foreign language as an adult. I know what it takes to decode a culture from the inside, because I’ve done it myself. That experience shapes every module: the frustrations, the breakthroughs, and the shortcuts that actually work.

Master’s degree in FLE — Français Langue Étrangère (fransk som fremmedspråk): the academic discipline of teaching French to non-native speakers, with specialised methodology distinct from general language teaching
Specialised training in FOS (French for Specific Professional Purposes) and intercultural communication for business contexts, Université de Lille-Artois
Master’s degree in History
CAPES — French national competitive teaching certification in History & Geography
DNL certification — qualified to teach academic subjects through foreign languages in European bilingual sections
Member of SIETAR France & Europe — Society for Intercultural Education, Training and Research, the leading global professional association for intercultural practitioners
Member of the CCFN — Chambre de Commerce Franco-Norvégienne, connecting French and Norwegian business communities
Methodology grounded in Erin Meyer (The Culture Map), Hofstede, and Barsoux & Lawrence

Let’s talk about your team →

For HR & L&D managers

Training you can track

Every participant’s progress is documented. You get the data you need to justify the investment.

Progress dashboard

Real-time visibility on module completion, quiz scores, and engagement rates for each participant and team.

Individual assessments

Pre- and post-programme evaluation of each participant’s cultural awareness and operational French proficiency.

Completion reports

Detailed end-of-programme report per team — ready for L&D records, budget reviews, or kompetansefond applications.

Frequently asked

Questions & objections

“We already work in English with our French partners — is this really necessary?”↓

Working in English removes the language barrier — but it doesn’t remove the cultural one. Most Franco-Norwegian friction happens regardless of which language you use: misread intentions, meetings without conclusions, decisions that don’t stick. This programme addresses the cultural operating system underneath the words, not just the words themselves.

“Our team doesn’t have time for a language course.”↓

This isn’t a language course. It’s 12 modules of 15–20 minutes each, 100% asynchronous, over 6 weeks. Your team completes them between meetings, on the train, during lunch. Total investment: under 5 hours.

“We already have a language training provider.”↓

Good — keep them. Working with France complements general French classes. Language providers teach grammar. This programme teaches the professional codes, communication patterns, and cultural reflexes that make the difference in real business situations.

“How do we know this works?”↓

The methodology is the same one I use to prepare Norwegian diplomats for postings in French-speaking countries and international organisations. Every module includes pre- and post-assessments. And the first consultation is free — we assess fit before you commit.

“What does FLE mean?”↓

FLE stands for Français Langue Étrangère — in Norwegian, fransk som fremmedspråk. It’s the academic field dedicated to teaching French to non-native speakers, with its own research, methodology, and university programmes. My Master’s in FLE and specialisation in FOS (French for Specific Professional Purposes) mean this programme is built on proven pedagogical foundations, not improvised.

“Can’t AI tools do this?”↓

AI can teach vocabulary and grammar, and it can summarise cultural frameworks. What it cannot do is interpret the specific dynamics of your team’s situation with French partners, design a learning progression calibrated for Norwegian professionals, or lead a live workshop where real intercultural tensions are unpacked in real time. This programme is built on years of lived experience on both sides of the Franco-Norwegian divide — not on pattern matching.

“What about pricing?”↓

Pricing depends on team size, modules selected, and whether you need sector-specific add-ons. Book a call and I’ll prepare a tailored proposal.

“What does the consultation call involve?”↓

It’s a 20-minute video call where we discuss your team’s situation: who they work with in France, what challenges they face, what level of French they have. I assess whether Working with France is the right fit and, if so, which modules and format would work best. No pitch, no obligation.

Give your team the codes to make Franco-Norwegian partnerships actually deliver