Map Porn

I got told by a friend that if you want to encounter polite french people learn one phrase "Hello. I'm sorry, I dont speak french. Do you speak english?"

Dont assume they speak english and dont butcher their language.

Exactly.

In Paris and other urban and touristy locations you'll encounter the one listed. Elsewhere they might refuse you service if you don't at least say bonjour and try a few words. And when you do, they tend to be very nice.

When my coworkers visited France and spoke English, everyone was rude to them and refused to help them.

Huh... so it's not just Quebec. Good to know!!

Dunno... I'm from Belgium and I speak fluent French and oh my god how rude they can be in the south... Even tough we could perfectly understand each other, just because some words may be a bit different I had one couple In a super market talk me out to learn to speak French?

I was so shocked I couldn't even think straight anymore. They have to much pride in their language / culture... The Frenchies are the worst people I have ever met, even Germans who are supposed to be cold and non welcomed where way more friendlier.

Just a bad experience In the South of France I guess?

But did you go to Paris

I guess that depends on which language OP means by "their language."

I always like to do a double whammy of speaking French in France because just attempting it is not always a good idea and pisses some of them off. So you need to get them off guard first then get your question in.

So,

Pardon, j'ai du le fromage de pantalon. Parlez-vous anglais?

Ahoj.

I feel that French is a rather thankless language in comparison.

if you speak french pretty well, its still not good enough. if you speak a bit of french, its taken for granted. if you speak no french, good luck getting anyone to talk to you.

meanwhile, speak three words of Arabic and people start cheering.

on the upside: Nothing helped revive my French just as much as being forced to use it (since English gets rejected). And people did seem to be patient with my attempts, which is worth a lot.

I'm German and I feel for the people trying to learn our insanely annoying language, only to get switched to English immediately. I'm fairly certain it's easier to learn French on the street than to learn German.

Everyones experience in France is a bummer.

Afraid so

Due to cultural genocide many do not speak it.

Slight panic at trying to remember the year they took of it at school (I'm guessing)

Spent two weeks on the West coast back in March. Some really tiny, tiny towns in the main Irish Gaelic speaking areas. Did not hear one word of Irish.

Compare this to when I was in the same area in late 1998, and in these small towns you'd still hear it often in the pubs. It is a damn shame, IMHO.

A friend of mine moved to Ireland for work. She told a co-worker that she'd like to learn a bit of Irish.

"Oh, great! You can teach me something after you do!"

I just hope they don't mind being called my friend because Mo Chara is the only Irish I know