I'd like to send an e-mail to a restaurant in Paris to make a reservation for our upcoming trip. I speak very little French, so I need help! How's this?...

Bonjour,
Je voudrais réserver une table pour deux 5 novembre a 21:00. S'il vous plaît confirmez ma réservation par E-mail. Merci beaucoup.

Does that read correctly? I'm not sure if "confirmez" is conjugated correctly. (I'm trying to use an online translator, and I don't really trust it.) And is there any other information I need to include?

Thanks!!
Meredith

that looks pretty good- are you sure they don't speak/read English? I like www.freetranslation.com, as a tool. One proviso, I know that in French and Spanish, it uses the formal "you", which is fine for strangers/hotel/restaurants. It has trouble with shades of meaning and idiomatic expressions, but it's not bad. Pimsleur's language programs have much of their lessons devoted to eating out.You can pick them up at any bookstore.

Just a few slight changes I would make: "Bonjour, j'aimerais réserver une table pour deux personnes le 5 novembre à 21h00. Veuillez confirmer ma réservation par courrier électronique. Merci beaucoup." It may not be perfect perfect like a French person would write, but this would certainly get the message across. In fact, your original would have gotten the message across as well. In fact, your version is probably better than what some French people would have written.

I'd bet they probably do speak English, but I don't want to assume that they absolutely *must* speak it, you know? Thanks to both of you for helping me out!!

"Je voudrais" sounds a bit more polite and correct to me than "J'aimerais". ??

Grandmere, je ne suis pas d'accord. "Jaimerais" est parfaitement poli.

it's very nice of you to want to try to write them in French, but I recently wrote to a hotel asking for a reservation in French, as French is my first language, and my last name is VERY French...guess what? I got a response in English, I believe that when they saw where I live, they just went to English.

By the way, what you first wrote will do just fine.

Hi,
What you wrote is fine and perfectly understandable. But I like Goatee's modified version which is a tad more formal (I would have suggested making the same small changes).

I am learning French at evening classes at the moment and I think the original version is fine. Most people learn "je voudrais" for "I would like" and it's far better to stick to something you can apply across the board than to keep tweeking the language just to try and sound more French.

Unless you are French or live there a long time you are unlikely to ever speak French exactly the way a French person would. Think about the reverse situation. If someone French asked you for help or directions would you expect them to get every single syllable correct down to the nearest "if" and "but." Of course not.

Buzzy

Goatee's version is correct French; Meredith's has at least 3 errors in it. So go with the former, please.

The only stylistic change I'd make in Goatee's version is not to use "Bonjour" as a salutation. But I'm just stuffier than most of you -- I wouldn't write "Hello" in an email to a stranger either.

(I was taught that the only correct salutation in a letter was "Monsieurquot; or "Madamequot; -- "Cher Monsieur X" was an anglicism, a vulgarism or both.

How times have changed!)

Tedgale, in my experience, "Bonjour" is fine as a greeting in an email, even when addressing someone you don't know.

Most of my clients are French and I always communicate with them in French. Bonjour is by far the most common salutation used in our email contacts. Madame / Monsieur is sometimes used, but it comes across as very formal in an email.

I would never use "Bonjour" in the same way in a written letter though.

My francophone colleagues here in Canada use the word "un courriel" for email. I understood this to be a word developed in French Canada but had read something a year or so ago saying that it was gaining acceptance in France.

Sure enough, when I was in France in May I saw both "courrier électronique" and "courriel" in Le Monde. I was wondering, hanl, whether you have noticed courriel being used in France.

Anselm

regardless of whether you have it perfect, it gets the point across! and you'll get an A for effort. to be on the safe side include the English translation. have fun!

There was an interesting article in NYT on "courriel" a while ago --

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstrac...archive:Search

It's now a premium article.

The French word used in Quebec for "e-mail" is indeed "courriel" (COURRIer ELectronique) (which by the way lends itself beautifully for the French word for spam: "pourriel", which incorporates the word "pourri" which literally means "rotten&quot. Many people in France use "mail", but I thought "courrier électronique" would have the best chance of being understood while at the same time being unambiguous. The French government wants everyone to use "courriel", but as you know, just because your government tells you to do something...

I thought courriel would have pinned it down, but I found in France that lots of people use the even shorter "mel", for "message éléctronique".

But certainly eveyone understands, and many use, the English "e-Mail" or "eMail".

- Larry

Talexander, I learned something today; merci!

Anselm, as Goatee and Larry have said, courriel is standard usage in Québec but not so much in France, despite the best efforts of the French government!

Nobody I know uses <i>courriel</i> orally to refer to email - it seems to be used mainly by French speakers who want to make a point by avoiding Americanisms in their language. Young people here certainly don't talk about sending <i>courriels</i> to each other.

Most people here use the term <i>email</i> or <i>mail</i> (&quot;<i>je t'envoie un mail</i>&quot, and <i>courrier &eacute;lectronique</i> is also common, particularly in written French.
These are my observations, at least. :-B

Wow, I didn't expect to see this many responses! Thanks, everyone!

So I e-mailed the restaurant last night (which, by the way, is L'Angle du Faubourg) using basically my original version, with a few little tweaks per Goatee's suggestion. I also reiterated my message in English, with a little note of apology for any mistakes in my French.

I already got a reply confirming my reservation... in English!

Thanks Goatee, Larry, and hanl. Just after posting this morning I received an e-mail from a colleague ... &quot;Le pr&eacute;sent courriel a pour object de vous aviser ...&quot; The use of courriel is alive and well in Canada!!

Anselm