Cycling UK Forum

I was staying in a large posh hotel in France for business. The outside was resplendent with flags of all the nations hanging from poles. But there was a problem with the Union Flag. With my rusty French and a dictionary, I worked out how to explain the flag was inverted, and that is an international sign of distress.

It didn't go well. The receptionist thought I meant the flag was backwards. The French flag, of course, looks the same either way up, but ours doesn't. I tried to explain about narrow and wide white stripes, in English and French, but it didn't help. Eventually a French hotel resident, who understood the problem, came to my aid.

Throughout this, my English colleagues were rolling on the floor laughing.

We once had a problem in Belgium. Nobody would respond to our attempts at French tho' German worked so long as they understood we were not German. Turned out we were in the Flemish part!

ambodach wrote:

We once had a problem in Belgium. Nobody would respond to our attempts at French tho' German worked so long as they understood we were not German. Turned out we were in the Flemish part!

A lot of Flemish people can speak French but choose not to and prefer to use English ( I found the mirror case with a French speaking Belgian who spoke no Vlaams but had learned it at school.)
I have a couple of hundred words of Dutch so I use this as it's basically the same language as Vlaams.
Memorising a couple of hundred basic words in a language isn't difficult and I find it quite useful - there are occasions where there is no other mutual language.

'Excuse me, I've just trod in something smelly and disgusting ..... your country!'

ambodach wrote:We once had a problem in Belgium. Nobody would respond to our attempts at French tho' German worked so long as they understood we were not German. Turned out we were in the Flemish part!

My attempts at spanish fell on deaf ears I thought I said someting wrong, it wasn't untill after I came out the pastry shop empty handed that the wife told me that we were in the basque country and they have their own dialect and apparently dont like spanish, she thought it was hilarious even though I didnt get any bread!

Swallow wrote:I certainly wouldn't let it stop you. I'm a regular visitor to France, I don't speak French but know enough phrases to get by. Take a phrase book and make an effort, I find that people appreciate you at least trying to use their language. In fact I have a friend who now lives and works in France, he is fluent, and says that the lady in the Town Hall is fluent in English but pleads ignorance to those who don't at least attempt French.

Totally agree with Swallow.I can remember many years ago now venturing over to the Bol Dor motorcycle race in the South of France on my motorcycle never ever having done it before and apart from getting completely lost because of not understanding the traffic signs etc trying to acquire assistance by speaking english with a french accent.Totally hilarious for anyone that ever heard me but since then I have always taken a phrase book with me and I know the basic phrases to use.So I would say do not worry about it too much and just get a phrase book and make the effort and as Swallow says if yoou are seen to be doing that getting assistance will be that much easier.Oh yes and by the way I really must still sound strange to anyone listening to me because of my Sarf London accent.

Never let language be a barrier.

People are basically nice the world over and will try to help and understand what you want.

Try to grasp a few basics as has already been said and take a phrase book you can always point to the phrase if you can't actually find you can read out the words.

I have been to a variety of countries where the basic language and alphabet are totally alien, try pronouncing all the s. c, and z's that the Poles put together or the cyrillic style script of Denmark and as for Greek well it's all double dutch to me.
Then there is Slovakia and Czech republic.......!

A trip down the Rhine route meant we constantly crossed and re-crossed French German borders, and came up with our own language variants; Bonne Morgen, Guten Jour

Each time I visit Majorca I try to expand my knowledge of Spanish but it is very difficult when the locals always want to speak English (or worse German) to you.

If it is Spain you are off to I have a CD that deals with basics such as greetings ordering basic food and drink and a bed for the night I could see if I can record a copy for you. I play it in the car when and attempt to absorp some of the words.

"Ou est le camping" [oo eh luh comping]

"Deux baguettes s'il vous plait" [duh bag-ett sill voo play]

"Je prends une biere s'il vous plait" [je (soft j) pron oon be-air sill voo play]

Do you really need anything else?

largeallan wrote:Don't worry about it, if Johnny foreigner doesn't understand what you've said in English, you just say it again except louder...they'll always get it.

Irony aside, it's common to see Brits yelling away in infantile English in France, where I live, as though the only issue is the French listener's level of English.

If you speak English you can learn languages. A few words per hour, a few hours, et voilà, it's enough to start a tour.

Why wouldn't you learn some of the language of a country you are going to visit?

I'd be all up for taking a phrase book and having a go but actually learning phrases is so far out the question for me! i mean i'd try my best but i doubt it'd stick, i'm just worried that people might take advantage of the language barrier.

tim_399 wrote:... i'm just worried that people might take advantage of the language barrier.

I wouldn't worry about that. Would you take advantage of a foreigner in England who didn't speak English?

In shops in France, I've seen people treated very entirely according to whether they (a) expected everyone there to speak English (which they don't, especially off the tourist routes), or (b) attempted in a friendly way to communicate.

I'm a big believer in cheat-sheets, and I'm not afraid to use them.

I bought a Berlitz phrase book for French, which I spent 7 years not learning at school, German, which I spent 2 years not learning and Dutch, which was not on our curriculum.
I can now get by in very poor French, get fed, watered and fill the car in German, and into trouble in Dutch if the conversation doesn't follow the phrase book's 'script'.

In the Netherlands this is OK as almost everyone seems to speak better English than me. In Germany people are friendly a bit of goodwill and pantomime gets me by. In France people are only to happy to help when my tortured French gives out.

I met an Irish couple on a French camp site who had had a terrible time in France. It turned out they adopted the tactic of speaking English, with the Irish accent, VERY loudly when they weren't understood. I watched them fail to get served in a Pâtisserie, the assistant merely kept telling them she didn't speak English!!! I knew she did because the previous day she'd replied in English when I asked for something in French.

My advice is use a phrase book and have a go. The usual reaction is good and I've lost count of the number of impromptu French lessons I've received in shops and Restaurants in France.

I've watched, usually beer bellied Englishmen in football shirts, stand in shops, hand over their purchases, look at the shop assistant without a word and hold out a handful of money, no idea how much anything is even though the till displays the amount or the assistant has told them. If I worked in the shop I'd take the lot with a polite "merci"

Swallow wrote:I've watched, usually beer bellied Englishmen in football shirts, stand in shops, hand over their purchases, look at the shop assistant without a word and hold out a handful of money, no idea how much anything is even though the till displays the amount or the assistant has told them. If I worked in the shop I'd take the lot with a polite "merci"

And they'd have deserved it too!

Blynyddoedd yn ol, ar ol taith hir, Ro'n i'n aros am funud...
OK, I'll do it in English for those who don't speak Welsh. A few years ago, I was resting in Machynlleth outside the fantastic milkbar when approached by a group of elderly cyclists. I gave them my best greeting and ascertained that they were touring Wales from their homes on the south coast of England. One of the ladies then asked where I was from. When I told her that I was a local, she could barely disguise the disappointment from her face before she turned and walked off with a curt "well you don't sound very Welsh to me".
A fyddai hi'nn well pe taswn i'n rhoi bach o lo ar fy wyneb a gollwng cwpl o "boyos" ar ddiwedd pob brawddeg!