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I got an A in standard grade French and I can't get by in France |
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#1 |
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Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: a whimsical world
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I got an A in standard grade French and I can't get by in France
I'm in Paris for the weekend and I'm struggling to get by. I can speak basic phrasebook French but when they reply in rapid French I haven't a clue what they are saying. At FNAC in Forum Des Halles, I offered too much money and the guy gave me back the extra €20 note and smiled and said a big long sentence and I had no idea what he was saying and i just nodded foolishly.
![]() Also despite my best efforts they can tell immediately I'm not a native speaker and they switch to English, while I try to be courteous by attempting to speak French... Is there something wrong with the French that is taught at school? It bears little resemblance to how real French people speak the language
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#2 |
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Join Date: Dec 2006
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Passing a GCSE in a language and being able to speak it fluently and properly are two different things.
School teaching of languages is designed to get you to pass the exams, with the purpose of making the school look good in the league tables. It's taught in a very regimented way. I'd forgotten most of the French and Spanish I learnt at school within months of leaving. To learn a language, you either need to go through outside school teaching, or actually live in the country for a while. |
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#3 |
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Join Date: May 2011
Location: 🖥⌨🖱
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I find oral comprehension by far the most difficult aspect of foreign languages to crack.
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#4 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2004
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I bought a couple of French pop CDs but I don't think the FNAC cashier guy was fooled
![]() ![]() Anyway Paris is wonderful just wish I had a companion
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#5 |
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Stoke Prior, Leominster, Hfds
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French is a very emotive and articulate language, with a third of it carried out by body language and gesticulations.... Shrugging shoulders, waving arms, facial expressions.
How to learn conversational French ? Several weeks before you next go, start listening to French radio, watch French TV streaming via the internet, watch French YouTube videos, watch French movies. The academic training is a valuable part of the language, but you do also need to add the interpretation and application, discovered first by use of multimedia.... |
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#6 |
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Join Date: Sep 2015
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Je parle français comme une vache espagnole
gets you off on a good foot (unless you're speaking to a Spanish person by mistake) |
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#7 |
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Join Date: Nov 2010
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Quote:
French is a very emotive and articulate language, with a third of it carried out by body language and gesticulations.... Shrugging shoulders, waving arms, facial expressions.
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#8 |
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Join Date: Mar 2004
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I just went into a French pharmacy and conducted it all in French so I'm really chuffed
. Although I gave the wrong money and the French lady had to pick what she required from the bunch of coins in my hand. I do know my French numbers but not when they speak it really fast
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#9 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2004
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Quote:
Je parle français comme une vache espagnole
gets you off on a good foot (unless you're speaking to a Spanish person by mistake) ![]() I only bought it because of the big publicity posters of him on the Metro, I hope he's good
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#10 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 2,874
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and if it's going badly
je vous avoir savour que je ne suis un que vous pouvez triffler avec!! |
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#11 |
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Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Summerseat
Posts: 7,311
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I am jealous, Paris is lovely. Or should I say je suis jaloux, Paris est charmant?
Have fun! |
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#12 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 40,634
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Quote:
I'm in Paris for the weekend and I'm struggling to get by. I can speak basic phrasebook French but when they reply in rapid French I haven't a clue what they are saying. At FNAC in Forum Des Halles, I offered too much money and the guy gave me back the extra €20 note and smiled and said a big long sentence and I had no idea what he was saying and i just nodded foolishly.
![]() Also despite my best efforts they can tell immediately I'm not a native speaker and they switch to English, while I try to be courteous by attempting to speak French... Is there something wrong with the French that is taught at school? It bears little resemblance to how real French people speak the language ![]() |
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#13 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Oxford
Posts: 5,303
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Quote:
I got an A in standard grade French and I can't get by in France
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Grade |
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#14 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Mar 2016
Posts: 1,383
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Quote:
You've learnt standard French, not dialects and colloquialisms (local lingo), which is where the problem may lie.
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#15 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Oct 2016
Posts: 107
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Speak what you want to speak.
I was tough french to a very basic level 25 years ago. The very first time I actually was asked to use it was 3 months ago. If you are polite, and have a smile on your face and an apologetic stance, most french will say sod it, lets play along ![]() Allow them to correct you. You are wrong ![]() If they respond in English, mais en Francias ! |
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#16 |
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Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 25,199
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It takes years of practice to be able to catch every word of a spoken foreign language. But at least you should be able to tell them, Can you please speak slower?
And they do, they like it when you make an effort to speak their language even if it is far from perfect.
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#17 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Oct 2016
Posts: 107
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Quote:
It takes years of practice to be able to catch every word of a spoken foreign language. But at least you should be able to tell them, Can you please speak slower?
And they do, they like it when you make an effort to speak their language even if it is far from perfect. |
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#18 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Crawley, West Sussex
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Quote:
You forgot the striped jersey, string of oignons, Gitane in the corner of the mouth, and sitting on a bicyclette is de rigueur.
![]() Oh yes, and don't forget the beret. |
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#19 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: a whimsical world
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Quote:
Standard Grades are scored 1-7 (with a "1" being the top result). There's no way you got an "A".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Grade
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#20 |
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Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: a whimsical world
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Quote:
In the Breton countryside perhaps, but hardly Paris.
![]() Oh yes, and don't forget the beret. But they do like their scarfs. You can tell if a guy is probably French if they are wearing a scarf
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#21 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 1,340
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I did standard grade french at school, and really it's only enough to let you get by and nothing more. Speaking set phrases in a classroom is worlds apart from actually having conversations.
I can still read French, and can order coffee and that's about it. |
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#22 |
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Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: West London
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Quote:
Yes I did get a '1' but just refer to it as an A as it's easier to understand.
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#23 |
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Join Date: Jul 2004
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Quote:
In the Breton countryside perhaps, but hardly Paris.
![]() Oh yes, and don't forget the beret.
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#24 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Herefordshire
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even if you can speak good french, the French will still find some reason not to understand you if you are not French. a mate of mine used to go to France a fair bit as a lorry driver and he speaks a load of different languages and he told me he have never known people like it that even when he speaks French they still seem to not want to understand him.
Italy, Germany and other countries are fine. |
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#25 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: a whimsical world
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Quote:
O level grades were given as numbers too. I have a 3 in French. Still remember a lot even though it was over 40 years ago.
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just wish I had a companion