The French

Interacting with the French has been interesting. Typically our conversations go something along the lines of:
‘Bonjour. Parlez vous Anglais?’ with the typical response being a short, sharp, blunt and abrupt ‘Non.’

Typically though, after persisting for long enough, we have generally managed to get the information that we are looking for. It seems as though quite often the French speak more English than they give themselves credit for.

Now, we’re not wanting to paint all French people with the same brush here, and similarly, if a French person came to Australia and asked if we were able to speak French, our response would be exactly the same. It has just been an interesting contrast when compared with the Dutch and Belgians. When asking people in Holland and Belgium if they speak English, they typically look at you indignantly and say ‘of course’. The French, on the other hand, tend to look at you equally indignantly, but give a rather different response. Fun times.