As many visitors do, we studied some French vocabulary and some phrases before our trip. That all came in very handy- to have someone speak to you in English. After some trial and error, I found that the best way to get along was to just start speaking French. If the person you are speaking to is at all comfortable with English, they will recognize your bad accent, pidgen French, general butchering of their Language, and start speaking to you in English. If they don%26#39;t speak English, you usually get an understanding person who is trying to help you the best way they can. They will still recognize your butchering, so, will either point, gesture, or similar, and try to use simple words, as you might to a foreign visitor who can%26#39;t speak English. If you manage to say something very well, that is, properly, then the person assumes you speak French, and they will reply in French, at which point you look puzzled, as you have no clue what 90% of the words meant. You picked up %26quot;to the left%26quot;, and %26quot;five minutes%26quot;, but not much else. So, this is the _only_ good time to ask, %26quot;Parlez vous Anglaise?%26quot; as you are really stuck, and that question otherwise gets a reply indicating either %26quot;no%26quot;, or %26quot;not very well%26quot;, and you are back to French anyway.
The only mistake I made was at the airport during check-in for the return flight, where I just started speaking English to a line monitor. I was tired and confused about which line to get in, so I just blurted out, %26quot;Is this the line for US Air?%26quot; I got a shrug, but it wasn%26#39;t even the classic Gaullic shrug- which was a bit disappointing, as I was hoping to have received at least one during the trip- it was more the shrug of a very annoyed person of any nationality. Can%26#39;t blame him, really- I think it%26#39;s an occupational hazard in any country.
|||
Good advice. Sounds about right. My experiences have been similar.
I%26#39;m glad you had a good trip owlyn.
chuck.
|||
Thanks owlyn,
Those are great observations, and from experience, I have found what you say to be true. This is such good advice that it deserves more time at the top of the forum.
|||
Ditto on my trip, and let me add this. When walking into a shop, asking for directions on the street, whatever, always start out with a pleasant %26quot;Bonjour%26quot; or %26quot;Bonsoir,%26quot; then wait for a reply. Then start in with some dreadful but earnest French. When I did that 98 percent of my encounters were pleasant.
|||
You%26#39;re all absolutely right. My husband found the phrase %26quot;pardonez moi de vous deranger%26quot; %26quot;pardon me for bothering you%26quot; before asking a question or directions works well too. He always adds in French that he speaks very bad French, before continuing whatever he%26#39;s asking. That lowers expectations of speaking %26amp; comprehension, but let%26#39;s them know he respects their language and culture enough to try.
Definitely, saying %26quot;bonjour madame%26quot; (or monsieur) when entering a shop is expected by the French, and can affect the attitude and service you receive.
We%26#39;ve not had any problems in our travels all over France.
|||
Forget the restaurants in this web site and scroll down about 2/3rds of the way for the Do%26#39;s and Don%26#39;ts. These cultural tips are spot on for visitors to Paris or France. Even an old dog like me can learn a few things.
www.parismarais.com/selected-restaurants.htm
|||
I think you guys are over-analyzing this.
Smile, say bonjour and you will be fine. Most tourists do not speak French. Japanese, Chinese, Russians... better get quickly to the point.
By the way, excusez moi is more used that pardonnez moi.
Keep in mind that the people you are dealing with are BUSY and do not have time to have you practice your french on them. They%26#39;d rather quickly answer using whatever little English they now and move on to the next client.
There ARE exceptions. Pick restaurants and cafes at off hours or go to stores that are quiet and maybe, just maybe you will have someone converse with you.
Also beware of body language. Shrugging is no big deal in France, do not read too much into it.
|||
Just to clarify- my original post was not an analysis, rather, merely an observation.
|||
As long as you%26#39;re polite it%26#39;s not really language that can cause misunderstanding, but other ways of doing things. For example, many who work in the service sector feel under no compulsion to go around smiling inanely, and this can sometimes make visitors, especially from North America, feel they are being unfriendly. I%26#39;ve also noticed on a few hotel reviews here that staff or management have been accused of poor customer relations or even rudeness, when reading between the lines all they have done is not show deference. If there is a dispute between a customer and a member of staff the manager will normally listen to both sides, treating it as a dispute between equals. I think some visitors expect the manager always to take the customer%26#39;s side (or at least pretend to) and will feel he/she is remiss for not doing so. It%26#39;s this slightly different culture that can lead to more misunderstandings than any language difficulties.
|||
I don%26#39;t expect inane smiles. I expect simple courtesy and professionalism from those in the service industry. And I am pleased to report that for the most part, the service people, actually most of the people in Paris, were very pleasant, helpful, and friendly. Some even smiled. Some joked with us. There was the occasional sourpuss (I can think of several at the Monoprix), but you get that in North America, too.
In the words of some character from %26quot;The Muppet Movie%26quot; whose name I can%26#39;t remember, %26quot;Peoples is peoples.%26quot;
|||
-:- Message from TripAdvisor staff -:-
This topic was inactive for 6 months and has been closed to new posts. We hope you'll join the conversation by posting to an open topic or starting a new one.
To review the TripAdvisor Forums Posting Guidelines, please follow this link: http://www.tripadvisor.com/pages/forums_posting_guidelines.html
We remove posts that do not follow our posting guidelines, and we reserve the right to remove any post for any reason.
Removed on: 5:22 am, September 27, 2009
No comments:
Post a Comment