French language difficulties
I’m always harping on about French expats and visitors to France who don’t make any effort to speak French, even a few common courtesies that everyone must remember from school. You remember: “bonjour”, “merci” and a few others.
So today I’m going to pay special tribute to two overheard conversations - congratulations to those involved for making an effort, although perhaps a little more revision is needed.
I’ll replay the conversations in English, so as to avoid confusion, with just the last word in French, as it was actually used:
“Hello, how are you?”
“I’m very well thanks, and you?”
“Amende”
Some readers may recall that ‘amende’ means ‘fine’, which is why the word was used. Unfortunately it means fine as in ‘penalty payment’ (eg “he received a fine of 100 euros”). It is never used as in “I’m fine, thanks”.
Try “Très bien, merci” if you’re feeling formal or “Ah bof, ca va” if you’re feeling informal or have drunk a bit too much.
The second conversation was overheard in a restaurant:
“How would you like your steak cooked, sir?”
“Bravo”
Short and sweet, and completely incomprehensible to the waitress. Yes “Bravo” does mean “well done”, but only in a “congratulations, what a good job you’ve done” sense. It can’t be used as a cooking term - try “bien cuit” next time (or “à point” for medium, “saignant” for not cooked very much, “bleu” for waved briefly near a candle, or “très bien cuit” for left overnight in a roaring furnace).
Believe me, I’m not laughing. I might not have made these particular mistakes for a while, but there are plenty of slightly more subtle misuses of words that I’m sure I make all the time.
And I still maintain it’s better to make an effort and appear a bit foolish, than to make no effort at all with the language and appear downright rude. Or “Quite well cooked for making the effort” as I might say in English.
Hello , happy to have found your blog ..Where do you live in France ??
Hi Melanie,
Thanks for stopping by. We live near Villereal in Lot et Garonne in south-west France (just across the border from Monpazier in the Dordogne)
Cheers!
I’ve always thought that learning (slang, especially) through French music is the best way. Here’s a site that’s useful for it:
http://www.paroleslyrics.net/
^_^
Not a bad idea Frenchie although most French songs are unknown to non-French!
I thought I’d check out your site, and was pleased to see the translation for ‘Ca plane pour moi’ - which most people would recognise. The words might come as a surprise:
Wham! Bam! my cat Splash
lies on my bed with his tongue puffed out
from drinking all my whisky.
As for me, not enough sleep, drained, persecuted,
I had to sleep in the gutter
where I had an inspiration
..
see http://www.paroleslyrics.net/index.php?title=Ca_Plane_Pour_Moi_-_Plastic_Bertrand
for the rest of the words…
Some 14 years ago, armed with 25 year-old school french I was touring France and happened upon a parking area in a small town where there were some spaces marked out in white but some others in another colour. On reading the notice, it seemed to me that you could park in the coloured spaces for no cost at certain times of the day, but my French was not good enough to work out when. I approached a policeman and asked him, politely and with a smile, if the spaces (I was pointing to) were indeed free. He looked a bit puzzled and said, yes, but hesitantly enough for me to quiz him a little further. So I asked, again, in a slightly different way in case my bad French had hindered him. He shrugged his shoulders and look a bit puzzled, but again said something along of the lines of, yes you can park there. I can remember quizzing the poor man for about 5 minutes, beore parking my car and walking off down the street. At which point I remembered thaqt there are two words for free in French - libre and Gratuit - and yes, I had used the wrong one!
Great story Annie,
Of course its the realising your mistake afterwards which is worse than the actual event.
I’m sure I’ve told the story before on this blog of our friend who kept asking the man in the diy shop if he had a ‘petit robinet’ (small tap) - to the enormous amusement of all the staff - without realising it was a slang expression for ’small willy’!!