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Paris: Is it really that bad? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Immersion, Schools & Certificates |  | |
| jimbo Tetraglot Senior Member Canada Joined 6296 days ago 469 posts - 642 votes  Speaks: English*, Mandarin, Korean, French Studies: Japanese, Latin | Message 9 of 16 08 November 2009 at 1:41pm | IP Logged |
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Paris gooood. (Museums, coffee, libraries, ...)
Don't worry about finding people to speak French with you. It is not THAT cold and they are doing their part for global warming by having outdoor gas heaters for cafés (but I read somewhere that those may have been banned.) The Euro is quite strong right now though so it is not cheap. Lots of nice places in France (though I haven't visited many) so you have the tough job of choosing which cool place to go. Have fun! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Felixelus Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6840 days ago 237 posts - 244 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 10 of 16 08 November 2009 at 10:10pm | IP Logged |
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Well my best friend went to be an au pair in Paris for a year (hence I went to visit...alot! :P) and her French
improved dramatically! I did a French module with her at uni and her french was passable at the most, now she's conversational. She said it was a baptism of fire though. The kids wouldn't do as she said if she got the slightest thing wrong in French and the mother was very insistent that they only speak French to her so she'd learn. However there's a big community of au pairs there of all nationalities so making friends won't be a problem. Also you'll never run out of stuff to do since there's so much culture and history (and good bars, clubs and live music if you're into that sort of thing!). Travel to other parts of France (and indeed, the rest of Europe!) is really easy from Paris so you'll have the best of both worlds. My friend did alot of traveling on the weekends when her family didn't need her so much. On the car thing, it heavily depends on the family you go with. Are you choosing through a website? Most will specify whether they need a driver or not. When my friend was looking she said most required it... 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| janalisa Triglot Senior Member France janafadness.com/blog Joined 6892 days ago 284 posts - 466 votes Speaks: English*, French, Japanese Studies: Russian, Norwegian | Message 11 of 16 11 November 2009 at 1:28pm | IP Logged |
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So you've all convinced me-- I've officially decided to apply to an agency that sends people to the Paris area. Yay! I'm pretty excited about this now. =D
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| zenmonkey Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6554 days ago 803 posts - 1119 votes 1 sounds Speaks: EnglishC2*, Spanish*, French, German Studies: Italian, Modern Hebrew | Message 12 of 16 11 November 2009 at 1:57pm | IP Logged |
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And even within Paris Metro Area, there are a lot of differences. Should you find yourself having to make a choice between suburbs and the city try to stay either in the city or the western part of the 'burbs.
In Paris proper you will definitely not need a car. Please do not drive in France without doing the correct paperwork as some people might suggest - you do not want to have the experience I had after those 90 days. Suffice to say that the jails are not that clean. Other than that you'll have a wonderful experience. The French will definitely leave enough "language space" to practice the language - while there are a lot of tourists in Paris, there are many more French people that speak English poorly or not at all. As to the rudeness of Parisians, after 19 years of living there I found it to be a myth if you try to speak the language a little, only one incident in all that time. Get the basic greetings and polite forms in place now and you'll do fine. The person that speaks directly in English without asking if their 'victim' speaks the language deserves a bit of huffiness in any country, the Parisians are just more obliging to provide it. See? Friendly bunch! Edited by zenmonkey on 11 November 2009 at 1:57pm 5 persons have voted this message useful | |
| janalisa Triglot Senior Member France janafadness.com/blog Joined 6892 days ago 284 posts - 466 votes Speaks: English*, French, Japanese Studies: Russian, Norwegian | Message 13 of 16 11 November 2009 at 2:30pm | IP Logged |
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Wow, thanks for the frank advice about the driving issue, zenmonkey. The more I hear about it, the more of a nightmare it sounds like. Hopefully I'll be placed with a family in the city.
What you say about the language situation makes me feel better, though. I can already speak and understand French passably well, so I guess there shouldn't be any problem. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| zenmonkey Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6554 days ago 803 posts - 1119 votes 1 sounds Speaks: EnglishC2*, Spanish*, French, German Studies: Italian, Modern Hebrew | Message 14 of 16 11 November 2009 at 2:42pm | IP Logged |
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It's not a nightmare, not at all, just follow the rules about driving (not like me).
Your understanding of French will be challenged because of the speed and use of slang, but that is the fun part -- with your current strengths, your French will be stronger in no time. But also give yourself adaptation time and don't be surprised by the intial 'step-up', project yourself 6 months down the road and you'll know where you'll want to be. Enjoy, sounds like a lot of fun! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| dizzycloud Triglot Groupie United Kingdom Joined 6600 days ago 88 posts - 109 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Turkish | Message 15 of 16 12 November 2009 at 5:32pm | IP Logged |
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I'm currently doing a 6 month placement in Paris and I also had the same qwalms as you have now as I also heard everyone speaks to you in English, but I have to say this hasn't really happened to me....you do get people who work in shops who quickly want to switch to English, but apart from that you'll be surprised at how many people here DON'T speak English at all!
So yeh, go for Paris! And good luck! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| vaguette Newbie France Joined 5310 days ago 10 posts - 11 votes | Message 16 of 16 14 May 2010 at 12:57pm | IP Logged |
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I live in a non major city in the north east and it's a lot worse in terms of people trying to speak English with me because anglophones are less common here. In Paris I very rarely have someone switch to English. So, living in a place with less anglophones isn't necessarily an advantage as it means everyone wants to practice their English with you!
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