Oui, J'aime Le Jambon

And so ends my knowledge of the French language. Well, I can actually speak a bit more than that, but not a lot.

There are many reasons why I'm rubbish at French, even though we 'learned' it at school, but I think the main reason is becsue I am English*

An American tourist who took a trip to France was left in tears as she said she felt “isolated” during her trip, despite wearing a pink beret.

Longrider tells the tale of an American influencer who went to France, but fell foul of the languag barrier, with hilarious consequences

Which got me thinking about my experiences with the French. It's oft told that the French hold their language in such high esteem, that they refuse to learn other languages. Having visited France twice, I can tell you that's only partly true

Mrs Bucko does know a few French words, and where it was necessary (Asking directions, restuarant), she had a go ot it. After a couple of sentances, the French would switch to English. It could be they were encouraging her to make a little effort first, or it could be they simply didn't want to hear their beautiful language spoken like that

There are many French people though, who do not speak any other language than their native tongue. I've met quite a few on my travels, but the one I think of often was in Serbia

We were sat in a bar and the only other people were the staff and one French man. Other people slowly began to drift in and it eventually got quite busy. It was a small bar and people just naturally began to start conversations until there was a right good chit chat going on with the people around the bar

Most of the people appeared to be from the Balkan region among other areas, all speaking different languages. At first, I over heard a few languages being proposed, but eventually everyone settled on English, as it was the only language that they could all understand

Except the lone French man

I think this is one big reason why most English* people do not speak a second language. English has become the international language of choice, so if you speak it, you can generally communicate well with most others

French however, is not. Most people outside of France don't tend to speak it, and let's be honest, it sounds ridiculous

Obviously if you visit another country, you should make some effort, but I think it's time the French got over the idea that French is the only language. It can be quite isolating

And don't get me started on the food...