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Monday, July 9, 2007

My French

You (probably only Coco) are probably wondering how I am doing with my French. I've used it several times:

1. Hard Rock Cafe: spoke to the young man at the counter in French. He answered in English that he didn't speak French. I switched to English, then he switched to French. I think that he was messing with me.

2. Hard Rock Cafe: Host. I told him (in French) that I would like a table for two. He asked me if I wanted smoking or non-smoking. Non-smoking, I replied. Then I asked him "How did I do?" He said "You passed the test!" The waitress was from Sweden and spoke perfect English.

3. Hotel: I started in French, he responded and then switched to English. I followed suite. But later, when I returned, I gave him my room number as 34, he said "24?" and I said "Yes", because he was correct. I was just testing him.

4. Grocery store. This one didn't go so well. We picked up the deordorant and I could swear that the sign said 1.50. I gave the clerk 2 euros, quite proud of myself. She rambled on about something (incoherent, if you want my opinion), which I responded to with a blank stare. Then she pointed to the cash register with 3.46 euros (pricing must have been on a daily basis for my 3 day deordorant...see comment in earlier posting), so I gave her a 10 euro note and said "Dix" (ten), just in case she couldn't tell what it was. Actually, I wanted her to know that I knew that it was a ten, and that I could actually say "ten" without a dumb look on my face. She gave me the change and we left without further comments from either of us. I'll try her again later.

So, 3 of 4 encounters have gone well. Tomorrow will present more opportunities.

6 comments:

Kalen said...

You don't even talk about speaking French at our warmup in London...the chicken pot or something like that...not sure it was in French...

Ladee said...

Ok, I'll tell. Last night in London we went to the Poulet au Pot, a French restaurant in Belgravia. We arrived at 8:15 PM for a 10PM closure, which I guess was a little late. He said that he didn't have any tables upstairs or outside but did have available seating in the basement.

"We'll take them!" I said enthusiastically.

"Downstairs" was a quaint area of three tables and no other guests. Staff walk through it all the time, but besides that we had the place to ourselves. I spoke a little with the original waiter, who was a little intimidating. BUT when a new one was assigned to us for the desert course, I went all out and ordered. He was very positive and replied in French, and spoke to Kalen in French also. I thought that it went well considering it was the first time, although I was a little nervous.

Nohemi said...

I can’t believe YOU were nervous, you were just probably a bit too exited… nervous and Ladee don’t go well in the same sentence. I bet you’ll find all sorts of people, enjoy the nice kind that allow you to practice your (very good I’m sure) French… and forget the kind that get frustrated because you can’t (according to them) speak the language as they think you should (or because, according to them also, you shouldn’t try to speak it at all).

Appréciez vos vacances, la nourriture délectable et la compagnie merveilleuse.

Anonymous said...

Ladee, did the first guy at the Hard Rock say that he did not speak French or did he say that you don't speak French?

Jon

Ladee said...

I could have sworn that he said, in English, that he didn't speak French, but I was a little nervous.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like you are having a blast!!! Magnifique!!!!

Karl