You’ve booked your flight to Paris! Now you’re looking for that perfect, but affordable hotel or Airbnb. Maybe you’re planning an itinerary. You really want to see the Eiffel Tower. “Should I buy the tickets ahead of time?” you ask yourself. Then you’ll be thinking of what to pack.
All the planning that goes into travel can be daunting, or if you’re like me, it can be a lot of fun. Either way, it seems like you’ve got everything covered…or do you really?
One of the most important things you should do as soon as you make the decision to travel somewhere is to learn as many key words and phrases as your memory will allow you…especially in France.
Yes, France is a modern western European country. English is well spoken all over western Europe. So, do you really need to learn some French? Absolument! That means ‘absolutely’ if you didn’t quite get it.
Before I ever traveled to France, I used to hear Americans remarking that the ‘French are rude’. Why? Because they didn’t respond to you when you just rambled off in English…while in France? Or is it because you walked into the shop and just asked for something without even a greeting.
As Americans, we’re fortunate that English is an international language. Nevertheless, as travelers, we should make every effort to learn some basics in the native language of the country you are visiting. When visiting France, there are most definitely some basics that you should learn and commit to memory. I’m not saying you need to learn the language of every country you visit, but some basic pleasantries or formalities are necessary.
Bonjour – Greeting; hello
Bonjour Madame – hello ma’am
Bonjour Monsieur – hello sir
Bonsoir – good evening
Au revoir – goodbye
Bonne journée – have a good day
Bonne soirée – have a good evening
Au revoir – goodbye
S’il vous plaît – please
Merci – Thank you
Oui – yes
Non – no
Oui s’il vous plaît – yes please
Non merci – no thank you
Pardon –
Excusez moi – excuse me
Pardonnez moi – pardon me
Je ne parle pas français. – I don’t speak French
Parlez vous anglais? – Do you speak English?
If you enter an establishment store, café, or shop of any sort, greet whomever as “Bonjour Madame” or “Bonjour Monsieur”.
If you’re coming back to your hotel in the evening or you run into someone in the stairwell of your airbnb apartment building, you can say “Bonsoir”.
If you’re just browsing and they ask you if you need any assistance. You can just reply with…”Non merci”.
When you are leaving the establishment, you say, “Merci, au revoir”.
If you’ve been assisted, on your way out, you can say, “Merci, bonne journée” or “Merci, bonne soirée”.
If you’re trying to get the server’s attention, you can say, “Pardon”.
If you’re trying to get by someone, you can say, “Pardonnez moi”.
If you accidentally bump into someone, you can say, “Excusez moi”.
If you’re completely stumped, you can say, “Je ne parle pas français. Parlez vous anglais?”
Obviously you’re not going to break out in full dialogue in French with someone, but whomever it is you’re interacting with will appreciate the effort you are making. They will know you’re not a native speaker from your accent and they will most likely revert to English to spare you any embarrassment.
Of course, there’s way more that you can learn and I highly recommend you doing so, especially with French being such a beautiful language. But I get it if you’re not naturally a talented linguist.
If you are interested in learning and practicing some French, there are some great apps and podcasts you can listen to.
My personal favorite is Coffee Break French. These are 15-20 minute podcasts you can download for free on the podcast app (iPhone) or Google Play (Android). If you’re a visual learner like me and need to see the text, you can buy the accompanying text through Kindle. Each 5 lessons costs about $5.
If you want to take it a step further, you can purchase the whole unit, 20 lessons, directly from their website. You’ll get all of the above plus bonus lessons. By the way, Coffee Break Languages also offers Italian, Spanish, German, Swedish, English and Chinese.
Another well known language learning application is Duolingo. I’m not very fond of it because it seems very repetitive, but many people love it.
There’s also Rosetta Stone. I’m not familiar with the new app version, only the old school CD version that you would put in your computer’s disk drive. Wait…I think I’m aging myself here.
And then there’s Babbel. Another one I’ve heard a lot about, but haven’t used. Come to think of it, I think I’ll do some further research into these and get back to you in a future blog post with more detailed thoughts.
Anyway, I’m sure you can find something that suits your needs and if you forget something or can’t seem to communicate, there’s always Google translate.
Merci au revoir!
À la prochain (until next time)
