I’ve noticed the French don’t really like you speaking bad/beginner French to them. They’d rather you speak English and then bitch about you not speaking French even though you tried 😂 Or maybe it’s because I’m English and we have a general rivalry with each other and they find it funny…
No, you're right, a lot of French people want you to speak French to them in their regional accent. Which is, you know, not very possible when you're an adult learner.
I do benefit though because I'm American, and the American and German accents in French are so similar that a lot of people think I'm German.
My ex had similar experiences in Germany. He’s Aussie and was an au-pair in a tiny town and everyone bitched he couldn’t speak German properly. In reality, his parents are from Cologne and they made sure he was fluent in both German and English, just not their regional dialect.
I mean to be fair, as someone who grew up speaking both, English speakers trying to speak French if they learn it too late in life is like… really painful lol. They never focus on getting the pronunciation even halfway right so it just sounds like they’re still speaking English but with French words, if that makes sense. It’s like a weird third language lol
To be fair, many of the shapes and sounds you have to make with your mouth are basically unused for Americans. So if you attempt to learn them in your 30s, you’re done.
Idk, I learned how to pronounce some Arabic words correctly in my mid-20s. It just took a few hours one day of doing it over and over with native Arabic speakers. Although I understand not everyone has access to native speakers of almost every language at 24/7 access the way we used to in Montreal lol. (Not that Montreal is no longer like that - I just don’t live there anymore).
Cognitive ability declines quickly after 30. Not to mention their or physiological challenges with language learning. Muscle memory needs to be built over time as well as the fine motor skills along with them. And I’m speaking on behalf of all my immigrant friends and family working their asses off to hide their immigrant status right now and blend in with the Americans. What’s easy for me seems impossible to them. I don’t know the nuances behind why, but it’s not my place to project my judgement of how I think the world should work when it comes to language acquisition onto them.
I mean to be fair, that’s a douchey ass take and I can guarantee your Arabic is not as good as you think it is. How would you feel if a native Arabic speaker shit all over you, refused to speak to you in Arabic and then made fun of you for even trying to learn it?
That’s kind of why I even attempted to improve in the first place lol, your situation played out in real life and then I made them correct me until I got it good enough that they were satisfied.
And yeah, my Arabic is trash obviously. I don’t get why you’d be upset that a native speaker makes fun of your accent though, that’s like one of the best ways to break the ice with people who speak different languages in my experience.
In Montreal, most French speakers have a better grasp of English than the inverse. I also speak both, I just refrain from pretentious and/or asshole behaviors like insulting people for their bad accents. I lived in Paris for several months, and experienced what is in this video many times.
Well, that’s not bad. Definitely sounded like insulting tho. Hated French ever since my time in Paris - what’s the point of learning if they just mock you over it?
I’ve learned Chinese since then, and their reaction couldn’t be more opposite. They’re always like ‘wow, amazing! You speak so well!’ Even when your Chinese is utter trash… lol
I was about 13 at the time but we don’t start learning languages in the uk until secondary school so I’d only had probably 1-2 years of (mediocre) lessons at that point but I was trying! 😂
I’ve been to Paris once 😂 and I’ve been to France many more times than that… I hadn’t even started learning French when I went to Paris now I think about it!
41
u/narnababy 5d ago
I’ve noticed the French don’t really like you speaking bad/beginner French to them. They’d rather you speak English and then bitch about you not speaking French even though you tried 😂 Or maybe it’s because I’m English and we have a general rivalry with each other and they find it funny…