Microblog Memes

Damn, Paris has changed a lot. In my days you could talk in basically any language, living or dead, to a Parisian and they would understand every single word. And they'd still only answer in French.

I'm French and I bet that it's the rythm. I can hear this foreigner with a perfect accent but with a way too perfect rythm with the same tonality: "Bon-jour-deux-croi-ssants-s'il-vous-plait"

A French would sing it. Bonjour ! : High pitched, the "bon-" louder than the "-jour", quick, dynamic.

A pause...

"Deux croissants" medium pitch, without any pause before: "S'il vous plaît". Sometimes said very fast, since it's something you say everyday ("Silouplai"), and with a low pitch since it's the end of the sentence.

The only French I know is the lyrics to a bunch of songs from Clair Obscure and I guarantee, I am butchering the absolute fuck outta it. Except for "dim dim dam dada dim dim da dada dim da lialom." I nail that shit. 😤

Saw this very thing in an article today. It was said it was the "American lean". Apparently we lean on things when chilling and that's very American.

Whenever I try to speak French, the reply is always the same...

Speaking French like a native is so hard. They basically smush every word together into one long sound. I think the French also may not just say “two croissants please, you need to stick a “je prendre” in front or something. I know people who speak fluent French who still can’t speak to the locals in certain places because they can’t understand you unless you get the accent just right.

I was just in Bordeaux. Not a single issue with my weak French and I’d almost always get a reply in French. I promise I am nowhere near fluent, maybe A2 level.

But in Paris, nearly every reply was in English and even if I replied back in French I’d get that look “please stop butchering my language” before they’d reply in English. It’s a running joke now, but I really question if it’s just parisons being assholes or maybe they just want to practice.

Ps. Never had this issue with Italian. My accent is almost Roman too and I’m again, not fluent.

I was taught the French language by a person born and raised in France. Every English speaker comments on my impeccable French accent. Every person from the nation looks at me with disgust when I try to reproduce their tongue.

You didn't smell like cigarettes and have a contempt for humanity

Should've used a quebecois accent

French guy here, It's always the accent. You think you don't have one, but you do, and when it's not the accent it's a confusion about grammar or the gender of a word.

Didn't order coffee

Taiwanese born. I have lived in the US for 20+ years. I speak the local Taiwanese Hokka dialect. Married a Taiwanese woman.

I walked into a local breakfast shop and the owner, without looking up, said "What do you want to order"?

How the fuck?!?!

So I moved back to Taiwan after the pandemic and I too can pick them out. It's honestly the way Americans carry themselves. It's hard to explain.

It must be a paris thing, I went to Lyon and obviously hit up a bakery near my friend's place. I did pointing & grunting and extremely basic french.

I did not enjoy the random fish danish I ended up eating since I fucking hate fish.

Merci beaucoup.

Did the sweatpants say juicy or juteuse across the butt?

Maybe the smile

Isn't it the same with any language?

In English, if you get the word order wrong, or you say "how", when it should be "what", or you speak a bit too clearly, like, you say "Good morning", instead of "g'morning".

I expect there are plenty of nuances in every language that can tip off a native speaker, that they don't think about until it happens.

And, does the French person respond with perfect English, or do they have a bit of an accent?

The French are very cool people, who know how to throw a revolution, and that is what matters at the moment. Respect.

A guy I know complained they kept talking English to him, although he was native. I told him to ditch the raincoat and shave the stubble. I mean, the guy dressed like a stereotype.

The only one who can actually say you have a perfect accent is a native speaker.

This seems like self-diagnosed.

One thing I learned while living in Japan and teaching English is that people who speak foreign languages might hear things differently from you.

The most striking example was that my students often couldn't even hear the difference between "she" and "sea" unless I was pointing it out in isolation. The difference is obvious to English speakers, but subtle to Japanese speakers.

And yes, there are examples the other way, but they're harder to explain here. Often, it's the difference between vowel sounds. Japanese are more strict, but an English speaker might not distinguish between an 'i' and an 'e' sound at speed. And have a bigger tendency to slur their pronunciation in this case.

But anyway, it wouldn't surprise me if there were similar things in French and English.

So how can you know if you're speaking perfectly unless you check with a native? Only when you're nearing fluency can you start to understand.

You can keep speaking French after this point. Practice makes perfect

When I was in Paris a few years ago, it was such an inversion of the rest of my experience in Europe. Anywhere else, english was the language where me and anyone would be best able to communicate. Many times in Paris, my wretched French was the most effective way to communicate and I am genuinely sorry to everyone involved in that.