En Francais s'il vous plait...

[yello]

So we were talking of different sentences! That explains everything!

 

[Speicher]

So we were talking of different sentences! That explains everything!

That was the conclusion I reached in the very early hours of this morning. Well it was warm, and I wasn't sleepy.

You could, in English, either say

I speak French like a cow speaks Spanish. (using the present tense)

or

I speak French like a cow would* speak Spanish (the would is the subjunctif)

So using Spanish (language), in the second example, as an object instead of an adjective (ie not a Spanish Cow) it is l'espagnol.

I would (?) add that I try to avoid thinking in English and then translating into French, and just use the French words that come to mind.

I found that spending two weeks in France, speaking English only very rarely, meant that my spoken French improved no end. This was aided considerably by the lady who was on holiday with me, who normally worked a Tourist guide in Reims. She spoke French slowly and clearly, and was happy to correct my French conversation as we explored the French countryside near Lyon on a walking holiday. Yes, we did explore the subjunctive in conversation, the more normal variations, not ever so obscure ones.

Strangely there was another English lady on the party. She was a teacher of French (in England), but did not want to speak French at all. She turned down the opportunity to act as translator for the evening some English people challenged the French to a game of Trivial Pursuits. So I had that honour.

 

[Landslide]

 

[Tony]

One tip: apart from Parisians, when a Frenchy corrects your French, what they are saying is not "Ha! Silly Eenglis fromage oose muzza smelt of elderberries" they are saying "thank you for the courtesy you show in trying, let me repay that by helping you speak it better"

 

[Crankarm]

Jehovah!

 

[battered]

Stop! You're only making it worse for yourself!

I'm not going to pursue the linguistic deliberations, there are language fora for that, I'd say using "would speak Spanish" puts you into the conditional but that's splitting hairs and a debate for elsewhere as I said. In any case if you're being clever as others have said you can avoid the complex forms.

It's certainly true that when people correct you it's generally to help, especially if you've just said something embarrassing.

My finest hour was saying to a work colleague "yes, I've got a red sports car. It's with my parents but when I bring it here I'll call round one weekend and we can go out.

je passerai chez toi et on sort . Easy.

Sadly though I was still at the stage of reading a mental autocue when speaking so when I saw the word "sort" I pronounced it as the English word "sort". Next news was a big pair of round, blinking eyes and a mouth doing goldfish impressions opposite. Silence across the canteen. What she'd heard was "je passerai chez toi et on saut" meaning "I'll come round to yours and we'll have a jump." Yes, it does mean the same in French as in English.

 

[Crankarm]

Stop! You're only making it worse for yourself!

I'm not going to pursue the linguistic deliberations, there are language fora for that, I'd say using "would speak Spanish" puts you into the conditional but that's splitting hairs and a debate for elsewhere as I said. In any case if you're being clever as others have said you can avoid the complex forms.

It's certainly true that when people correct you it's generally to help, especially if you've just said something embarrassing.

My finest hour was saying to a work colleague "yes, I've got a red sports car. It's with my parents but when I bring it here I'll call round one weekend and we can go out.

je passerai chez toi et on sort . Easy.

Sadly though I was still at the stage of reading a mental autocue when speaking so when I saw the word "sort" I pronounced it as the English word "sort". Next news was a big pair of round, blinking eyes and a mouth doing goldfish impressions opposite. Silence across the canteen. What she'd heard was "je passerai chez toi et on saut" meaning "I'll come round to yours and we'll have a jump." Yes, it does mean the same in French as in English.

Did you and she have a jump ?

 

[battered]

Sadly no, she preferred another colleague, called Nicolas. We did have a ride in the car though, and dinner together on a good few occasions, so all was well.

 

[Tony]

Stop! You're only making it worse for yourself!

I'm not going to pursue the linguistic deliberations, there are language fora for that, I'd say using "would speak Spanish" puts you into the conditional but that's splitting hairs and a debate for elsewhere as I said. In any case if you're being clever as others have said you can avoid the complex forms.

It's certainly true that when people correct you it's generally to help, especially if you've just said something embarrassing.

My finest hour was saying to a work colleague "yes, I've got a red sports car. It's with my parents but when I bring it here I'll call round one weekend and we can go out.

je passerai chez toi et on sort . Easy.

Sadly though I was still at the stage of reading a mental autocue when speaking so when I saw the word "sort" I pronounced it as the English word "sort". Next news was a big pair of round, blinking eyes and a mouth doing goldfish impressions opposite. Silence across the canteen. What she'd heard was "je passerai chez toi et on saut" meaning "I'll come round to yours and we'll have a jump." Yes, it does mean the same in French as in English.