this post was submitted on 14 Jun 2025
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As someone with 9th grade Canadian core French from 25 years ago, this has not been my experience of the French at all. Not in France, nor in Quebec. What are y'all doing to their language??!?
Those kind of maps are based of stereotypes and memes rather than actual surveys. So always take it with a grain of salt.
We Germans love when foreigner speak German even the pronunciation or grammar isn't perfect. To be honest most Germans can't speak perfect German either.
Can confirm. My sister-in-law immigrated to Germany and her German is more proper than that of her native German boyfriend.
I used to work in France a lot. Mainly older people (I delivered stair lifts). It's surprising how few speak even a single word English. Not just the old folks, but also the stores who sold these items. Many times there was only a single person who spoke English in a company.
Never had a negative reaction to my butchering of their language though. Always very patient and understanding
Iβve found itβs really more of a fact that most French people hate tourists and honestly mad respect for that. The only places Iβve seen French people be rude to anyone trying to speak French are places like the riviera and Paris. Most French people are lovely and patient with me butchering their language.
Personally, I've made a conscious decision to never learn French, purely because of how much of a bitch my French (from France, thick accent) teacher was in middle school. She made this girl, that she knew was really dyslexic, read in front of the class to humiliate her. Pretty sure she got fired.
Hardly a world traveller, but Paris is the only place where my butchering of a local language was more effective in communication than their butchering of English.
I LOVED the experience of the tables being turned, where I was the one who sounded slow and uncertain in another language.
Completely masked the reality that I sound slow and uncertain in my native tongue. But THEY'LL never know ππ
Same here - positive reactions, especially in France. The one place my schoolgirl French met with hostility was in a youth hostel in rural Quebec. And why was that? "We thought you were from Ontario."
Thatβs my baseline for speaking French. 99% of the time the French are gracious and switch.
The few times someone has responded βnonβ we use pidgin franglish or pantomime whatever we need to discuss. Havenβt had someone be a jerk about French or English in France for almost 20 years.