What did he say???
 

As a former student of Spanish and German, how concerned should I be for my complete lack of French on my trip to Paris?
I've been "studying" my "French for Dummies" a little bit (I swear!).

First, you shouldn't swear at the French, as I don't believe that would be considered <i>la politesse</i>. :)

Second, while you don't need to be fluent, or even conversant, in French, it is -- speaking of the aforementioned <i>la politesse</i> -- always nice to know (and use) the basic polite phrases: please, thank you, excuse me, good morning, etc.

I always feel challenged by a question like this - -

&lt;&lt;how concerned should I be [?]&gt;&gt;

ummm... about a 5, on a scale from 0 to 10?

Would it/should it/will it change your behavior between now and then? When is then anyhow?

One crucial thing is that you (apparently) know something about how to learn a language. So, you will benefit from learning some rules of pronunciation, and then learn as much as vocabulary as you can.

Effort counts for a lot; you will be ahead of thousands of other foreigners (almost synonymous with Americans) who come to Paris without having learned ANY French, and without ANY willingness to try to learn any. And Paris, more than any other location in France will provide you more safety net (French-speakers who will actually cooperate with whatever amount of English they know - - likely to be more than you know French).

Ultimately, I submit that how m,uch French you learn as you cram between now and then - - has to do with how you will ENJOY the trip, not &quot;endure&quot; or &quot;survive&quot; it.

Flash cards can help - - 5 new words a day for 100 days, or 10 words a day for 50 days will take you far; saying it OUT LOUD as you practice is strongly recommended - - but good attitude and effort will probably mean and help you enmjoy the most.

Is that even vaguely a helpful answer?

Best wishes,

Rex Bickers
Floyds Knobs, Indiana

You can easily get by in paris without any French at all - hundreds of thousands of tourists do it every year. However, if you bother to learn at least a few basic phrases - as mentioned above you will be more conforable. And if you learn a few other basics (numbers, foods etc) you wil enjoy the trip much more.

Thanks guys!
I'm going in June to also go for the D-Day anniversary. I saw a website for Normandy that said &quot;Happily welcoming Americans since June 6th, 1944&quot;! I thought that was pretty funny!

I don't speak French and have not had trouble in Paris. (Although on this last trip someone did ask me, &quot;Why don't you just learn the language already and move here?&quot;) I agree with Capo. On the flip side, don't just bust into places and start speaking English to everyone as if you expect them all to know English. <b>Then</b> you might encounter some pushback. And bring some scratch paper in case you need to draw pictures to communicate! :)

Your Spanish and German might be some help as well. There are a fair few Spanish people working in Paris, and it shows willing if you can indicate that another language is also possible - 'je comprends un peu l'espagnol ou l'allemand'.

My wife and I survived with very little knowledge of French, but I think it is only common courtesy to learn a few useful phrases of the language anywhere you will be visiting, such as please, thank you, good by, etc.

I think it is expected in France that you initiate the conversation by asking, in French, if the person speaks English; they answer &quot;a little&quot;, but it was always enough for us to get by. I answered &quot;non&quot; when asked if I spoke French, as &quot;a little&quot; would have been an exaggeration. As we were passing through security on leaving, the interviewer asked if I spoke French, and I decided to risk saying &quot;un peu&quot;, but it came out sounding like pew, and I left many French laughing.

Fodors does have a section on the web site that lists useful phrases and how to pronounce them. Try copying that to have something to do on the flight over.