Position of Lorraine within France

Lorraine, (French: Lorraine), (German: Lothringen) is an administrative region in eastern France. It borders the countries of Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany in addition to the French regions of Franche-Comté, Alsace, and Champagne-Ardenne.

Cities

• Épinal — capital of the Vosges département
• Metz — German-influenced administrative capital of the region with a strong military history
• Nancy — has about 100,000 people and, despite its relatively small size, is the cultural capital of the region and a lively city with a student population of about 35,000
• Verdun — known for the Battle of Verdun in World War I
• Vittel — small town known for its widely available mineral water

Understand

Part of the region spent a lot of its history bouncing back and forth between Germany and France. As a result, the contemporary feeling of "Frenchness" in the province is very strong. However, that is not to say the locals in Germanic Lorraine are not interested in maintaining their distinct multi-ethnic heritage.

Talk

Slightly-accented French is the everyday language spoken in Lorraine, but like in other parts of the country, regional languages are also spoken.

Alsatian, (Elsässerditsch), a dialect closely related to Swiss German and Alemannic, is still spoken in south-eastern Lorraine near the German border. Lorrain, more specifically, "Lorrain and Moselle Franconian", is known to its speakers as francique or platt. It is the other regional language, spoken mainly near the Belgian and German borders. Both Alsatian and Lorrain are non-standardised dialects of German containing many French loan words, spoken mainly by older inhabitants.

Other than that, English and standard German are worth a try, but only if you don't speak French!

Eat

• Quiche Lorraine
• Mirabelles

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