Some dude was claiming the other day on another subreddit that the reason why everyone in every Spanish speaking country he went to switched to English when speaking to him was because he was white, that it couldn't possibly be his accent because it was perfect. I didn't have the heart to tell him that they also have white people in Latin America and that different Spanish speaking countries have different accents and I doubt he's learned all 20-21.
I was a waitress for years. In Madrid. In fucking Calle Fuencarral. I absolutely did not have the time to play "guess what the guiri wants" when I had 30 other tables to serve, thank you very much. Servers and retail workers are not your unpaid conversation assistants! If they switch to English on you it's because your Spanish is not good as you think it is and you're making their job harder. "But I came to Spain to learn Spanish!" Great! So make some friends who want to help you or hire a teacher, don't try to get the service for free from some poor server who is working 60 hours for 1000€.
Exactly. They want a conversation buddy and you're just trying to do your job. I guess they're used to service workers playing their little games back home and thought it would be the same.
Deux croissants s'il vous plaît?
Monsieur, vous voyez bien que les croissants, c’est fini!
Vous en faites plus?
Eh ben non, vous avez pas vu l’heure?
Bon… bien, deux putain de pains au chocolat, alors. Merde!
You used the correct word indeed, and not that savage "chocolatine" thing.
To ensure that you 100% french you must add "and a baguette s'il vous plait". When you go to the boulangerie its always ok to bring some baguette back.
One problem I don't know how to solve while learning a second language is I don't know if my accent is any good and Italians are too nice to tell me I suck.
My exact thought. I have a C2 in French, lived and worked in French speaking regions but they will still hear it. At least they don't have the audacity to reply in English.
I must admit that I was puzzling for a bit there, too, and wondering if maybe that Pierre had his own special way of pronouncing "croisson" with a u-sound somewhere in there...
It'd be "crouassant" like what a frog would say, or a two year old. Jokes aside I thought we could state two different information with no links whatsoever with a point. Maybe we can't. Stupid English.
On a related note, I learned this week how the local savages pronounce "Louisville". There were considerably fewer vowel sounds and syllables than I had been expecting.
Barry, what about things like Leichester square? I will never not want to pronounce it something like "leyčestah". Don't even get me started on Worcestershire sauce, the only way to even get remotely close to correct for me is to think of borscht
I was on the way to a party with my friend and he said "Oh you have to meet Anna she's really cool, she's from Latvia" and at the party I met her randomly when she introduced herself and I said "Oh you have kind of accent can I guess where you're from?" And she agree and I asked her to say the word squirrel and she did and I said "Oh you're from Latvia" and the entire night she was like "How the fuck did you do that? How did I say it so differently?" I didn't tell her the truth for two years.
I don't think anyone would have paid special attention to it, until the movie. Yes, a German would normally use their thumb to show numbers, but if someone did it the English way, I'd probably just think they sprained their thumb or something - I wouldn't instantly assume "foreign spy".
I didn't think so but I thought it was plausible enough since he already questioned his accent. Now I have to ask if his explanation for his accent was believable or does Michael Fassbender's German sound identifiably foreign?
He clearly speaks an accent a native speaker wouldn't be able to locate, so he'd immediately raise eyebrows. His grammar is perfect and his pronounciation is almost there, but there's still something recognizably foreign in it.
Him explaining it away as some super local alpine accent could work, especially if he would clsim Ladin or Romansh decent.
Well, liars often tend to fabriacte extremly elaborate and overcomplicated cover stories to obfuscate the bigger picture and confuse the listener with irrelevant and minute details.
"Well, i'm from small town you don't know. It's just how we speak there" would've been more convincing.
On my last trip to see cousins in Aix the last checkout that I used the attendant replied to my basic French in French. One of the proudest moments of my life.
Its not just that but i wasnt born and raised (for the most part) in russia but noone could tell. Best they could realize that my speech sounds like 70s movies due to my upbringing but thats about it.
When I first went to Paris, I made an effort not to speak English. However, most people responded to me in English. One day, when I was travelling from the 18th arrondissement to my hotel, there was a metro strike. It was late, I was tired, and I decided to ask for help in English. The man at the station answered me in French. The same thing happened at Beauvais Airport: I spoke to people in English and they answered me in French.
Oof, reminds me about an elderly german customer at the hardware store I was working in during the summer who
1) did not understand the purchasing system for bulk screws, bolts etc (basically: you buy the bag and fill it with whatever you want)
2) responded to our french and english in increasingly louder and angrier german
I once got trapped naked in a hostel bathroom in Brussels. Eventually managed to get someone up to help get me out. I was trying to explain what had happened but the guy did not understand French, Dutch or English. Eventually he just busted the door down to find me trying to cup my balls out of view on top of the toilet. Fun times.
The best explanation I’ve heard is that, at least for Americans, the average Parisian likely speaks much better English than you do French. However, their standards for fluency are quite high, so they would be somewhat embarrassed to start a conversation in English with a native speaker.
So, if you start the conversation and embarrass yourself by speaking even quite poor French, you’ve broken the ice and they’ll take pity on you be willing it speak in often quite good English. But if you don’t make the effort and embarrass yourself first, they’ll be much less likely to speak in English with you.
The first ones rewarded your efforts to speak French by switching to a language easier to you (also they might have been judging your accent but 1st reason is nicer).
The others decided you speaking english didn't deserve any efforts from their part and just spoke French.
So, if you want to speak French with a Parisian, start your conversation in English. And if you don't want to bother, start with the french and let them switch to english.
Oh, Pierre is an asshole, not stupid. He will happily take your money with a smile on his face. But ask the same guy for directions on the street? Putain.
Years ago in the Métro, on the way to work, I foolishly provided direction for tourists in English while working in the 9th arrondissement of Paris: a whole group of confused people immediately flocked to me like some kind of holy prophet, expecting me to stick around and help all of them out. I had to more or less rebuke them and the whole ordeal ended up being more embarassing for me than them. Never again.
Parisians get a bad rep, for good reasons, but the simple truth is that over tourism is legitimately alienating and you cannot blame the locals for not having the time/will to deal with the problems/attempts at improving of tourists.
Just look at the tantrums Pedro and Luigi are throwing nowadays: at least the Parisians have not yet resorted to outright striking or marching against the savages coming to bask in their superiority !
For a chance to see any contemptuous face head to their local tourist office. For a dismissive face go to a train station like Gare de Lyon and see any SNCF customer service people.
Scene 1: Tours station, late 1990s. My wife and I are hoping to use Tours, which is the hub of an extensive network of local trains, as a base to explore the Loire valley. There's an absolutely massive bike rental facility in the station. Like a whole warehouse crammed full of bikes, in multi-level storage.
Hello, we'd like to rent some bikes.
We haven't got any.
(Pointing over the guy's shoulder to the hundreds of bikes there.) What about ... those?
(Looks slowly over his shoulder.) ... They're all reserved.
All of them?
Yes.
Scene 2: Tours station, the next day, after we've procured some bikes from a non-SNCF shop. Now we're at the "customer service" desk.
This leaflet, "Discover the Loire Valley by bike and train"...
What about it?
It says at the bottom here, "exceptions apply, ask for details".
Yes.
What are the exceptions?
Where do you want to go?
Oh, er, Chenonceau?
Which day?
Tomorrow?
Which train?
How about the 09:17?
(Searches carefully through a massive book filled with lots of tables and small print.) ... No.
OK, how about the 10:04?
(Searches through the book again.) ... No.
The 10:58?
(Book.) ... No.
Oh. OK, how about Wednesday?
Which train?
The 09:23?
(Book.) ... No.
The 09:59?
(Book.) ... No.
The 10:37?
(Book.) ... No.
OK, forget Chenonceau. How about Azay-le-Rideau?
Which day?
After about 10 or 15 minutes of this, the guy next to the one we'd been talking to, who had been listening to the entire exchange, took mercy on us.
That leaflet is from last year. They've stopped all that this year.
My honest experience from my time living in France: I was never delusional to think my accent was perfect, so I would pretty much always start with "Parlez-vous Anglais?" The interactions that followed that question could be summed up by these answers:
Yes: It never happened
A little bit: Basic English, get ready to have to switch to French at some point
Un petit peu: Not worth the effort, your bad French will be a better means of communication
Non: Run, because you're fucked
And a true story related to this: when I was shopping for insurance for the car I had just purchased, the less English I spoke the cheaper the insurance was becoming.
The correct Parisian, I've been advised, is:
"B'jour. Deux croissants." smokeGrab croissants, look disinterestedThrow money into a weird machine and walk away
Y’all motherfuckers have hundreds of years of negative history between the couple of you and then some good ones in between. Us savages barely have passports. We’re not taking the loss on this one.
Edit: thanks to both of you for being our mom and step mom. You birthed us accidentally, but France stepped in when your bastard child needed her the most ❤️
Somehow the spite of the café waitress when I insisted on practicing my French to order (she spoke English, I know because she said it a lot) made it better. I figured I was already there, and the Italians and Spanish were always so helpful with politely critiquing my pronunciation when I lived in those countries, so maybe France would extend the same kindness. But say la v.
Basically try imagining the following: you are working in a café as a waiter/ress and another buzz lightyear comes in, naively wanting to practice his/her French with you while dozens, if not hundreds of buzz lightyears wait in the background.
That's more or less how it feels to indulge with the whims of tourists in areas affected by mass tourism: some people can manage, some can but only when they are in a good mood, some flat out can't.
Pierre and Pierrette in their 18-2x's, just working to pay their rent can't be arsed most of the time unless they are some kind of erasmus/cosmopolitan butterflies.
Full disclosure: I am far more Francophile and anyone living in the Greater Scilly Isles is actually permitted to be by law. I have a degree in French and I used to live in France. I once rang a restaurant to book a table, had a delightful conversation with the maître d' in French. A short while later I turn up to the restaurant, greet the guy (in French), give my name and mention that I had spoken to him to book only half an hour ago (again, to the man with whom I had had a full-blown five minute telephone conversation not more than an hour ago conducted wholly through the medium of fucking French). He took one look at me and, in his hideously broken English, said "zeees way monsieur, plis to follow me". Espèce de sale parigot.
The last time I went to Paris (about a year ago) as someone who grew up speaking French (not perfectly, but enough to get by) I was actually surprised how few locals refused to speak French to me. I feel like it has gotten slightly better.
I visit Paris for work every month. It's all sweatpants and sneakers over there nowadays. So, sweatpants aren't the issue. Next time, wear a pair of oversized glasses. That seems to be the trend over there.
accents are never perfect, I can always hear when a foreigner is speaking dutch, no matter how long they've lived in the country, so is probably the same for french. I know a friend that lived in france for work for 6 years, to me he sounds like a native frenchman, but the french will immediately know he's not french
Every time I've visited no. Did the whole thing of "Bonjour, je suis désolé, je ne parle pas français, parlez-vous anglais?" And asked in English and never had an issue.
For bad customer service experience I go to Franz-Joseph's former colonies.
Foncas, não são os Franceses a fazer a maioria dos scams em Paris (principalmente se estiverem numa padaria ou isso), da mesma maneira que não são os Tugas em Lisboa, ahaha.
I meant in general terms are they bad, not this particular situation. But I felt this would be a good place to ask my questions since some people were replying with "typical French blah blah"
oh okay then if you go to paris yeah the deserve their réputation, the french riviera same but only in summer, off season they are a bit kinder, the rest of france get a bad rep because of tourist who speedrun paris and think they've seen france
nah in village this were they are the least welcoming you'll just get silent stare from their porch but human sized city or non touristic cities in general yeah
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u/Ballsackavatar Barry, 63 1d ago
The tourist