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France has done a turnaround | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Michel1020 Tetraglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 5016 days ago 365 posts - 559 votes  Speaks: French*, English, Spanish, Dutch | Message 9 of 34 19 February 2015 at 9:56am | IP Logged | ||
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Last time I checked - Jeri Ryan husband was french.
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| garyb Triglot Senior Member ScotlandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5206 days ago 1468 posts - 2413 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, French Studies: Spanish | Message 10 of 34 19 February 2015 at 10:10am | IP Logged | ||
This is the impression I've had too, even over the relatively short time that I've been learning French. I went to the French Alps a couple of times while I was a student, six or seven years ago. Hardly any of the staff there spoke English, and I struggled to get by in a mix of my high-school French and their very basic English. Then last time I was in the same place, a couple of years ago, my French was a lot more up to the task... yet I didn't need it as they responded in good English every time. I also went to a music festival in France four years in a row, and while my French was slightly better each time, the increase in the French attendees' typical English level was much more remarkable. English seems to really be permeating through the culture there, at least amongst younger people; they're still nowhere near Scandinavian levels for example but I reckon it's only a matter of time. The increasing number of English words that appear in colloquial French conversations also seems like an indicator of that. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| eyðimörk Triglot Senior Member France goo.gl/aT4FY7 Joined 4098 days ago 490 posts - 1158 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French Studies: Breton, Italian | Message 11 of 34 19 February 2015 at 11:27am | IP Logged | ||
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The French are definitely getting better at English, but it still depends a lot on where in France you go.
I started holidaying in France in 1992. Not even at the newly opened EuroDisney theme park did you really get a response in English (despite the hilarious "You are entering American territory" type signs as you approached the parking). The first time anyone spoke English to me in France was 2001, at a Paris hotel, at a Paris restaurant and in the Paris metro (mind you, all three were more than happy to let this seventeen year old continuing to fumble through the conversation with her awkward school French). We followed up our Paris visit with a week in the Loire Valley and on the way back to Sweden we swung by Champagne. No more English. Around where I live, you don't get a lot of English. I have met less than ten native French people who want to try speaking English with me since moving to Brittany in 2011. The only reason I can't say "less than five" is because surprisingly many Breton real estate agents and veterinarians speak English (the British buy houses here, and they bring their pets for the holidays). They're not necessarily great at recognising English either, which really surprised me. On several occasions I've had people assume that I'm British after listening to me speak Swedish with my husband. I even had a pair of technicians from the phone company out for a visit because there was something wrong with the ADSL, and as technicians do they assumed I'd messed up the router settings despite not touching them for two years, and while staring at my Swedish software one of them said "Sorry, I don't speak English." Both are Germanic languages, sure, but it doesn't exactly imply a lot of exposure to English if you can't reliably identify the language. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Gemuse Senior Member Germany Joined 4081 days ago 818 posts - 1189 votes Speaks: English Studies: German | Message 12 of 34 19 February 2015 at 3:42pm | IP Logged | ||
And living in the US (after assimilation). Edited by Gemuse on 19 February 2015 at 3:55pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Mork the Fiddle Senior Member United States Joined 3968 days ago 86 posts - 159 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Norwegian, Latin, Ancient Greek | Message 13 of 34 19 February 2015 at 7:42pm | IP Logged | ||
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eyðimörk writes, Around where I live, you don't get a lot of English.
I can almost say the same thing, except I live in the US. Will the US become the last bastion on Earth where people don't all speak English? Let's hope not. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| NewLanguageGuy Groupie France youtube.com/NewLangu Joined 4606 days ago 74 posts - 134 votes Speaks: English* | Message 14 of 34 09 March 2015 at 5:26pm | IP Logged | ||
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Great, so now French politicians will be able to bullshit in English as well as
French.... 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Gomorritis Tetraglot Groupie Netherlands Joined 4277 days ago 91 posts - 157 votes Speaks: Spanish*, English, Catalan, French Studies: Greek, German, Dutch | Message 15 of 34 09 March 2015 at 5:55pm | IP Logged | ||
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""The usual words such as 'sacrifice', 'vocation' and 'commitment' sound half religious, half military," said the career diplomat as she urges students to revise their vocabulary away from French words which she refers to as “stuffy and outdated”."
Does this make any sense? How can a word be usual and outdated at the same time? Which words is she talking about anyway? (I assume those are translations from French) Who is she to tell people which words to use? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| ScottScheule Diglot Senior Member United States scheule.blogspot.com Joined 5227 days ago 645 posts - 1176 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Latin, Hungarian, Biblical Hebrew, Old English, Russian, Swedish, German, Italian, French | Message 16 of 34 09 March 2015 at 7:26pm | IP Logged | ||
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One language to rule them all.
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