My first experience of the French culture was the 11 days in Ottawa, Canada. \u00a0Both English and French are official languages there, so it was not difficult. \u00a0I could just read the English signs, and talk to people in English. \u00a0However, when I went to Montr\u00e9al, it’s a totally different world! \u00a0 Everything is only in French. \u00a0I couldn’t figure out how to use the metro. \u00a0And when I asked people for directions, the answer I got was in French. \u00a0Luckily the body language always works in a similar way.<\/p>\n
Now I am in France. \u00a0I am not a tourist. \u00a0I am living here.<\/p>\n
The Paris airport is not a problem – they even show Chinese and Japanese. \u00a0But the moment I stepped onto the ground of Grenoble, I knew things were different. \u00a0Fortunately, my husband has been to Grenoble several times (for research work), so he knew how to use the tram.<\/p>\n
We have had difficulties in the supermarket. \u00a0We did not know the French words for body lotion… We bought the wrong meat for cooking… We couldn’t understand the casher at all… \u00a0But still, the hospital has been a bigger challenge. \u00a0At the beginning, I could not even respond to the question asking for my last name. \u00a0Scheduling an appointment has never been easy for us! \u00a0The other thing is that even the websites are only in French… (you would think that the internet might be more international, wouldn’t you?)<\/p>\n
My conclusion is that in France looking for an English-speaking person is as difficult as looking for a Chinese-speaking person.<\/p>\n
Some people say that French people don’t like to speak English, that they are rude. \u00a0I don’t agree. \u00a0I feel French people are quite nice, and they are trying hard to communicate with me. \u00a0It’s just that they cannot speak English, like I cannot speak French. \u00a0However, I cannot deny that I am a little surprised by the fact that the majority of population in this western country do not understand English (at all). \u00a0I thought English was widely used in the whole Europe. \u00a0Or maybe France is the exception? \u00a0I heard Finnish people spoke English.<\/p>\n
Such a non-English environment provides the best opportunities to learn French! \u00a0We learned some basics on\u00a0Duolingo (a very nice app). \u00a0But that’s still far from enough. \u00a0I found listening and speaking extremely difficult. \u00a0Even if I know every single word in the sentence, connecting all the words together sounds quite different. \u00a0Now we know we are moving to Finland soon, so we have less motivation to learn French… \u00a0However, if we ever return to France, I want to be able to speak French!<\/p>\n
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My first experience of the French culture was the 11 days in Ottawa, Canada. \u00a0Both English and French are official languages there, so it was not difficult. \u00a0I could just read the English signs, and talk to people in English. \u00a0However, when I went to Montr\u00e9al, it’s a totally different world! \u00a0 Everything is only … <\/p>\n