Curious, do the French people naturally dislike speaking English or genuinely can’t speak English? I’ve been hung up on too many times now! I’ve had my car towed recently, and the operator told me to speak French cause we are in France! I’ve lived in many countries, and came across folks like this, but wonder if this also happens to folks who are non-English speakers? In other words, is there more tolerance for non-English speakers from the local French in general?
I have never been faced with hostility because of my accent when speaking French, but wouldn’t dream of speaking English to a French person unless invited to do so, it is impolite to say the least.
What was the context when the car tow operator told you to speak French? Can you speak French, however badly, but had assumed you could speak English to him, in which case I think he had a point.
As regards the French and English, I think they are pretty much like the English and French. Both tend to be somewhat insular and reluctant to speak the others’ language unless absolutely pushed. I have noticed the French also have what is generally thought to be an English trait, and that is to shout at foreigners in the vain hope that that will magically transform language skills.
I can’t speak French, and the only French I know is the Quebecois French that was taught in school in Canada: very basic stuff. I normally ask politely if they can speak English first, which then spirals downwards. As for the tow truck operator, he was upset that I couldn’t speak French, tried my best but wasn’t enough. I never get offended or take anything personal in public as everyone has their own sh*t to deal with.
Just say “Where is Brian?” to any French person under 50 years of age and if they answer “Brian is in the kitchen.” you know that they have some English.
Aha, that’s why Glenn Viel says it so often on Top Chef !
Have you tried just speaking louder, or waving your hands around? I think your attitude is appalling. I wouldn’t speak English to you on principle, and it’s my native tongue
I must be odd because if anyone tries to practice english on me, I find I cannot speak to them back in english and will only speak french! Maybe its because no one spoke english back in the day when we came and we had to make ourselves understood and always felt that as we live here, we should at least speak or try to speak in the national language.
Agreed. In my early years here I used to preface every conversation with “Sorry, I do not speak French well, please speak slowly” which helped.
I used to prepare sentences using Google translate and write them down. We carried English/French technical dictionaries (car / health / food) everywhere with us.
Not at all curious. It is neither of those options. The conversation is in France, therefore should be in French.
I have had French doctors / the guy in the local garage / nurses / restaurant staff WANT to speak English to me, which I find challenging (a) because I hope by now I am speaking French reasonably well and so it shouldn’t be an issue and (b) I need all the French practice I can get!
I’m not surprised. Try speaking your basic Quebecois first until they can’t bear it any longer and they OFFER to speak English, then the spiral goes upwards - much better.
Some French people do speak English but not necessarily if they are older, unless they have had a lot of post-school education, I don’t think you need Bac+5 to be a tow truck operator.
Unlike Canada, France isn’t an officially bilingual country. Why would you expect a tow truck operator in a monolingual country to do something that you, coming from a bilingual country, can’t or won’t do?
Some French people speak additional languages, sometimes that additional language is English. Depending on where you are they might prefer to speak German or Flemish or Catalan or Spanish or Basque or Italian, you could try one of those.
Edited to add people often panic when confronted unexpectedly by a foreign language on the telephone, it is easier to muddle through in person.
But really I’m interested in why you would expect French people to be better at English than you are at French?
Yes, I find that annoying I must say. Instead of a swift French interaction in, say, Mr. Bricolage you end up with “a my tailor is rich” response which you have to smile and nod at while you figure out what they mean. It’s all friendly though.
I was going through border control at Nice airport on Wednesday and despite having my passport card in her hand the officer chatted to me in French, which I liked. She assumed I spoke her language Though I wondered afterwards if she could see on her screen that I lived here?
I only wish my French was better, I find it very rewarding. My late wife spoke excellent, nuanced French after a lifetime loving and studying the language. Her BA was in French and Spanish and her Spanish wasn’t bad at all either, but her first love was French. My second wife, who only started studying it several years ago has made startling progress and is better grammatically than I am after forty years, on and off. I’m bit lazy (any now forgetful) on the finer points of grammer
Not sure if i made that assumption, If I did it wasn’t intentional… But having worked and lived in Asia most recently, the views towards English speakers are much different than here, much more welcoming. I may have asked a stupid question on here, but appears countries with Latin based languages don’t give a flying f about English…
“I have had French doctors / the guy in the local garage / nurses / restaurant staff WANT to speak English to me”
Same here Sue.
Only recently a hospital nurse conversed with me in good English.
But I do prefer to stick to French because I don’t always hear clearly and a French accent can make the English difficult to understand. I remember back in 2011, a nurse being surprised that she could have a normal conversation with me in French. She commented on the fact that she could ask or tell me something, and get a response in French.
Maybe back then there were more Brits coming to France, probably due to the looming possibility of Brexit, and certain professions thought it would be a good idea to have someone in their fold who could speak English.
Same thing for the bank… But the trouble there is that my financial vocabulary is lacking in any language.
English isn’t necessarily seen as a prestigious-get-out-of-poverty language here as it may be in parts of Asia. You can’t really meaningfully compare the two situations. Moreover, lots of people in France don’t need English in their day to day lives or their jobs and have no reason to.
Younger people may find it easier to speak English as it is one of the two compulsory foreign languages taught at school nowadays, but really I think anyone coming from a developed country with a good education system should have the skills to learn and use at least a few necessary phrases.
I’m afraid the Québécois are just as rude towards a classic French speaker as an English one. .
I should say “used to be” because I haven’t been there for several decades.
Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, don’t think they view English as a “prestigious-get-out-of-poverty language” but rather seen as a language spoken globally to interact with foreigners or whatever opportunity that brings them. Those 3 countries definitely don’t need English in there daily lives and believe economically/culturally they are doing quite well for international/European standards. This is just my perspective, seems English is frowned upon in France (not lived anywhere else in Europe, so can only comment on living here at the moment). I definitely will be learning more French and look forward to getting rid of the Quebecois French Never in my life did I think I would live in France btw, but I’m enjoying it so far! Love the atmosphere, food, etc.
Do you think that your expectation of finding a call centre employee sufficiently fluent in a foreign language was based on your experience in Canada? I’d be astonished to find someone in that sort of job who spoke French.
And I would guess that people working for towing companies are used to a degree of hostility which may make them less likely to entertain a request to speak in a foreign language.
That’s why I said “parts of Asia” also I’m fairly sure speakers of languages in developed Asian countries learn English at school and have an education culture which is considerably more demanding than the mainstream in many Anglophone countries.
Having said that, many people in eg Japan can’t communicate well in English (and why should they). You might consider as well that Korea Japan and Hong Kong were all occupied by, or dominions of, English-speaking countries. Asia is a big place. The far East isn’t like eg the Stans or SE Asia, (Malaysia and especially Singapore are an exception).
Even in India, where English is one of the official national languages, lots of people can’t speak it. I think it’s arrogant of English-speakers to expect everyone and anyone in a non-anglophone country to speak English.
So that’s my opinion as a French curmudgeon.
I was chuffed to bits the other day when I was in the Soregies office, chasing up my transition to Tempo. The clerk had to call the main office, who hadn’t got their finger out, and I heard her say, “No, he speaks good French”.
That’s not polite at all, more like arrogant. Anywhere I go, I try to at least learn some basics of the language and, if necessary , I’ll ask if I may speak English I.e. seek their permission. It changes the dynamic quite a bit.
I am also wondering @bingo-junior if it was your Quebecois French that set hackles rising.
We have a Quebecois living in our village and some years ago we both served on the Comite de Fete. At one of the regular Lotto events the President lost his voice so Igor was deputised to call the numbers.
I found it very difficult to follow his speech, not because of his accent, but because of all the mutterings around the room by the French people present at it. Almost everything he said was followed by ‘what did he say?’, ‘what was that?’, and so on. Nobody ever criticised my accent but they were merciless taking the mick out of his.
Mind, he was a miserable bugger so that might have had something to do with it.
BTW I disagree with it being impolite to ask if someone can speak English, but the way it is said might have a bearing. If you have no French at all, just learning ‘desole je ne peux pas parler francais’ will seek out without offence those who do have some English and I am sure they will help you.