French Attitude

Living a long way from Europe, one hears various things which are hard
to correlate. As a first time visitor to France next year I am concerned
about stories that French service is proudly stubborn in regard to the
use of the French language in their dealings with non-French speakers.

Will staff use any English if I am unintentionally chewing their
language to pieces? Is there more understanding to be enjoyed in the
French countryside perhaps? Does the language issue underscore general
anti-Anglo/British sentiment? Is Paris going to be a headache? Big
questions I know. Ignorance is a tres terrible thing.

Any thoughts gratefully appreciated.

-- Posted on news://freenews.netfront.net - Complaints to --

MarkofAus wrote:
Living a long way from Europe, one hears various things which are hard
to correlate. As a first time visitor to France next year I am
concerned about stories that French service is proudly stubborn in
regard to the use of the French language in their dealings with non-French
speakers.

Will staff use any English if I am unintentionally chewing their
language to pieces? Is there more understanding to be enjoyed in the
French countryside perhaps? Does the language issue underscore general
anti-Anglo/British sentiment? Is Paris going to be a headache? Big
questions I know. Ignorance is a tres terrible thing.

Any thoughts gratefully appreciated.

If you approach French people without assuming that they speak English, you
will have no more problems with them than a French person in Aus who does
not assume that everyone speaks French.

My approach is to open the conversation in French (eg "Bonjour
Monsier/Madame"), and to apologise in English for not speaking French. The
only times it does not work is when the person does not know any English,
which is quite rare, and even then they will usually go out of their way to
help if they can.

French people are usually quite charming. If you behave like them, the
language issue is minor.

MarkofAus writes:

Living a long way from Europe, one hears various things which are hard
to correlate. As a first time visitor to France next year I am concerned
about stories that French service is proudly stubborn in regard to the
use of the French language in their dealings with non-French speakers.

It depends on the situation. Are you going as a tourist? As a businessperson
who must deal with his/her staff. As staff who must deal with his/her boss?

French people like to use French because they are unwilling to learn English
and are usually incompetent in the latter language. It's not so much pride as
simple laziness, followed by embarrassment. They cannot be bothered to learn
English properly, and then, when they end up in situations in which English is
widely used, they try to avoid the language to avoid being embarrassed by
their nearly nonexistent English skills.

Will staff use any English if I am unintentionally chewing their
language to pieces?

French people prefer to speak French. Those who perceive that you speak
French far worse than they speak English may speak to you in English for your
own sake. But problems may arise with staff who cannot speak English; you'll
have to communicate with them in French. Practice and study your French until
it is fluent.

Is there more understanding to be enjoyed in the
French countryside perhaps? Does the language issue underscore general
anti-Anglo/British sentiment? Is Paris going to be a headache? Big
questions I know. Ignorance is a tres terrible thing.

If you intend to spend a long period in French, learn French and become
fluent, and you won't have any problems. Exactly the same advice applies to
any other place in the world, i.e., always learn the local language when you
move to a country, if you don't speak it already.

There are people from the UK who settle in French and are too lazy/stupid to
ever learn to speak French, and they are definitely resented and ridiculed. A
person who has been in France for 30 years and still cannot speak decent
French has no real excuse. Tourists and temporary visitors are not expected
to speak French.

MarkofAus wrote:

Living a long way from Europe, one hears various things which are hard
to correlate. As a first time visitor to France next year I am concerned
about stories that French service is proudly stubborn in regard to the
use of the French language in their dealings with non-French speakers.

Will staff use any English if I am unintentionally chewing their
language to pieces? Is there more understanding to be enjoyed in the
French countryside perhaps? Does the language issue underscore general
anti-Anglo/British sentiment? Is Paris going to be a headache? Big
questions I know. Ignorance is a tres terrible thing.

Any thoughts gratefully appreciated.

My experience with this is that if you try at least a little bit of French
before just demanding what you want in English (and shouting/waving your
arms etc.), people will understand and help you out as best they can. Even
if you don't feel confident enough to conduct the conversation in French, a
simple "Bonjour Monsieur/Madame, parlez vous Anglais?" often gets a
response of "a little" and you can usually get by. I have a Berlitz
phrasebook I take over with me and that has proved invaluable as a
tourist - it just helps if you make a bit of effort, and this doesn't just
go for France.

When I was last in Paris, any attempt to speak French to just about anyone
resulted in a reply in English, so I wouldn't worry too much there.
Outside of the big cities you'll find less people will be able (or willing)
to speak English.

IMHO most of the "anti-Anglo/British sentiment" is actually the other way
round.

--
Andrew Richardson
East Sussex, UK

On Sep 27, 5:59*pm, Mxsmanic wrote:
MarkofAus writes:
Living a long way from Europe, one hears various things which are hard
to correlate. As a first time visitor to France next year I am concerned
about stories that French service is proudly stubborn in regard to the
use of the French language in their dealings with non-French speakers.

It depends on the situation. *Are you going as a tourist? *As a businessperson
who must deal with his/her staff. *As staff who must deal with his/her boss?

French people like to use French because they are unwilling to learn English
and are usually incompetent in the latter language. *It's not so much pride as
simple laziness, followed by embarrassment. *They cannot be bothered to learn
English properly, and then, when they end up in situations in which English is
widely used, they try to avoid the language to avoid being embarrassed by
their nearly nonexistent English skills.

Will staff use any English if I am unintentionally chewing their
language to pieces?

French people prefer to speak French. *Those who perceive that you speak
French far worse than they speak English may speak to you in English for your
own sake. *But problems may arise with staff who cannot speak English; you'll
have to communicate with them in French. *Practice and study your French until
it is fluent.

Is there more understanding to be enjoyed in the
French countryside perhaps? Does the language issue underscore general
anti-Anglo/British sentiment? Is Paris going to be a headache? Big
questions I know. Ignorance is a tres terrible thing.

If you intend to spend a long period in French, learn French and become
fluent, and you won't have any problems. *Exactly the same advice applies to
any other place in the world, i.e., always learn the local language when you
move to a country, if you don't speak it already.

There are people from the UK who settle in French and are too lazy/stupid to
ever learn to speak French, and they are definitely resented and ridiculed. *A
person who has been in France for 30 years and still cannot speak decent
French has no real excuse. *Tourists and temporary visitors are not expected
to speak French.

Some people have no ear for languages just as they have no ear for
music. It's nothing to do with laziness. There's no point in speaking
a phrase eprectly if you can't understand the reply. I know I've tried
learning several languages in more than 20 years of living abroad -
from simple like Indonesian or Italian to difficult like Cantonese and
Hindi - and have failed to varying degrees. English speakers are
extremely lucky to have a language that's so international. I try to
master a few pleasantries, which are indeed appreciated generally -
"wow" from Kannada speakers to grunts from the French - but I'll never
be fluent in anything. The OP is a tourist visiting for the first time
so fluency is not an issue.

Cheers,
George W Russell
Bangalore (visiting Hong Kong)

"MarkofAus" wrote in message
...
Living a long way from Europe, one hears various things which are hard to
correlate. As a first time visitor to France next year I am concerned
about stories that French service is proudly stubborn in regard to the use
of the French language in their dealings with non-French speakers.

Will staff use any English if I am unintentionally chewing their language
to pieces? Is there more understanding to be enjoyed in the French
countryside perhaps? Does the language issue underscore general
anti-Anglo/British sentiment? Is Paris going to be a headache? Big
questions I know. Ignorance is a tres terrible thing.

Any thoughts gratefully appreciated.

The French place great importance on being polite. If you strike them as
rude, they will be unhelpful but if you come over as polite, they are a very
friendly people. One of the most important things is to greet them properly.
Always greet people when you meet them, even if it is passing meeting with
someone you will never see again, say at a supermarket checkout. Say bonjour
monsieur or bonjour madame, rather than just bonjour and if you walk into a
small shop, greet everyone as you enter - bonjour messieurs dames is the
correct greeting if both men and women are present. Shaking hands is also
important if you are introduced to someone or have business with them. Once
you have made even a small effort, you can ask if they speak English. A lot
of French do speak English, but they are often reluctant to do so, because
they think they don't speak it well enough. If they don't, they will do
their best to work out what you want. When I bought a house in a French
village, I went to introduce myself to the mayor, another important
politeness. He was a former English teacher and spoke the language extremely
well, but still apologised for being less than fluent.

Colin Bignell

On 27 Sep, 11:46, "nightjar" cpb@insert my surname here.me.uk
wrote:
"MarkofAus" wrote in message

...

Living a long way from Europe, one hears various things which are hard to
correlate. As a first time visitor to France next year I am concerned
about stories that French service is proudly stubborn in regard to the use
of the French language in their dealings with non-French speakers.

Will staff use any English if I am unintentionally chewing their language
to pieces? Is there more understanding to be enjoyed in the French
countryside perhaps? Does the language issue underscore general
anti-Anglo/British sentiment? Is Paris going to be a headache? Big
questions I know. Ignorance is a tres terrible thing.

Any thoughts gratefully appreciated.

The French place great importance on being polite. If you strike them as
rude, they will be unhelpful but if you come over as polite, they are a very
friendly people. One of the most important things is to greet them properly.
Always greet people when you meet them, even if it is passing meeting with
someone you will never see again, say at a supermarket checkout. Say bonjour
monsieur or bonjour madame, rather than just bonjour and if you walk into a
small shop, greet everyone as you enter - bonjour messieurs dames is the
correct greeting if both men and women are present. Shaking hands is also
important if you are introduced to someone or have business with them. Once
you have made even a small effort, you can ask if they speak English. A lot
of French do speak English, but they are often reluctant to do so, because
they think they don't speak it well enough. If they don't, they will do
their best to work out what you want. When I bought a house in a French
village, I went to introduce myself to the mayor, another important
politeness. He was a former English teacher and spoke the language extremely
well, but still apologised for being less than fluent.

Colin Bignell

Or just learn some basic Fench for a few weeks prior. It's no great
problem to be able to enable a simple conversation.

Surreyman

Yes ignorance is a terrible thing and you shouldn't believe in father Xmas.
Duh.

"MarkofAus" a écrit dans le message de
...
Living a long way from Europe, one hears various things which are hard to
correlate. As a first time visitor to France next year I am concerned
about stories that French service is proudly stubborn in regard to the use
of the French language in their dealings with non-French speakers.

Will staff use any English if I am unintentionally chewing their language
to pieces? Is there more understanding to be enjoyed in the French
countryside perhaps? Does the language issue underscore general
anti-Anglo/British sentiment? Is Paris going to be a headache? Big
questions I know. Ignorance is a tres terrible thing.

Any thoughts gratefully appreciated.

-- Posted on news://freenews.netfront.net - Complaints to
--

No need to tell us all about your private life

"grusl" a écrit dans le message de
...
On Sep 27, 5:59 pm, Mxsmanic wrote:
MarkofAus writes:
Living a long way from Europe, one hears various things which are hard
to correlate. As a first time visitor to France next year I am concerned
about stories that French service is proudly stubborn in regard to the
use of the French language in their dealings with non-French speakers.

It depends on the situation. Are you going as a tourist? As a
businessperson
who must deal with his/her staff. As staff who must deal with his/her
boss?

French people like to use French because they are unwilling to learn
English
and are usually incompetent in the latter language. It's not so much pride
as
simple laziness, followed by embarrassment. They cannot be bothered to
learn
English properly, and then, when they end up in situations in which
English is
widely used, they try to avoid the language to avoid being embarrassed by
their nearly nonexistent English skills.

Will staff use any English if I am unintentionally chewing their
language to pieces?

French people prefer to speak French. Those who perceive that you speak
French far worse than they speak English may speak to you in English for
your
own sake. But problems may arise with staff who cannot speak English;
you'll
have to communicate with them in French. Practice and study your French
until
it is fluent.

Is there more understanding to be enjoyed in the
French countryside perhaps? Does the language issue underscore general
anti-Anglo/British sentiment? Is Paris going to be a headache? Big
questions I know. Ignorance is a tres terrible thing.

If you intend to spend a long period in French, learn French and become
fluent, and you won't have any problems. Exactly the same advice applies
to
any other place in the world, i.e., always learn the local language when
you
move to a country, if you don't speak it already.

There are people from the UK who settle in French and are too lazy/stupid
to
ever learn to speak French, and they are definitely resented and
ridiculed. A
person who has been in France for 30 years and still cannot speak decent
French has no real excuse. Tourists and temporary visitors are not
expected
to speak French.

Some people have no ear for languages just as they have no ear for
music. It's nothing to do with laziness. There's no point in speaking
a phrase eprectly if you can't understand the reply. I know I've tried
learning several languages in more than 20 years of living abroad -
from simple like Indonesian or Italian to difficult like Cantonese and
Hindi - and have failed to varying degrees. English speakers are
extremely lucky to have a language that's so international. I try to
master a few pleasantries, which are indeed appreciated generally -
"wow" from Kannada speakers to grunts from the French - but I'll never
be fluent in anything. The OP is a tourist visiting for the first time
so fluency is not an issue.

Cheers,
George W Russell
Bangalore (visiting Hong Kong)

On Sep 27, 7:06*pm, "Runge12" wrote:
No need to tell us all about your private life


**** off you ignorant troll