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Also, in my experience, the average French of any age, not for the life of them, would even consider tainting their lips and betraying their cuisine by speaking

Also, in my experience, the average French of any age, not for the life of them, would even consider tainting their lips and betraying their cuisine by speaking English. They learned English in school, alright, it's a choice. So, to navigate, you'd have to be able to converse in French somewhat fluently. Especially, outside a large city.

jraph 3y ago
Chauvinism might play a role in some rare cases but it's often just that we don't dare to speak English and risk making mistakes, because of how languages and actually everything is taught at school here. We also somehow focus a lot on grammar, which I personally loved, but that just blocks a lot of us. Outside a large city it might also be that occasions to practice English are vanishingly rare and when you have never really practiced outside school, it doesn't quite work out. Now, I'm still a bit surprised. Many, many people can speak some English just fine here, especially younger people. Are your experiences recent and where was it?
- jijijijij 3y ago
  Some years ago. I am not a native speaker either, so both sides would have been struggling a bit. At least back then, people really didn't want to speak English. Though, in Paris random French strangers on the subway were usually fluent.
  - sokoloff 3y ago
    My French is weak, but I can passably order and do routine tourist comms. In a cafe in Paris, I started to order and the waiter stopped me with the very amusing, “Monsieur, please. We do this in English; it’s easier that way…”
fnordian_slip 3y ago
From my experience, that is a popular opinion, but mostly perpetuated by people who only went to Paris, and didn't bother to learn at least a couple of simple phrases. I got through France just fine while hiking and hitchhiking on my almost nonexistent french, mainly speaking English and German. Just starting with "bonjour" or "ca va?" often lead to people offering me to sleep in their homes instead of under my tarp, especially in small towns, where the older population doesn't see many outsiders, and is therefore generally interested in having something to talk about. Of course their English and German is rather limited, so it takes a long time to communicate, but it felt very rewarding whenever it worked.

jraph 3y ago

Chauvinism might play a role in some rare cases but it's often just that we don't dare to speak English and risk making mistakes, because of how languages and actually everything is taught at school here. We also somehow focus a lot on grammar, which I personally loved, but that just blocks a lot of us. Outside a large city it might also be that occasions to practice English are vanishingly rare and when you have never really practiced outside school, it doesn't quite work out. Now, I'm still a bit surprised. Many, many people can speak some English just fine here, especially younger people. Are your experiences recent and where was it?

jijijijij 3y ago
Some years ago. I am not a native speaker either, so both sides would have been struggling a bit. At least back then, people really didn't want to speak English. Though, in Paris random French strangers on the subway were usually fluent.
- sokoloff 3y ago
  My French is weak, but I can passably order and do routine tourist comms. In a cafe in Paris, I started to order and the waiter stopped me with the very amusing, “Monsieur, please. We do this in English; it’s easier that way…”

fnordian_slip 3y ago

From my experience, that is a popular opinion, but mostly perpetuated by people who only went to Paris, and didn't bother to learn at least a couple of simple phrases. I got through France just fine while hiking and hitchhiking on my almost nonexistent french, mainly speaking English and German. Just starting with "bonjour" or "ca va?" often lead to people offering me to sleep in their homes instead of under my tarp, especially in small towns, where the older population doesn't see many outsiders, and is therefore generally interested in having something to talk about. Of course their English and German is rather limited, so it takes a long time to communicate, but it felt very rewarding whenever it worked.