English is still seen as a rival language that threatens the position of French as a world language (some still have the illusion) and undermines the purity of French by sneaking in words like sandwich, hamburger, cookie, streaming, best seller, week-end, meeting, etc. If you work in a French company, do make an effort to gradually improve your French. Many a Frenchman will then come to your rescue in English. What matters is that you've shown yourself as polite. The French take pride in their language, and the best way to show your respect and earn respect is to do your best to speak French-even if it's just a few, badly pronounced words. It's the best way to assure that he'll make no attempt to reply in English, even if he knows some. Don't begin a conversation with a Frenchman in English, no matter how rusty your French is.The following dos and don'ts will help you avoid some of the more common faux pas, but keeping your eyes open and observing local manners and traditions is the only way to avoid gaffes. Conversing with people from other countries over the Web is one thing living overseas requires tact and cultural insight. Yet in this age of globalization it's as true as ever. "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." You've heard it so often that you may no longer pay attention to what it means. My advice? Make sure to know your verbs – the ones your grannie wouldn’t be horrified to hear.A typical street scene in the "old town" of Nice. Hopefully the next time I attempt at anecdote at a soiree, it’ll be a little less risqué. I said something like, “Well, if there’s a cute boy, you never know!” But by that point I was the only one chuckling and I seriously think people might have been wondering if I wasn’t, in fact, a prof d’anglais, but a hooker. Needless to say, I was mortified, but I quickly tried to recover my composure by making light of the situation and of myself. But I replaced the “Z” in bronzer with an “L.” For all of you wholesome people out there, bronler means “to give a hand job.” And I was talking in a very animated matter too, because I was thinking, “Damn, I’m really doing well here – telling childhood anecdotes in French!” Everyone stared at me with their mouths agape while my boyfriend proceeded to tell me that I’d just said that I like going to the beach because I could relax and give hand jobs. Maybe I was too proud to the point of losing my concentration.Īs I went on, I meant to say that even though I didn’t swim in the ocean, I still enjoyed the beach because I could relax and suntan – bronzer. Hell, I even remembered the word for “shark!” I was proud. I began explaining to a small group of people, in French, why I’d go to the beach but wouldn’t actually go in the water. Yes, it’s irrational, but my overactive childhood imagination (I was convinced that a shark was going to burst through the concrete walls of a swimming pool) has clearly scarred me for life. Towards the beginning of the evening, people were talking about going swimming at the beach the next day, which I wasn’t going to do because of my shark phobia. I was fairly nervous, since everyone at the dinner would be speaking French and although I’ve improved a lot, I’m still not fluent. Friday night was dinner at the boss’s house, and Saturday was a beach day. Last weekend my boyfriend and I went to Cassis for his company retreat. I wish that my most recent faux pas, however, was merely one of a mistaken verb tense or misplaced adjective. You’re trying to carry on a conversation and attempting to a) get your verb tenses right so you don’t sound like Forrest Gump (“I study French since 2 years!”) and b) avoid being blunt to the point of sounding dictatorial (“I must leave immediately!” when you mean to convey that you should probably be going soon). It seems especially easy to do when you’re a foreigner and you aren’t fluent in the language.
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