If you decide that the Provence is your place to stay, you might as well stay safe. The last 10 years have seen a sharp rise in the crime rate on Côte d'Azur, with many houses burgled. Help and information for victims of burglary and those who want to check or improve the security of their property is best done with the local police chief. If you decide to make the Provence your base and you are looking to buy a property, you also need to be safe. Don't just buy your property without doing the necessary research. Make sure you buy your property through a listed agent who is in possession of a 'permit".
talk
French is of course the official language of this region, but you'll find that many people from here have an atypical accent. The e at the end of words is often pronounced softly in Provence, where in standard French they are not pronounced at all.
An example: the word "Provence" in standard French ends with an "s" sound, as "proh-VAHNSS", where in Provence itself, it will often be ended with a sound resembling a short English "eh", as "proh-VEN-seh". Many vowels are changed as well, being pronounced in a manner somewhat closer to the English pronunciation of the written vowels. (http://www.parlo.com/fr/l...) Of course, standard French will be understood by the locals.
This is because several generations ago, they spoke a different language - Langue d'Oc - and so learned French only in school. The dialect of Langue d'Oc spoken in Avignon was Provençal, and is the object of a strong preservation effort in the early 1900's on the part of a group of writers and artists known as the Felibrige. The most famous was Frédéri Mistral, Nobel Prize of Literature in 1908. The language has, however, now largely disappeared, though it is still taught in some regional universities and courses run by non-profit glllroups. Recently around 2004 signs on the highway are printed with the village names en Français and in Provençal.