The only French I know is "Hello, do you speak English?" And I only know "Bonjour" for hello, which I'm fairly sure is appropriate only in the morning.
Hey your french is pretty good!
"Bonjour" is appropriate all day long except on the evening, when you should say "bonsoir":)
But you can say "Salut" all day long!
Why you would choose to claim that an American saying they only know English, and trying to decide if they should learn another language, as evidence that all Americans assume everyone knows English, I don't understand.
Believe me, I was not trying to bash the poster: learning foreign languages, even lately, is fantastic and enriching for anybody, french and americans alike. I am dismayed by the English level of many french politicians, for example.
I was just making the following point: the poster wonders in engeering school whether he should learn a foreign language. It seems to indicate that learning foreign languages is not a priority in the american school system. Therefore, americans, as friendly and supportive as they may be to foreigners, assume that they know english. That's no problem, we the foreigners are working on it. You are welcome to point grammar and spelling mistakes in my posts:)
But please stop spreading the myth that the french are rude with people that don't speak french. It may have been true, but I think it is changing. In France (and in Europe in general), we begin to learn foreign languages a bit earlier than engineering school (some kids begin as early as kindergarten).
In contrast to the French, Germans are actually welcoming, friendly and understanding towards people you don't speak their language fluently. Most people there speak English as a second language, so if you ever go there, you will be able to settle in gracefully.
Please! We the french are actually welcoming, friendly and understanding towards people who don't speak french fluently... in fact we love when people try at least to say 2 or 3 words in French.
And more and more French people speak better and better english.
Are Americans understanding towards people who don't speak english? Most of the time, the question doesn't even apply: don't they take for granted that anybody will speak english, anywhere?
See: "a foreign language is not required"; "English is the only language that I know".
In France, a good english level is a requirement for most engineering schools (a low grade at TOEIC may prevent you from being graduated), and learning other languages is strongly promoted (German, Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese...)
So, if you go to France and assume that anybody will answer when you ask a direction in english, you are certainly wrong. But if you ask at least "do you speak english" (or better, try a bit of polite french), you will be suprised that many people will kindly answer you.
Of course, this does not apply to Parisian waiters, for whom rudeness is a necessary job skill:)
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The only French I know is "Hello, do you speak English?" And I only know "Bonjour" for hello, which I'm fairly sure is appropriate only in the morning.
Hey your french is pretty good!
"Bonjour" is appropriate all day long except on the evening, when you should say "bonsoir" :)
But you can say "Salut" all day long!
Why you would choose to claim that an American saying they only know English, and trying to decide if they should learn another language, as evidence that all Americans assume everyone knows English, I don't understand.
Believe me, I was not trying to bash the poster: learning foreign languages, even lately, is fantastic and enriching for anybody, french and americans alike. I am dismayed by the English level of many french politicians, for example.
I was just making the following point: the poster wonders in engeering school whether he should learn a foreign language. It seems to indicate that learning foreign languages is not a priority in the american school system. Therefore, americans, as friendly and supportive as they may be to foreigners, assume that they know english. That's no problem, we the foreigners are working on it. You are welcome to point grammar and spelling mistakes in my posts :)
But please stop spreading the myth that the french are rude with people that don't speak french. It may have been true, but I think it is changing. In France (and in Europe in general), we begin to learn foreign languages a bit earlier than engineering school (some kids begin as early as kindergarten).
In contrast to the French, Germans are actually welcoming, friendly and understanding towards people you don't speak their language fluently. Most people there speak English as a second language, so if you ever go there, you will be able to settle in gracefully.
Please! We the french are actually welcoming, friendly and understanding towards people who don't speak french fluently... in fact we love when people try at least to say 2 or 3 words in French.
And more and more French people speak better and better english.
Are Americans understanding towards people who don't speak english? Most of the time, the question doesn't even apply: don't they take for granted that anybody will speak english, anywhere?
See: "a foreign language is not required"; "English is the only language that I know".
In France, a good english level is a requirement for most engineering schools (a low grade at TOEIC may prevent you from being graduated), and learning other languages is strongly promoted (German, Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese...)
So, if you go to France and assume that anybody will answer when you ask a direction in english, you are certainly wrong. But if you ask at least "do you speak english" (or better, try a bit of polite french), you will be suprised that many people will kindly answer you.
Of course, this does not apply to Parisian waiters, for whom rudeness is a necessary job skill :)
...of this (unrelated) strip.