France Baby

[heyamigo]

one factor why there is somewhat of an "expectation" on speaking english is because in many foreign countries, english is taught early in schools (i heard in japan they even teach it to kindergarteners ). on the other hand, can one imagine someone learning french or another language in grade school? yeah, weird. but the thing is, a lot of people in US have english as their second language (including me), so we're not that ignorant about learning another language.

[Sir Wood]

Originally Posted by heyamigo

one factor why there is somewhat of an "expectation" on speaking english is because in many foreign countries, english is taught early in schools (i heard in japan they even teach it to kindergarteners ). on the other hand, can one imagine someone learning french or another language in grade school? yeah, weird. but the thing is, a lot of people in US have english as their second language (including me), so we're not that ignorant about learning another language.

True, my nieces are learning Spanish and sign language in elementry school. Kids just learn faster at that age.

[ajaccio corsica]

hi
we receive many italian tourists during the summer and they speak italian all the time because they know everybody understands this language in corsica
my cousin lives in toronto, well between toronto and ajaccio actually, and he told me there are english ppl who moves to montreal without knowing the language
strange huh?
cheers

[Deepwaters]

Originally Posted by French Fan

Someone could tell me why when we (french people) visit the US we speak english and when american come in France they don't want to speak french?

Je ne sais pas exactement, parse que c'est pas vrais concernant moi. Mais si je devine, il est parse que l'Amerique est isolé en comparaison avec le France, et le plupart des Américains ne doivent pas employer une lange autrement que l'anglais pendant toutes leurs vies.

N'est pas une excuse à mon avi. Aussi, quand on visite un pays étrange, il est non seulement poli, mais mieux pour son propre expérience de ce pays pour parler avec des personnnes en leure propre langue. Non?

Et finalement, quelques idées sont différent en les différent langues, donc apprendre des langues élargit l'esprit. Mais les gens sont stupides partout, juste dans différentes manières.

[CFHollister]

Originally Posted by French Fan

Someone could tell me why when we (french people) visit the US we speak english and when american come in France they don't want to speak french?
Maybe they think that their language is the world's language maybe (and that is true) so they don't need to do effort... American maybe are lazy about learning a new language what do you think about that YOU AMERICAN ?


You see I make an effort in english to talk to you because I respect you but I could speak like that too => Dites-moi les américains pourquoi vous ne voulez pas vous fatiguer à apprendre une langue étrangère? Vous êtes trop paresseux pour ça ou est-ce parce que vous considérez pas cela nécessaire vu que l'anglais est la langue universelle?

I'm sorry that I won't be able to answer you in French, hopefully that will be ok. In part, as Deepwaters suggested, because American culture is becoming increasingly isolated and foreign language instruction in public education is quite poor.

But there is a more practical reason to: Americans has a real problem chosing a single forienf language to concentrate on. Should it be Sapnuish because it the the second language in the US and because of the border with Mexico?... Should it be Japanese or Chinese because is our essential business ties with those countries?... Should it be French because it is such an important language in international diplomacy?... ad nauseum.

Let's just say, hypothetically, that the publuc instruction of foreign language did drastically improve and every single American learned at least one other language, but that it's spread across the 4 language I mention above plus maybe a few others (German, Russian, and Hindi, come to mind as candidates). And then lets say that a random sample of American came to visit France. Then the vast majority of American visiting France still wouldn't be able to communicate in French.

So you see, there really are two important side to the issue: one being a real idolationism, lack of respect, and inadequate education; the other being a very practical one of deciding what foriegn language(s) should Americans learn.

There are certainly plenty of Americans that really try to learn other languages but I've run into the same problem of divided attention. I've studied Spanish for 2 years, German for 1 year, and now I'm trying to learn French (which I hope will turn out better than my previous efforts).

[French Fan]

WOW Sir wood, Renegade and deepwaters thanks for your effort in french I appreciated that
I don't want to blame americans but it's a fact that the main of them don't make effort to learn a second language...


Anyways, Renegade enjoy your trip in France

[lefty12357]

I studied German for 2 years and remember almost none of it. I am also trying to learn French. The fact is that the vast majority of Americans don't have a need in their daily lives to speak a language other than English because we are geographically isolated. It makes it very difficult to develop fluency, especially in speech, when there is no one to talk to and practice with on a regular basis. I listen to Alizée interviews and read French online newspapers for practice, but that's just not the same.

[garçoncanadien]

Originally Posted by French Fan

WOW Sir wood, Renegade and deepwaters thanks for your effort in french I appreciated that
I don't want to blame americans but it's a fact that the main of them don't make effort to learn a second language...


Anyways, Renegade enjoy your trip in France

French Fan merci de nous avoir posé ces bonnes questions ça fait un bon débat

[Deepwaters]

Originally Posted by CFHollister

And then lets say that a random sample of American came to visit France. Then the vast majority of American visiting France still wouldn't be able to communicate in French.

True, and to be completely fair one should ask whether a French person visiting Finland (say) would be able to speak Finnish most of the time. English is very close to a global language, so a fairly high percentage of the world has it as a second tongue.

But at the same time, unless the trip is completely spur-of-the-moment (and not that many Americans are that wealthy -- or crazy Alizée fans who'll drop everything on a month's notice to see Her Grace in person and get an autograph ), it seems to me that learning at least a little of the language, enough to get by on for asking directions and such, should be part of the planning.

[Renegade]

Anyway all I'm trying to say is that it doesn't matter if you just know a few phrases such as El la salle de bain or Où est l'aéroport ?
It doesn't even matter that you can't pronounce it well they will accept you for trying. My friend thries to say Comment allez-vous ? and ends up soundin like "Coma tell her vow" but the French still accept him for trying.
It just takes a little effort.

Peace Out

PS. I got a copy of Psychédélices