En Francais s'il vous plait...

[Arch]

My French teacher told us not to worry about mistakes and the like as most French speakers make them too! And I mean so-called basic mistakes; getting the gender wrong (le/la) or getting verb conjugations wrong (I is, I telled him, etc etc etc). Or not knowing the correct verb or it's conjugation so using 'faire' for just about everything (useful verb is 'faire', it means to make or do but pretty much any noun can be 'faire'd! Don't know the conjugations for the verb 'to clean'? then simply 'faire' the adjective/noun, e.g. 'I clean the car' = 'I make clean the car' . ).

Sure, some folk speak an educated and, some would say, flawless French but I get the impression that your average French person is just as likely to butcher the rules as any foreigner might... just perhaps more confidently!

Much like many/most English people with English!

I was pleased that this time I understood a lot of what people said to us - some of them were B and B owners and waiting staff presumably used to speaking clearly to foreigners, but I even managed a few stilted conversations with people in the street. Mostly, I listened to what my friends were saying to people, and borrowed phrases.

 

[John the Monkey]

Kirstie, have you seen this thread?

 

[srw]

Now why didn't I think of asking here? A vocab was something I never got around to finding a month ago. As it happened we didn't need one - the only major (ish) mechanical problem we had was sorted by diverting to go through the outskirts of La Rochelle, via Decathlon, rather than all the way around the city.

On the other hand, "ou est la switch pour ce vent saignant" might have been useful - if we'd known who to ask.

 

[srw]

Oh, and le complet or le cereale not only provides you with a better carbo-boost than le tradition or le campagne, it also lasts a lot better, and tastes much better than the equivalent over here to boot. To our surprise it was available all over the country too. We had our fill of "normal" French bread in the standard hotel/B&B breakfast, so we didn't exactly miss out.

 

[lanternerouge]

Kirstie, prof de français here! If you need any specific voc just ask.

I would add to what's been posted above - just try, and smile! If you're not doing it for an exam there's no right and wrong really - language is communication after all. Sometimes the French can be snotty about their language but if you TRY it really makes a difference.

Also a useful word - un truc - a thing/thingy!

 

[andym]

Oh I forgot:

"(ne) marche pas" - doesn't work

 

[yello]

Sometimes the French can be snotty about their language but if you TRY it really makes a difference.

I've never experienced the snottiness, though I've heard of it. The 2nd part is SO true though even if it sounds like a cliché. I have this theory that because many French have spent years learning English (or another language) that they know how damned hard it is... and English surrounds them and is gradually creeping into their own language... and perhaps there is an ever-so-slight feeling that they ought to be able to speak it. I dunno, maybe that's cobblers but I am often genuinely surprised by how much of an effort people make to understand, and help, me.

Tyres are pneus and the 'p' is sounded - p'nuh. Inner tubes are sometimes gonflables... or something like that, that's the adjective... more normally, as already stated, chambre à air. Gonfler is to pump up..

Arch is right about listening. If you relax and don't panic, you can normally get the gist of what's being said. English and French can be similar.

 

[yello]

As a rule, the last letter is not pronounced (it is in 'truc' though!) so 'tout droit' (straight ahead) is 'too dwa'. Likewise, don't sound the 's' on a plural. Obvious exception is any accented letter, usually e, as in café. Or panaché. Or marché (mar-shay) as opposed to marche (marsh).

 

[lanternerouge]

I've never experienced the snottiness, though I've heard of it.

I have unfortunately, quite a few times - worst is when you clearly speak much better French than they do English, but they reply in English anyway just to show you they know you're not French...

Don't get the wrong idea though, I love la France! Whereabouts are you Yello?

 

[Landslide]

If you're worried about understanding replies when wayfinding, you may wish to adopt a technique developed by a friend of my dad...

Rather than risk a stream of "allez tout droit, cinquieme a gauche..." he would merely point in what he thought ws the correct direction and ask:
"La gare, c'est ici? Oui ou non." Repeat until you reach your destination!

 

[Fnaar]

"La gare, c'est ici? Oui ou non." Repeat until you reach your destination!

Oui, monsieur. Regardez le bloody great train avec le chuffing noise.

 

[XmisterIS]

Es tut mir leid, aber spreche ich fast kein Franzoesisch!

 

[threebikesmcginty]

The big problem with all this is that you can grasp some useful phrases but if it involves a question it's understanding the answer that's the tricky bit.

It's such a wonderful country you'll struggle to have anything other than a great time.

Bon voyage et bonne chance!

 

[cedfromfrance]

...forgive the lack of circumflex and cidilla

Anyway, I'm off touring in France for the first time in a few weeks. I've got reasonable French, but having never cycled there don't know much in the way of French cycing vocab.

So what do I need to know? Key words and phrases please...!

e.g. 'My pump is stuck in my trouser leg'
'I ran over my camembert'
etc

Don't bother trying to speak good French Kirsty, some poor french with a strong British accent will open doors everywhere you'll go !! If I had to pick some key sentences when touring in France, this would be: "Y a-til un café dans le coin ?" or "Je cherche la direction du bar" ... Where about are you touring ? Bonnes vacances et bon Tour !

 

[battered]

As others have said, just get stuck in. A phrase book is useful to establish a script, but as others have said as soon as the other person deviates from the script you are stuck. I wouldn't worry about vocabulary and grammar, "bidon" is indeed the right word for water bottle, but "gourde" is understood as indeed is "bouteille". It al works. Let's be honest, if you ran a cafe and a cyclist came in waving a bottle and asked for "water for my jar" you wouldn't laugh him out of the shop.

S'il vous plait can indeed go at the start of a sentence and is not at all odd. It's generally used to attract a waiter's attention, as we might say "excuse me". So if you stop someone in the street with "SVP" it can be viewed as shorthand for "excuse me please" and is acceptable. Bonjour is actually better usage though, and buys you a second to think of what to say while they are replying "bonjour m'sieur/madame." You can also, with thought, buy time with your sentence structure, eg:
"bonjour" (time, think)
"je cherche, SVP..." (I'm looking for, please...) (more time)
"Un cafe/le supermarche/le village de..." (more time while you produce the map) and so it goes on. Bear in mind they don't want you to fail.

When you get proficient you can learn such useful phrases as "Salaud! Putain de Dieu, t'es aveugle ou quoi? T'as trouve ton permis ou, dans une pochette-surprise?" (Trad: "B*stard! F*ing Christ, are you blind or what? Where'd you get your licence, a lucky bag?")

This and other juicy phrases are not advisable for novices though, you need to have the skills to talk your way *out* of trouble before you dump yourself in it.