#(my gd i am embarrassed to be american when i travel) | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

supercantaloupe · 2 years ago

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“but sasha you just spent like the past hour complaining about having to talk to other people in french why would you want to go back to europe” easy. i don’t speak german or italian or spanish. and the awkwardness of being an english speaker in austria or italy or wherever is far better than trying to speak subpar french to a french person

#sasha speaks #have you ever spoken to a french person. in french. it's one of the most intimidating experiences in the world. it's like bomb diffusal #joke. sort of. but it's really hard :( esp cause a lot of french people will just talk to YOU in english if your french is bad #once again i apologize deeply to maxime from cameroon for my horrible french today but he was very nice and patient about it #non-french francophones tend to be more patient and forgiving about the language and with learners in my experience...#although i know he was probably like. trained to talk to learners. and not just anybody would have that kind of helpful attitude #also i think west african french accents are easier to understand a lot of times than france french or quebecois accents SORRY #idk why but i do #also for the record when i travel somewhere even if i don't know the language i do TRY to learn at least a few common phrases and words #i do TRY to be polite and learn a bit. i don't want to be an ignorant self-centered american #(my gd i am embarrassed to be american when i travel)#and in most places people seem to be cool about that #i can actually get by a bit reading italian but spoken italian is pretty much useless to me #but german. sorry guys. hopeless

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