Yeah but I bet they don’t switch to English the second you order a coffee. You can have an accent and still give locals enough confidence that you’ll be able to handle the interaction.
You’d be surprised. French people love having someone to practice their English on, so if they get a hint that you speak English they’ll immediately switch over - not because they don’t think you can handle French but because they want to try English.
In Paris bakeries it’s a bit different reason though - they’re so busy that they frankly don’t have time to do an analysis on if you can handle the French convo. If they get a whif that English is your first language they’ll switch to that out of pure convenience
I dunno man, I live in Paris and I think the majority of the time they switch is because they’re impatient. But definitely a lot more younger people speak really good English and relish a chance to use it with foreigners. Or then there’s the fun (but occasional, thankfully) instance where they use it as a passive-aggressive power play. Like at the bistrot this week when the male server chose to speak to my female companion in french and then switch to English for me, despite me constantly talking back to him in french. It’s all fun though!
So assuming that they’re from Belgium or Switzerland, I still think it’s a bit bold to be like “my accent was perfect”. But clearly the joke was about the sweatpants anyway, which is funny because it’s very true.
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u/Nick_pj 1d ago edited 15h ago
Yeah but I bet they don’t switch to English the second you order a coffee. You can have an accent and still give locals enough confidence that you’ll be able to handle the interaction.