Did you ever get to learn a foreign language? I learned French at junior school. In junior school, I learned to count to thirty and I learned a few nouns; like for table, window and door.
In high school, it was all about conjugating verbs. Lots of verbs. That’s all we ever did. But the idea that you could go from there to speaking to French people, was just not going to swing.
I first visited France in 1987, and I was pretty determined to make the effort to speak the language, to which end, I bought a little Collins phrase book. From that I learned ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ and how to say that I would like something.
My first interaction with a French person was at a petrol station. I repeated what I had to say in my head. And when it came to the crunch, I fluffed it: Excusez-moi, mais je ne parle pas beaucoup anglais! (Excuse me, but I don’t speak much English). Well, it turned out neither did they in the petrol station, and all I got was blank looks.
Things could only get better from there. And over next few years, and several more visits to France, I learned taxi French, hotel French and shop French.
I was never fluent in the language, I became a
touriste francophone (French-speaking tourist).
It’s really handy to be able to say something like, “Monsieur, pourriez-vous, s’il vous plait, nous appeler un taxi ?” (Sir, could you please call us a taxi?) There’s a possible joke in there. “Oui, vous êtes un taxi…”
So, the French people do seem to appreciate it if you try with their language. It makes the holiday experiences more enjoyable. And it does not matter if you mess up, the chances are you’ll probably have a good laugh about it later.
And now it’s time for a cold drink. Où se trouve le bar ? – where is the bar ? There’s usually one not too far away.
Below is a link to a funny video by Eddie Izzard. Please be advised it contains strong language (Anglo-Saxon).