Comments on: Why Do French People Respond in English When I Speak French?

By: Sean

Sean — Sat, 19 Aug 2023 07:47:30 +0000

In reply to Carmel.

I feel your frustration, especially with the waiter in the restaurant. That is so infuriating. I know there are times when people are just trying to be helpful but I also can’t help feeling there is a certain amount of arrogance involved too. As in “don’t worry your limited English speaking brain trying to speak another language…..”
I have experience the same as you when I have asked people to speak in French to me. As soon as I say “what?” once, they switch back to English. So, you end up in conversations where you have to literally understand everything because it’s a ‘one strike and you’re out’ rule. Of course, when you have this pressure on you, it is inevitable that you will say “comment?” and….you’re back to square one.
It’s a vicious circle

By: Moi meme

Moi meme — Wed, 08 Mar 2023 08:28:02 +0000

It’s a relief to me to hear these complaints. I’ve lived here in Paris for fifteen years now with my husband and son, both of who are perfectly bilingual. I spoke no French when I came here, took a couple very intensive classes and am now at around a B1 – B2 level. I understand French much better than I speak it, but my speaking has improved. These days when I order things at restaurants or otherwise interact with French strangers, they tend to speak French slowly to me and to use a lot of confusing illustrative hand gestures rather than to slip right into English. But the slipping into English still happens, and it’s frustrating and often hard to understand. Particularly when it’s a really limited simple interaction like ordering food at a cafe, and they have obviously understood your French perfectly well. It does make one self conscious and frustrated, and all that I can say is that it is ubiquitous and you just have to make your peace with it and not give up! I am proud of how far I have come with my French and it is still a real thrill to me to be able to read in French and understand French on the radio and have the occasional French conversation. The fact that a lot of French strangers (and a few acquaintances too) still treat me as if I arrived yesterday doesn’t diminish that. Also, as you say in your post, people respond to French in English for different reasons, and I believe that (in somewhat the same way that I have gotten better at understanding French) I have gotten better at reading French people and realizing that they are not all the same. Sometimes I think they know quite well that their slipping into English is insulting, but sometimes they don’t, and they are as proud of their “good” English as we are of our “good” French. In any case, I know an American woman here whose French is much better than mine (to the point where she has ambitions to teach French herself; she is also a more outgoing person than I am. And she told me that she gets the same thing from the French – as she put it, “They hear the accent, they make the switch.” A final observation I have on this subject is that I have had a lot more success sustaining French conversations with my neighbors in the pretty low income arrondissement where I live – people who I suspect might not know much English, and who are often immigrants themselves. The fancier and more touristy the neighborhood, the higher the level of snootiness and more of a tourist and an outsider you are likely to feel.

By: Ana

Ana — Tue, 11 Oct 2022 15:04:40 +0000

Today, I went into a CBD store to buy some pain relief for someone.
The saleswoman said: bonjour. Then I replied bonjour. I’ve been living here for 4 years! I teach in french.

Turns out my accent while saying bonjour was enough for her to give a very french sounding “velkome” and continue in English. Why?!? She only heard me say one word.

Yes. Perhaps she meant to be helpful. But there is a lot of assumption. I’m not even from an English speaking country! My two languages are Spanish and German.

Anyways! I completely understood the frustration that goes with speaking french and being replied to in English.

Mind you. Their accent also can grate on ones ear.

Rant over.

By: Carmel

Carmel — Wed, 14 Sep 2022 07:46:34 +0000

In reply to Ross.

Salut Ross
I found your “rant” really helpful as I have similar experiences and you are right it does knock your confidence. It doesn’t happen all the time but one incident last night has upset me. We are on holiday and ordered food in French but the waiter kept replying in English. I asked him in a very kindly manner to continue in French but he didn’t. I do find this rude and we have put in effort and money to get to France in order to show respect and use French. It is frustrating but the worse thing is that it leaves you feeling hopeless!! Bon courage. Carmel

By: une femme

une femme — Tue, 13 Sep 2022 12:30:27 +0000

In reply to Sarah. I do the exact same thing. The other thing is that their English is usually no where as good as they would like to think it is. When in France, we speak French. End of story.

By: une femme

une femme — Tue, 13 Sep 2022 12:28:53 +0000

You know what works? Pretend that you don’t speak English.. Then they are forced to carry on with you in French. It’s the best way to get them to stop the arrogant nonsense.

By: Charli

Charli — Fri, 08 Feb 2019 15:46:44 +0000

In reply to Sarah. Hahaha nice trick!

By: Sarah

Sarah — Tue, 05 Feb 2019 07:23:53 +0000

My go-to strategy is to pretend that I’m from a non-English speaking country, and therefore don’t speak English as well I do French.
The Frenchy I’m talking to therefore has no choice but to continue the conversation in French, seeing they most certainly can’t speak the language of the non-English speaking country they think I’m from.
Also, since I am ethnically Asian, this usually tends to work out pretty well for me.

By: Charli

Charli — Wed, 28 Nov 2018 14:50:31 +0000

In reply to Jade. Hi Jade, yes I agree... this happens to me less now as my French has improved, but also being in Paris means I am able to fall back on English more than in most places in France. A blessing and a curse for French learners!

By: Jade

Jade — Tue, 27 Nov 2018 07:36:11 +0000

In reply to Ross.

I understand your pain!

I will say that where I come from (English speaking country), there are many French spread across the country, but they usually already speak English fluently, else they would not likely come. So, I doubt that they get the same issue that we have in France, especially since few people in my country speak fluent French enough to switch.

What I have seen are French people being misunderstood and being asked to repeat several times while speaking English, due to their heavy French accent. Their facial expressions have been a lot like mine when someone switches to English while I am speaking French!