To be polite
 

What are the most important French words for a tourist to learn while traveling in France. (politeness is my goal)

My guess would be Bonjour, Madame/Monsieur.

Parlez-vous anglais?-Do you speak English?
S'il vous plait.-Please.

I would also suggest the back of a travel book...those have all the essentials.

bumper_upper

Thank you for the link.

This is an awesome language site. paste in the site click on mp3 player and choose your language. You may choose fom several different categories and you can listen and practice

The most important thing you can do is to greet people upon entering a shop or business with bonjour Madame or Monsieur and make eye contact. A smile is universal. When you leave say merci and bonjour or bon journee.

S'il vous plait and Merci go a long way. We bring a french tranlator and give it our best shot.

Je voudrais - I'd like
Ca fait combien - How much is it
Je prends - I'll have
l'addition - The bill

and always put SVP at the end.

I agree with S'il vous plaît. I think most polite Americans are quite comfortable with "thank you," but it seems to me that I hear "please" more often in Paris. All of the other suggestions are on target.

Crazy4travel mentioned a tip I had read here before my trip to Paris: greeting shopkeepers. That makes such a difference! I got intrigued when it appeared I and other "greeters", as well, were being treated a bit more cordially than customers who did not greet so I paid close attention. It was true during the entire trip.

When I ordcred a meal in a French restaurant I failed to say please at the end of the sentence. The French woman sitting at the next table leaned over and said "sil vous plait, sil vous plait" like I made this worst possible insult to the waiter. I felt about two inches high.

Merci

When you enter a (small) store say with a bit of a lilt Bonjour, madame. And when you leave, say Merci, madame, or au revoir, madame. But DO speak.

Bonsour, I have a question about the French language. In English we say, No Thank you, Is the phrase Non Merci -used?