To get anxious going into French shops/restaurants when I can't speak French?

[frenchfail]

I went to Paris for the first time this year, and I'm going back soon. It was my first time going abroad so I'm really not well travelled. When I was in Paris I found myself feeling really nervous going into shops and restaurants. I tried to learn a few phrases but would forget to use them or would feel too nervous to attempt to use them.

I went in a few shops and would say 'Bonjour, do you speak English please?' but I felt like that was rude and like I was committing an awful faux pas.

WIBU do continue to say 'Bonjour, do you speak English please?' or do I need to try and learn more French before I go?

We are going back to France next year and I genuinely floated La Rochelle as a possible destination, simply due to it being this mythical place from my French classes😂. I wonder what place French students English books are based in?

This. Vile people, vile place.....and I speak fluent French.

In Paris I've rarely needed to speak beyond pleasantries and menu ordering, je voudrais ..... dish of choice is plenty, avoid fishes that need further options (steak I like bleu)

I do speak french but fluency is not required, just learn to be polite in each language of countries you visit (I've even learned some Welsh, very hard!)

I speak enough French and get a much friendlier reception outside Paris so even when you do master some phrases don't be put off if you don't get a delighted reception.

What does go down a bit better when I'm in other countries is saying 'I'm sorry I don't speak [language], do you speak English? There's a bit more humility that helps.

I'd say it does help to at least say Bonjour. It's an important greeting and at least you've made an effort.

Yes, every person in Paris is vile. 🙄

@Piffpaffpoff La Rochelle is wonderful! Even if my OH went round saying 'Bing!' too much.

Just ask them what you want in English. And if they don’t understand then gesticulate Wurlitzer.

Paris is unfriendly anyway.

currently on holiday in Strasbourg and English seems to be the default. There’s loads of German, Spanish, Dutch tourists so beyond the basic pleasantries, the mutual language is English and everyone has been very helpful / nice.

I doubt the Spanish feel bad about using English, it’s the international language, it just feels lazy to us because it’s our default!

I'm French.
My husband is not.
We travel to France a lot and I always order/ask questions in English because I want my husband to be included in the conversation.
Anyone working in the hospitality sector should speak English, please do them a favour and keep speaking English, it's about time French people learnt to speak other languages!

I stopped worrying about this long ago. Not many countries have people who can speak every language and tourist cities therefore often speak in a common language so the German and the French may well converse in English.

some people love to slag off the Brits for being shit at languages but the reality is, we don’t really need to know much of anything else.

In bars and restaurants I can manage “deux Sauvignon Blanc Sil vous plait” or read from the menu and then say Merci (or Grazie or Gracias or wherever l am) my ten words of schoolgirl French and holiday Spanish/Italian serve me well.

@CoffeeBoy I was genuinely excited about asking someone from SNCF “ from which platform does the train to Paris leave” at the airport as it is one phrase that’s stuck but we got put on a rail replacement bus due to engineering work. Quelle dommage!

When we lived in Germany I'd use my fluent 3yr old in shops 😂 I knew very very basics but always said hello do you speak English in German, 9/10 they'd reply "a little bit" then proceed to have a full conversation with me in English

Learn the basics to be polite: hello, goodbye, please, thank you and do you speak English? Walking in and assuming they speak English and launching in to it is very rude. But like a previous poster even if you speak French they'll talk to you in English. I speak French and on holidays play the farcical game of me, an English speaker, speaking French to a French speaker who is talking back to me in English. We both persist and neither gives in and it's part of the game.

Went to Paris years ago, had no issues, polite waiters taxi drivers and shop staff perfectly happy to speak English (not always well) but had no problems being understood

If every person in an entire city is vile, I think this suggests more about you than them.

Not my experience in the slightest, but I know this is a longstanding narrative in the Anglosphere. Maybe if people go in with this kind of expectation it makes them come across as somewhat belligerent?

www.instagram.com/reel/ChfLN7-jFqf/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
😁

My aunt was there for my other aunts funeral. She was trying to buy a camera but the shop assistant refused to speak to her as my aunt didn’t know a word of French. The other French customers in the shop were getting annoyed with the shop assistant, but she refused to budge, so lost a sale and made things unpleasant for my aunt. Not long before that I was there with a friend who insisted on speaking French as she thought her French was perfect, and every time, the person she was speaking to would say “oh you’re English” and reply to her in English, much to her annoyance. So those were two different experiences. I think most people will be decent and may be more so if you make an attempt to speak French, even if it’s not very good.

I meet a lot of people at work (London Tube) who don't speak English well. I just use Google Translate for the tricky stuff. I know a few words of French, learned at school decades ago which normally gets me through.

I've been to Paris three times and the first two times I came across rudeness across the city as I tried to use my pidgen French but on my last trip I only came across it once, from a woman on the ticket desk at the Louvre. I thought making an effort should be enough but to some Parisiens it's like a sport to torment the Rosbifs. They are very protective of their language. I don't expect them to know English because that's so rude, but everyone has a phone now and so you can translate things so easily these days. Some Parisiens are just snobs, really.

Wipe your feet when you go in the shop and say Bonjour and they'll forgive you not speaking French.

I’ve never met so many rude people as I did in Paris. Such an unpleasant place, although I have French friends who say exactly the same about Paris. The first couple of times I spoke French in Paris they sneered and replied in English so I stopped bothering to try and just spoke English.

I think you should at least learn and practice a few basic French phrases so you can order food and drinks without feeling silly. It doesn't help that I think France, and Paris especially, has a reputation for being impatient with people who don't speak French, but I think as long as you show willing to try and speak a little it will help.
I live in a Spanish speaking country, I take Spanish lessons but I do struggle with it sometimes. Luckily the locals here are really patient and happy to speak English if they can - and if they can't we always find some halfway point where we can get our meaning across. I no doubt say things wrong all the time and sound like an idiot, but just showing that you are trying is more respectful than not trying at all or just falling back on English every time.

Don't be a fanny.

It's not unreasonable to expect visitors to your own country to make some attempt at the language. You really only need to learn a few things:

Hello
Thankyou
Goodbye
Can I have a..... please

and that's it.

I’ve never met so many rude people as I did in Paris.

Londoners will have to up their game !

I knew I was getting past it when a colleague took their family to France for a weekend. When I asked if they could speak French at all, they just showed me Google translate.

I thought making an effort should be enough but to some Parisiens it's like a sport to torment the Rosbifs

This is true. I found people in Paris were awful when I spoke my admittedly terrible French....but only because they thought I was English. Once I said, non, je suis Irlandaise.....they were all smiles.