59 replies to this topic

[Waser Lave]

Hmm, on-topic: Je peux parler en francais! En Paris, tout le monde parlent en francais, oui?

Hey, our ancestors fought wars so we didn't have to bother learning these inferior languages.

[Waser Lave]

I thought that was just roleplaying...

Well they never used the safeword so...

Spoiler

[Kido]

From personal experience and friends experience I've learned it better to just speak your original language in a foreign place.


They know you're a tourist already. No need to make it even more awkward with your badly pronounced French and have them smile and nod while inwardly wanting to strangle you for slaughtering their language

Besides, things like yes, no, hello, thank you, please etc. Those common phrases most French people would know in English.

Again. Just my take on things.

[Ali]

From personal experience and friends experience I've learned it better to just speak your original language in a foreign place.


They know you're a tourist already. No need to make it even more awkward with your badly pronounced French and have them smile and nod while inwardly wanting to strangle you for slaughtering their language

Besides, things like yes, no, hello, thank you, please etc. Those common phrases most French people would know in English.

Again. Just my take on things.

I'd argue the opposite. Obviously there's little OP can do now but I would always say that if you're there for any more than a brief holiday, it's best to know as much of the language as possible. For a start, a lot of people appreciate the courtesy of the effort. Secondly, not everyone speaks English. Yes, a lot of Parisians have a fairly high standard of English but it's not universal and I certainly came across people where I had no choice but to speak French. It made ME feel so much more comfortable knowing I could cope with the majority of situations.

[83chaosvoid]

lucky.... i hope you have fun not knowing any french and all

[giraffe]

I have to say, it was always terribly embarrassing when I would say something in French, they'd ask me to repeat myself once, and then they'd give up. "What do you want?". I always felt like such a failure.

Fortunately, I speak much better now. Yay for years of practice! I also don't get French and German confused as often anymore, which definitely helps.

[GeorgeBright]

I went to France a few years back. I only dealt with one local there who didn't speak English. She didn't seem to understand the concept of giving me change and just kept repeating the price until I gave her exact change.
I don't really remember any good non-tourist places, because all the places I went to were tourist places.

[frostz]

well heres my syllabus which i said i would post earlier. i deleted names and stuff like that of course but yea.

Attached Files

•  Paris 2011 Syllabus.rtf   107.83KB   7 downloads