I Love It When the French Struggle with English
09 May 2008 by French for a While
I’VE HAD MY share of ‘learning French’ embarrassing moments so it was nice to see one of my students have an embarrassing moment of his own today (I’m all for laughing at the expense of others). Just before a test I asked the students if there were any questions. A boy in the back of the class raised his hand. He wanted to know if he needed to use his own paper or if I was going to provide it. He phrased his questions this way (and in a thick French accent, remember):
Do I need to take a sheet?
The only response I could think of was, ‘I don’t know. Do you?’
CJS
Thank you...
After just having spent 3 days being, very kindly, corrected constantly (which I desperately need) this made my day.
It finally got to the point that, when the lady that owned the hotel assumed I lived in the U.S., I was too embarrassed by my bad French to correct her.
It's so nice to hear when others make mistakes. I make so many myself. It makes me feel a little better.
Fabulous! This made my day.
I got such a giggle out of this that I actually "snorted". It's so nice to see someone who "admits" to taking pleasure in the mistakes of others. Let's face it, it happens to all of us. That's why it is so funny. Bravo!!
I'm a little late on this post, but having worked for quite a few French people here in the states, I've learned how to properly phrase things in French by the way they mistakenly phrase things thing English. So for example, his phrase lets me know that the proper way to say that in French would be "j'ai besoin prendre une feuille?" Where when one is learning a language there is an automatic inclination to say something exactly as you would in English. It's a good tool to use, and a way to make your students a lot more useful too :)