We managed to get by in Peru with our bit of Spanish, but our French is sad....beyond sad...it's quite embarrassing how sad it is. What we discovered right away is that beyond the obvious phrases to learn when visiting any country (like, "Where is the toilete?" and "Help!"), there are some helpful phrases that will simply make your life easier and help us keep our costs down a little.
They are :
Bottled water is a pricey proposition in Paris when your daily budget is 70 euros a day! We paid 12 euros ($17 US) for a bottle during a meal because we didn't know this handy phrase.
Coffee with a treat
Cafe Gourmand
We actually learned after we arrived and had dinner with Alexandra that this is a great way to have a coffee with a little treat at the end of the meal. :-) Thanks again Alexandra!
How much is that?
Combien est-ce?
Makes sense, right? Seems obvious and simple. Problem is that because our french is so bad, we also need to carry around a small pad and paper so that the vendors can write down the number.
Having said this, I should also say that the Parisians are much more open to speaking english with me (or at least having a nice game of charades) than compared with my last trip 11 years ago!
Please let us know if there are other helpful phrases we can put to use!
Au revoir pour l'instant,
Teresa and Paul
They are :
A carafe of water for the table.
Une carafe d'eau pour la table. The shorter version of this is: Carafe d'eau.Bottled water is a pricey proposition in Paris when your daily budget is 70 euros a day! We paid 12 euros ($17 US) for a bottle during a meal because we didn't know this handy phrase.
Coffee with a treat
Cafe Gourmand
We actually learned after we arrived and had dinner with Alexandra that this is a great way to have a coffee with a little treat at the end of the meal. :-) Thanks again Alexandra!
How much is that?
Combien est-ce?
Makes sense, right? Seems obvious and simple. Problem is that because our french is so bad, we also need to carry around a small pad and paper so that the vendors can write down the number.
Having said this, I should also say that the Parisians are much more open to speaking english with me (or at least having a nice game of charades) than compared with my last trip 11 years ago!
Please let us know if there are other helpful phrases we can put to use!
Au revoir pour l'instant,
Teresa and Paul
Eh, bien, Vous pauvres enfants!!
ReplyDeleteMore frequent updates please
ReplyDeletei don't know french, so my suggestion is to plan your conversations in advance and use translate.google.com.
ReplyDeletehere is a suggestion for what to translate ...
i am the next president of france. please send the maid to my room right away.
Your blog is really awesome. I like french language very much. French language is romance language. I like French culture, tradition, French food etc . Last summer I have visited France as well as I have visited French restaurant. I have enjoyed French food very much.
ReplyDelete