Languedoc-Roussillon.

Question

I came across this Q/AMes parents vivent ________ Languedoc-RoussillonThe only answer accepted is dans le Languedoc-Roussillon yet I have seen numerous instances en Languedoc-Roussillon cited in many august sources.I will reference only one from INSEE:"La pauvreté en Languedoc-Roussillon" - www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/1894450Is INSEE wrong?Tom

Accepted Answer

Hi Tom,
You can actually say both but using ‘en’ rather than ‘dans le’ is according to the Petit Robert ‘affecté’ and sounds precious.
You will see this used in tourist literature used even sometimes for towns-
En Arles, en Avignon...
“Découvrez le guide vacances pour préparer votre séjour en Pays de la Loire.”
But - ‘Les cinq départements des Pays de la Loire’
So I stand by the correction as it is difficult enough for students to get to grips with all the intricacies of using ‘en’, ‘dans’ and ‘à’ and I dont wish to complicate matters...
Hope this helps!

Answer

Hi Cécile,Thanks for the reply.I understand the "préciosité" of this construction, hence my referece to "august sources".As you said, and I accept, this may be a difficult topic for beginners but perhaps this could introduced in later level, say C1.Since Kwiziq purports to support learning to CEFR C1, I believe the site should endeavour to include all valid constructions and registers at the appropiate CEFR level.I would hate to thing that Kwiziq was guilty of dumbing down its content.Tom