A political discussion, in French!

[SheilaT]

I live in Santa Fe. About an hour ago I was in the parking lot of a grocery store and a young lady approached me and said, "I need some directions, but I don't speak English very well." Aside from a charming accent, her English sounded fine to me, but I was pretty sure I recognized the accent and said, "Etes-vous francaise?(Are you French?)". She said "Oui,", and we continued the ENTIRE CONVERSATION in French.

She wanted to know where the nearest WalMart was, and I said, The are Terrible, and she asked me why I said that, so I explained about how I am very liberal, they are very conservative, and if I give them money I'm giving money to Republicans. She laughed, and then said they were looking for one where they could spend the night. I'd already noticed their large van with European license plate, which did change things somewhat. Anyway, I gave her directions to the one nearby.

I cannot tell you how much fun it was to practice my French, not to mention have the political part of the conversation. My French is probably a lot less good than her English was, but I'm sure she was so amazed to find an American who could actually stumble along in her language that she was happy to let me proceed.

Anyone who ever tells you that any particular language isn't worth studying has it wrong. They are all worth studying. My French is my best (I can manage in Spanish, and have a little German and Italian) and I find that I use them more often than anyone might realize.

Just wanted to share that.

[CTyankee]

1. Oh, that is wonderful! We Americans are SO deficient in languages it's laughable.

What is the matter with us?

[dana_b]

2. Vous etes tres intelligente!

Je parle un peu mais ne peux pas parler avec une personne fracaise parce que je suis timide.

C'est bonne!

(I am in beginning French and my keyboard doesn't have the appropriate accents, etc. :) )

[Demoiselle]

3. I had a brief conversation in French a few years ago that

made me very proud of myself.
I had a lovely female Pyrenees (that's a mountain sheep dog) sitting with me on our main street here in Philly when a lady, clearly French, stopped and started to make an affectionate fuss over her. Yes, I said, a Pyrenees. (It is a French breed.) And, in answer to her question, I told her she was called "Sido....com la mere de Colette." Her eyes widened with pleasure and recognition....here I was, an American who not only could say it correctly, but actually knew that Colette's maman was nicknamed Sido. (See-doh, short for Sidonie. Which was also the author Colette's first name.)

The only reason I knew any of it was that I'd read a lovely book once about Colette...an autobiography taken from her own writings, which spoke affectionately of her mother, who was a great "country" woman who knew all sorts of things about plants, animals, farming, etc. I resolved if I ever had a female dog of the French persuasion, I'd name her Sido. Which certainly made sense, since I could hardly name a great furry 130 pound dog with a head the size of a human infant "Colette." As another friend said of my lovely great galumph of a dog..."Nothing of the gamine about her, is there?"

I know it's probably silly, but it always makes me feel measurably (measureably?) smarter to be able to speak a few phrases of French. Yes, I'm a Francophile.
And yes, I've nattered on long enough...

[SheilaT]

4. I'm not sure I want to admit just how long

ago I took high school French, but my teacher was absolutely incredible, and he died just a few weeks ago, well into his 90's.

In WWII he served as an interpreter for the French forces in England, and apparently once, Monsieur le General mistook my monsieur for one of his own troops. It was, apparently, Monsieur's finest moment. I had him for three years in high school, then took a semester in college, but kept up with it over the years.

Every foreign language is worthwhile. I happen to be very fond of French, but I will encourage anyone and everyone to take more than one.