I am traveling to Paris this June, and I know absolutely zero French. I am planning on having a friend help me with the common phrases and such, but I am extremely worried about how I am going to make it around. I am pretty sure that the flea markets I am planning on going to are going to be difficult. Any suggestions or any places that I am going to have extreme difficulty? Are the signs in the public transportation in English as well as French? Thanks!
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Most signs, as you might expect, are in French, but names of destinations are what you look for, and you don%26#39;t need to know the language for that.
You have a few months before your trip--start learning some %26quot;travel French%26quot; to make things easier, although you%26#39;ll find that some people speak English.
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Pardon?
More seriously 99% of the parisians speak at least a little english. And I%26#39;d say 80% speak a more than good english and 50% of those Do have very good vocabulary but the worst accent in the world! Don%26#39;t worry you%26#39;ll be fine.
Don%26#39;t worry just learn the basics, you won%26#39;t be able to hide your anglo saxon origins and most of the time while making an effort to speak french the guy will continue in english considering that it takes too long to let you watch every word in the phraseook ;)
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Where can I find a French travel book? Thanks!
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Other than learning the very basics which will make your stay a lot more easy and pleasant, I strongly recommend you check a food glossary and write down what particular food you won%26#39;t eat at all.
www.patriciawells.com/glossary/atoz/atoz.htm
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Learning a few phrases will help you a lot, but you will be fine if you just know the basics (Bonjour, Merci, etc). It is very polite to greet and say thank you to shop owners and others in their native language. Most of the time that being said they will gladly help you in English. In the case where their English is not very good, you will both use all modes of communication including talking with your hands to communicate. I am currently learning French and often find myself struggling to speak French past a few sentences, but the French usually sense this very quickly and switch to English as their English is much better than my French.
The signs in the Metro are in French which basically consists of names of stops and basics like sortie (exit), but all you need to do is follow the easy to follow map and use the right line which is coded with a color and letter or number. Get off at the stop with the correct name and Voilá, you will find yourself just where you need to be!
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Bonjour Jenfrogs,
Your local Madison Public Library have a lot of manuals and audio visuals aids to help you learn the basic, there catalogue is online. And it free.
Most travel guide will also have a few pages with the basic phrases, but since you are only going in June, you will have time to practice and feel more confortable.
Bon voyage et bonne chance.
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If you mean a French travel guide for Paris, the Michelin Green Guide is very comprehensive. The Eyewitness Guide is also good. For food, get the wonderfully witty and useful %26quot;What Kind of Food Am I?%26quot; from amazon.com.
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My husband and I got the first 8 Pimsleur French lessons on CD, then the next 10, then a children%26#39;s workbook from Costco called %26quot;French in 10 Minutes a Day%26quot;.
We did the CD lessons every day in the car (some you need to do over, and over, but it was great) and we took all the little stickies from the workbook and pasted them all over the house- we%26#39;ve been home 3 weeks, and still have french stickies labeling things all over! (Be careful with the one for %26#39;le chien%26#39;, though!)
It was invaluable, knowing just the little bit we picked up (we started right after christmas, and went to Paris in late February)
Bon Voyage!
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I think for basic polite phrases this BBC website has what you need, plus they have wav files so you can hear how things should be pronounced. bon chance!
www.bbc.co.uk/languages/french/quickfix/
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It is helpful to know enough numbers in frencj to ask for the key to your room. Most french people will be helpful if you try to speak the language.
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