Sanex houdt de huid gezond

[Deleted]

I'm back from the supermarket, let's see the content of my shopping bag: Zeep; Scheerschuim, AirWick ultra fris (Nieuw!), Dikke lichte verse room; Gepelde hele tomaten op sap.. Oh shit! I've forgotten the melk!

All the generic products on sale here are always labelled in French (obviously) and Dutch. Why not English, or even German - after all Germany is France's main trading partner and German is the most spoken first language in the EU.
I said "on sale here" because I was wondering whether it is a regional thing. Is it due to the proximity of Belgium?
Probably a stupid question: Are the packages labelled in Spanish in the South West of France (bjd ?);
Kerouac - I'm sure you're a big fan of generic products - are they labelled in Parisianese where you live ?

OK, I feel that this will not be the topic of the year..

[bixaorellana]

Oh, that is interesting and odd, Askar!

Is it because those factories are located in the Netherlands?

[tod2]

OK lets start -The heading: Sanex keeps the house healthy! then you bought: Soap, shaving cream, Airwick ultra Fresh (new!), thick light fresh cream, peeled whole tomatoes in juice, and you forgot the milk! ;D
I could shop till I dropped at your supermarket!

[Deleted]

Some of them maybe but not all. The Scheerschuim (shaving foam) is made in Turkey - oddly enough it is labelled in French, Dutch and (in very small letters) Greek.. Not in Turkish!

[Deleted]

You get it! (almost)

Sanex keeps the house healthy..er.. the skin healthy ;-)

[Deleted]

Well, I know that all Carrefour products in France are labeled in French and Dutch, due to the major Carrefour presence in Belgium with the same products. In other countries where Carrefour is present, the labels are local. When I buy Leader Price products, Spanish is also used on the house brands.

If it's any consolation, Askar, huge numbers of American products are also labeled in French, due to Québec buying all of the same things and demanding a French label.

Errr... do you have unhealthy skin, or skin simply in danger of becoming unhealthy?

[bjd]

I think our products are labelled the same way as yours, Askar.

I just went to pull something out of the cupboard -- a box of noodles from Intermarché (a supermarket chain): The brand is Fiorini, made in Belgium. Package info is in French, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish. The recipe on the back of the box is only in French.

Some 1848 (aka Poulain, owned by Cadbury) brand chocolate. Everything in French except the ingredients which also seem to be in Swedish!

And in the bathroom I found a tube of moisturizing cream bought in Biarritz. The front is in French and English. On the back, German; Dutch, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese.

[bixaorellana]

I wonder what would happen if we went through our homes and took out everything not made in the countries where we live. We might end up sitting in almost empty rooms, quite hungry.

[lagatta]

And conversely, in the Netherlands, lots of things are labelled in French because the same products are found in Belgium. I found that very handy - though a lot of Dutch can also be deduced from English and German, if one speaks those. Yes, lots of things here are now labelled in Spanish as well as in French and English, due to Nafta.

huid - similar to hide; huis - house (like the Scottish pronunciation, also found in Canadian English).

Tod, do you speak Afrikaans? and bjd, what, no Basque? How dare they!

[bjd]

You don't see much Basque in southwestern France, unless you get to the Saint Esprit area of Bayonne. And few signs in Basque (other than some town names on the signs). It only becomes striking once you cross the Spanish border that Basque is used there.