I'd be interested if any French speakers on this forum (native speaker or second language) found Katie's use of French to be overly-familiar and lacking in a certain amount of "politesse". Whenever she said "merci" or "au revoir" she did it in that awful, overly-familar "I learnt colloquial French when I did a season in Meribel" kind of way.

I found it disrespectful, the sort of French you would use to impress a ski instructor whilst p***** in a ski bar, not the language of business.

Or am I just looking for yet another reason to hate her?

What do you think, fellow francophones?

I certainly didn't rate the french that any of them spoke.

Jeez.....my french is as good as those who were saying how wonderful they were and I don't think my french is very good.

They don't half know how to blow their own trumpets.:yawn:

i liked it when Lohit was trying to ask

"are you interested"

and he ended up saying [according to the subtitles]

"are you interesting"



Little things.. little minds..

Although Kristina has grown in my estimation lately, I thought it very lame of her to class herself as a 'non French speaker' having studied it at A level. Surely she could have retained enough vocabulary to flog a few sausages?

I did Spanish GCSE 3 years ago and couldn't put a sentence together now if you paid me. I know words but not verbs and adjectives. It was a really long time go when Kristina did it.

I have some sympathy with Kristina. Two years into a French degree, I went to live in France and remember it being VERY daunting on day one. It's not what you can say, it's when the buggers talk back at you!

In Katie, I detect someone who has spent time in France, but who equally has no appreciation of French etiquette.

Imagine, if you like, a French contestant on "L'apprenti" trying to negotiate with "yeah, alright, cheers geezer..." That's my impression of her.

Her A levels were half her lifetime ago, and she may have done Leaving Cert Higher which is more like AS. Unused, languages fade and it takes more than one night in France to get back above Tre's level.

Kristina seems to me the type who if she feels she has no competence or confidence in her ability about something will say so.

It could have been that she heard some declare themselves expert and let them have enough rope.

It's a shame that Adam and wotshisface didn't spot how wrong the French on that banner was, they could have said it doesn't make sense so we're not paying for it.

I would love to think that is what 'shoot himself in foot' genius Paul was sniggering at while he left Adam to negotiate.

So smug he would rather lose money than help Adam, after all, he was saving money with the jelly burner and leaving Adam to cook on it was setting him up to fail?

My A level French was 2/3 of my life ago, but I still thought it was a dodgy translation and the grammar bad, until I saw Margaret's expression and then knew it was wrong.

I think you may be right there. I have an A level in French - acquired aeons ago - and visit France occasionally for holidays, but while I'd baulk at smooth sales patter in French (and probably in English, too!), I would have been able to communicate fairly confidently about what they were selling, the meats used, the flavourings and the price. I do think calling yourself a non-French speaker having studied it at A level - however long ago - is a bit of a cop out. She should have learned enough basic French to put sentences together, and a quick look through the French/English dictionary for unfamiliar words connected with what they were selling would have helped a lot (indeed, when it got really desperate, she did eventually manage to find the words to negotiate the use of a cooker, so there must have been some residual knowledge there).
I suspect Kristina is someone who doesn't want to stick her neck out unless she can 'shine', and perhaps felt embarrassed about being on national TV speaking French badly. If she had been the team leader, I think she may have overcome her reservations more quickly.

I did leaving cert french back in 1990. Can just about string a sentence together now even though I was pretty good at it back then.

I got A level French at an A pass.
I went to France the next week and couldn't understand a word.
Anything written like signs was fine, but school French is not conversational French.

I spend every holiday when I was a child in France and got a GCSE A...

but I couldn't speak it now!

No matter what their level of French, it should not really have been beyond any of them to memorize a few phrases and at least have a go. As team leader, I'd have bought a phrasebook on the ferry and passed it around!

(Even if it was only "Je m'excuse, je ne comprends pas"!)

Ok, they made a few mistakes. I'm sure one of the girls asked a customer "Voulez vous arreter...?"(Would you like to stop?!) instead of "acheter" (buy!) but I respect those that tried.


As for the sign, if you're getting something printed up in another language for public display, you make damned sure that the translation is correct, and if you don't know - find someone who does! They shouldn't have paid that bloke a penny, but they didn't know it was wrong and didn't want to admit that.

The lack of common sense of these people never ceases to amaze me...

You did. I heard that too

If it was that long ago it would have been a proper French A level. I got an N for my german Alevel, and I still would have had a bash at it, or studied on the journey!

All the french spoken was terrible really... I can sympathise with Kristina to some extent as when I have had english friends visit me in France they have really struggled with day to day french in the town even though they have french A level etc. Katie has the (over?)confidence that comes with a good education and so bluffed well, I couldnt tell whether she was over familiar (lack of politesse) because she was unaware of the rules of the language or because she doesnt feel the need to as she treats most people with distain and lack of respect!

I got a French A Level a quarter of a century ago and can get by in France ... I agree, she bottled it. But, then again, she managed to blag her way into a kitchen to fry her sausages, so maybe not.

I'm French born to British parents - - speak the lingo and as for Katies attempt at french, well it was similar to Amanda Holdens attempt at acting.

Good one.

Even I could tell that it was pathetic.

What did you make of the 'francophile' who knew everything about France and french?

[quote=marks thespot]I'm sure one of the girls asked a customer "Voulez vous arreter...?"(Would you like to stop?!) instead of "acheter" (buy!) QUOTE]

That was Kristina with her A-level French!

All very reminiscent of The Armstrongs trying to flog conservatoires, highly amusing.

ah! the armstrongs!!! she was incredibly daft!

Whereas the public school twits on The Apprentice are the intellectual cream of Britain ... supposedly. I note that Katie was sponsored by Sandhurst at University, that's probably why she gets on so well with Paul, they're both officer class.