How much French do you need to get by?

[eurajohn]

A lot will depend on the person you are speaking with, most French people are pleasant and helpful, a surprising amount do speak / understand English very well, unfortunately just like UK some people are aholes and will not understand what you say no matter how well you pronounce the words, normally older males.

 

[Soycd]

Unless its the Sun in which case probably about 100

That many?

 

[Lenny HB]

Our first trip to France in '79 went into a bar looked at the beers on the bar pumps and asked for one, got served a creme de menthe.

 

[Steve N Tracy]

I get by on une grand pression si vou plait

 

[Littlewheels]

As well as some form of online or home learning, (however basic and superficial it may be), I thoroughly recommend having a French radio station on at home or when driving, (or a French TV station

Interestingly many years ago l met an old lady who said she learnt Spanish by watching children's programmes on TV and it does work as being simple words that are repetitive.

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[Spriddler]

I've always managed perfectly well by just asking "Where is my Aunt's pen?".

Cuh! You're lucky.
I'm still waiting for my postillion to be struck by lightning.

 

[Gina M]

Our first trip to France in '79 went into a bar looked at the beers on the bar pumps and asked for one, got served a creme de menthe.

I thought I ordered steak and chips in a restaurant in Thailand and was presented with a fried egg on a plate with nothing else I just sat looking at it for a while waiting for the steak and chips to arrive, but no they didn't, I had to make out that yeah it was just what I wanted as the locals were looking and laughing

Gina.

 

[Coastal Cruiser.]

I can ask for a Beer in most languages but don’t need to in French as the beer is

 

[Soycd]

The really important thing is to have a go. As said above start with the greeting, whichever country it is. Us Brits don't have a great reputation for languages, but I've found people do appreciate the effort. As said above, a lot of folk in Europe enjoy a chance to practice their English. We spent years in Germany with BFG however my German is not great. My wife's is very good. Many times I'd go into a shop (usually DIY places) and as soon as I asked for something in German the shop assistant would reply in English. Then this bizzare discussion would take place, with neither of us prepared to speak our mother tongue. it usually ended with me getting what I needed and with us both complimenting each other on our command of each others language. Pubs were even better.

 

[Soycd]

I can ask for a Beer in most languages but don’t need to in French as the beer is

I thought exactly the same about the beer, but was pleasantly suprised last week in Paris. As long as you steer clear of Kronenburg 1664 and Kanterbrau, there seem to be some decent ones emerging. Expensive though.

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[EuroTrotters]

Watch 10 mins of a French film with English subtitles on every day.

 

[Gina M]

I can ask for a Beer in most languages but don’t need to in French as the beer is

Like in India the beer is a good laxative

Gina.

 

[Devon Sue]

I like to make an effort, but get a bit flummoxed when they reply in rapid French, had a lovely conversation with a lady in a supermarket car park who has a large rv, and was interested in our compact van. Needed google translate when we needed Fiat assist when we had a problem with our van a couple of weeks ago.

 

[Gina M]

I thought exactly the same about the beer, but was pleasantly suprised last week in Paris. As long as you steer clear of Kronenburg 1664 and Kanterbrau, there seem to be some decent ones emerging. Expensive though.

Surprisingly I found they do not sell Stella Artois or Evian water.

Gina.

 

[Widge]

Did download a learn French app, might give it another go.

About the only sentence I half know is” I’m sorry I don’t understand “ thought it would come in useful at some point hahahaha

Duolingo isn't bad, as apps go. And even a little french goes a long way. Having said that the shoe is on the other foot at the moment, as we are south of the border in spain at the moment and my Spanish is pretty none existant, fortunately we are in tourist areas and the spanish are pretty good at multi languages,hopefully after 3 1/2 weeks touring we will have a better vocabulary.

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[rolosroller]

 

[Just smiffy]

The most important and the first word to anyone and anywhere is Bonjour the rest will come…

 

[The Wino]

I think it doesn't matter how much you can speak as long as you don't give up and keep trying you're going to improve. My sil lives in rural France we often visit people in her village and they don't speak any English we seem to get on fine a smile goes a long way. I even managed to buy some homemade illegal calvados in Normandy which required an hours conversation in French to make him comfortable selling it. Just go for it the biggest barrier is feeling a prat if you get it wrong kids don't worry about that and that's one of the reasons they learn so fast

 

[suavecarve]

Always smile, wherever you are in the world if you are struggling with the language, smile it is acceptable and liked the whole world over and always gets a positive response in my experience

Gina.

Daughter number 1 went to France with Grumpkids this year in one of those awful huge campsites.

As any father would say "She is stunningly attractive" and has been taught to tilt her head to the left and raise her eyes to the right whilst licking her lips with a wry smile. She got everything she needed in a shop !!!!

 

[suavecarve]

We were in Souillac at one of our first stops a few years ago and there is a 13th Century cathedral there.
Long before we understood maps.me or sat navs I needed directions to the cathedral.
My accent got lost when I asked for "Je cherche un grand vielle anglaise"

For those that dont know I was trying to ask for directions to an old big church and actually asked directions to the old large english women in the presence of my wife !

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[Coastal Cruiser.]

I always try to say please and thank you in their native tongue wherever I go as I think they appreciate it a bit.
Mrs CC was still saying it in German after spending 2 weeks in Germany when we got to Belgium so had to correct her

 

[Wildbill]

To be honest most french I have met speek better English's than I do french the most important thing is to try.
And you will struggle but thay eventually give in and try to help you.
And between you fringlish and ther enlgafrinch you will be ok lots of pointing and smiling helps
If you go in to a supere market thers lots of pictures on everything beens are beens if you know what I mean.
And when you open the can and it's not what you expected that's the French experience
Bill

 

[TinaLes]

Went to night school when we first got the van, had a lovely Northern French lady teach us over two courses, beginner, then intermediate French for holiday travels, forgotten most of it now, but hopefully its in there somewhere and we will get the class notes out for a quick refresher.
I remember telling the time was very hard for most of us in the class.
There was lovely Indian Lady with us on the courses, well after 2 terms I had to ask why she needed to learn any foreign language?, being Indian, her continuous Hand Gestures, and facial expressions were enough to communicate with anyone....We as a class nearly split our sides laughing when I asked her that question, she did also I am pleased to say.
Our French Lady teacher came from near Calais, she told us the more north you are in France the quicker they speak.
TBH, I prefer to read French, I will have a go at speaking it, its when they respond at lightning speed I am lost!
We all wondered when we would be able to understand French being spoken on the TV News Channels, like important speeches by Macron on Brexit etc, but we needed subtitles unfortunately, too fast for me.
LES

 

[sedge]

If you can count up to the number of croissants you'll be buying in the morning, and say please and thankyou while smiling, you'll be fine

Pete did that some years ago when quite a gang of them were at a fishing lake - he wanted to buy douze - however the boulangerie just didn't have that many! (Kept telling him he was mistaken and really only wanted deux .....)

 

[uzsnowdrop]

I went into a chemist in spain and asked for tampons while miming putting them in my ears.
Should have googled ‘cotton buds’

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[Cal54]

Currently in France and my French is virtually non existent. However I always greet everyone in French and can order my baguette and pain au raisin, and can always ask for the bill at the end of a meal - that sorts me out! Other than than my stock sentence is ‘pardon madam/monsieur, je ne comprends pas le francais, je suits anglais’
I think it is respectful to at least try even if very limited.

 

[yodeli]

Currently in France and my French is virtually non existent. However I always greet everyone in French and can order my baguette and pain au raisin, and can always ask for the bill at the end of a meal - that sorts me out! Other than than my stock sentence is ‘pardon madam/monsieur, je ne comprends pas le francais, je suits anglais’
I think it is respectful to at least try even if very limited.

If I'm not mistaken you are a lady aren't you?
So you should say Je suis anglaise, pronounced as if you had a Z at the end
Anglaizzzz

 

[nicholsong]

je parle très peu le français, cependant je peux me débrouiller et utiliser Google translate si nécessaire.

So Google translate works then

 

[Shrimp]

I know very little to none!
A useful phrase is-
‘Je ne parle par Francaise’ (I don’t speak French)
As long as you make some sort of effort with the language and are polite they will try to help you.

 

[VXman]

Yesterday (in Italy) I tried to explain the type of coffee I wanted in very basic Italian 'espresso doppio con poco latte' (double espresso with a littl milk). The assistant then told me in perfect English 'what you want is a doppio macchiato.' when it was delivered to me didn't have the guts to say I wanted a little more milk in it than that tiny drop you've given me!

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