Originally Posted By: treblig1958



That's funny, no wonder the French always look at us with suspicion as we struggle through trying to correctly grapple with and enunciate their language. Come to think of it even the English look at us that way. The Germans, they don't care because no one, even the Germans, can correctly speak German. smile

When out to dinner in Lauffen, Germany, even Nate's wife, a German, said. "I don't know what he said, he's Bavarian, who can understand them."


Funny story along those lines, concerning French: Several years ago, I ran into a French girl working as a motel clerk in western North Dakota, of all places. Or at least one of the guys in my hunting party told me she was French. Turned out she was half and half--one parent each French and American, but she'd grown up in France and was totally bilingual. Then her family moved to Quebec. Having been there myself, where the French is quite different, I asked her if she had any problems. "I couldn't understand most of what my friends were saying for about 2 or 3 months!" she told me. I can imagine: Typical fast-talking, slangy teenagers. And some slang does not transfer from French French to Quebecois. "Gosse", in France, means kid. In Quebec: balls. Now there's a difference for you!