French – Forethoughts & Afterthoughts

A few days before I flew to France, I had already planned the worst that’s going to happen during my one-month visit. The reason being -- I do not speak French. Call me a stereotype but I have heard million stories about how cold can French people get when you don’t speak their language.

Everything was negative until I stepped onto the Air France flight. I was seated next to two English speaking men, that was such a relief! I started talking to this old man next to me asking if I need to fill out any entry form to enter France. He suggested that I’d better approach the flight attendant. So I did. There came the flight attendant. ‘Bonjour.’ So I said. ‘Bonjour’, so he replied and started talking to me in French. I believe he asked if I could speak French so I immediately came up with ‘Je ne parle pas Francais’. He then smiled and the conversation switched over to English right away. He was kind enough to provide me all the information I needed. And on top of that, he got his colleague who was gonna go on the same connecting flight as I would take to Bordeaux to lead me the way through Charles de Gaulle airport as soon as we got off the flight. That was really nice of him. And at that moment I thought, French people aren’t that cold after all, are they?

During my stay in France, I met a lot of French people who do not speak English. I was lucky enough to have my friend as my translator or it would have been difficult for me. There were some downtimes too though. I must admit that it frustrated me a lot when people were conversing in French, which I absolutely had no idea of. I felt totally out of place. As much as I wanted to join the conversation, it was only limited as I do not speak French. I could only have myself to blame though, as I didn’t learn proper French before my departure to France.

I wasn’t really eager to learn French then as I thought it wouldn’t be much of a problem since I would only stay for a month. Oh boy I was totally wrong. It is the key if you want to meet new people. But I met some really nice people none the less. They can be really nice if you get to know them. So I’m determined to learn French this time around. I want to be able to speak the language when I visit next time as well as getting to know the people. La France, a bientot.