The only french I know is whats in the phrasebook...

Just remember, "Combien pour toute la nuit", "Combien pour circuler le monde", and "Combien pour le condoms". :cool:

yay you! :)


So what is your itenerary Ibram?


lol, funny imagery. How is that done?

She's serious, sidhe. Paris is just a skip across the Channel for us (well, there's a bit of France in the way, but not too much trouble) so it's a popular British destination.

I should say from the outset that I admire the French enormously. The trouble is that (along with most of mainland Europe) they have a chip on their shoulder from being invaded so constantly and so recently. 1066 here last count - ha!

So they are incredibly protective of their language, and don't like anyone to mangle it. They also like to show off their education (this is in fact justified - I spent a month in France aged 16 and was impressed with the school I attended). In Spain or Italy, the wily stallholder/ shopkeeper will try to determine the customer's nationality to make them feel at home. In Paris, the same will speak English to you with a weary air, and continue to address you in English even when you struggle on in French.

It's different in the provinces. I was supposed to be practising my French in France, but like any teenager I would have loved an easy option. However the small (heart stoppingly beautiful) village I was billeted in had my number very quickly. French all the way - except once to explain taking back a deposit bottle, when I understood the language but not the concept.

Got the itenerary today.


Day 1: Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysees, Place de la Concorde, Jardin des Tuileries, Place Vendome, and Palais Garnier Opera House

Day 2: Louvre, Ile de la Cite, Sainte Chapelle, boat tour of Seine

Day 3: Catacombes, Centre Pompidou, Notre Dame, Left Bank, Latin Quarter, Eiffel at night.

Day 4: out of townish, Chateau Chambord and Blois.

Day 5: Musee d'Orsay, Hotel des Invalides, Musee Rodin

Day 6: Versailles, Musees du Parfum

Day 7: Montmartre, Place du Tertre, Shoppiong, dinner and movie on the Champs Elysees

Bingo. Couldn't have put it better myself. The Parisiens particularly like to show how sophisticated their English is, and also have little patience for the stumbling French of foreigners. An interesting thing I learned was that French people who go abroad to teach French are often from the South, and Foreigners who want to be French teachers tend to spend most of their "in-country" time in south, so many foreigners speak French with an "inferior' Southern accent! my French certainly has a southern accent. When I was 11, the Parisiens refused to speak French to me. When I was 16, a newspaper vendor asked me what I thought about the rail crash that had occurred near the southern French town my teacher was from :D

The only words you need to know in French: "Je voudrais" Then just point and pay. Intone friendliness and a very moderate embarrassment.

I took a couple of years of French, though that was several years before I actually went to France. People in general were extremely courteous, aside from a rail worker or two. Luckily I didn't need to communicate anything too complicated in Paris, except for train tickets and they had an English speaking window there. Unless you're in a similar situation, I understand you're just going to get ire for trying English in Paris.

Funny story. Near the French-Italian border the rail station signs are all in French and Italian. On the other side they're in Italian and English. (; I was strangely self satisfied seeing that.

--Joe

21 hours.

ho hum ;)

Le Crazy Horse de Paris. :yum:

Oh yeah, my other great French tip was if you're in a real bind, use English words that sound like they came from French, and say them with a French accent.

Example:
reservation -> réservation

After long enough in Europe, you realize that they're all just using weird English words with crazy accents.

Have fun.

Yeah, I kinda figured out the 'speak english kinda with an accent' bit from the lonely planet guide.

wee-wee! Franglais

Ees? Ooh ees it?

Quick - who knows how to say 'hampster', 'smelt', and 'elderberries' in french?

seventeen hours.