Allo Allo

I have spent months in France before and had thought that over the years my French had improved without too much work on my part.I have been to Paris several times and was under the illusion that I had become more cosmopolitan as I get older.

God bless the restraint shown by the Parisians.

My partner never once told me that I speak very little French and just pronounce my English words with a cross French/Glasgow accent, it took my mum to tell me as she was doubled up in laughter.

I do hope this affliction doesn%26#39;t spread too far, but my self image has been shattered and the worst thing is I can even recall that during most of my conversations as I was doing it.

This has resulted in me bursting out laughing at the most inappropriate times and nearly got me into trouble in work.

I do hope that the rest of you are far more educated than I do hope Paris stays open a bit longer with out putting up a city border to keep the troglodytes out..

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LOL, what a funny post. I%26#39;m sure many of us see ourselves in this discription.

Many years ago my french step-mother and I were in her hometown visiting her family. She was so excited while translating that she ended up speaking french to me and english to them until we all burst out laughing and she realized what she had done.

Thanks for the laugh.

Linda

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I visited Madrid a few years ago. Long ago I spoke Spanish, but no French.

Over time, repeated visits to France made me learn some basic French...but there came a point where I often could not discern some Spanish words from French words.

So I%26#39;m in the taxi in Madrid, conversing in Spanish with driver, very proud of myself for remembering the language, but I began to notice a quizzical look on the driver%26#39;s face.

And it suddenly dawned on me why: approx. every 4th word I used was French. He understood me, but not without having to work at it.

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This message gave me the best laugh I have had in ages. My husband whilst in Paris spoke Franglais most of the time the words were neither french nor english but I never bothered telling him.

A couple of years later we had a parisian couple come to our house for dinner and he was chatting away to the man in franglais whilst the woman and I spent a good half hour unable to eat or drink for laughing but he still couldn%26#39;t see what he was doing wrong. The french gentleman however, never once corrected him but understood fully what he was saying.

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LOL. I loved the replies had me creased up and I am pleased that my affliction has a name and that I am not alone.

I will have to update my French tapes that are over ten years old, I only ever got up to tape three and decided I knew it all.

If anyone has any recommendations for a good set of CD,s please let me know.

I do realise how tolerant our neighbours across the water are, but know that I know what I%26#39;ve been doing I am mortally embarrassed.

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I caught myself doing the very same thing when I was in Paris. Even when the Parisien I was speaking with would reply in English, I found I was still speaking English with a French accent. They must have thought I was a complete loon!

As the time passed, my confidence grew so I wouldn%26#39;t hesitate to try out my French. Several times if I needed to ask someone a question, I would compose it in my head and use my best French to pose the question. Unfortunately they would answer me in French and I would stand there with a glazed look on my face since I could maybe understand a word or two of it at most. Thank God my husband%26#39;s command of the language is much better so he could translate to me what they had just said.

I agree, they were quite gracious as I butchered their language. It%26#39;s all about the trying I suppose...

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Very funny! Thanks so much.

Pimsler is a great tape series.

My girlfriend is Russian and on more than one occasion has talked to me in Russia without realizing. The first time I said %26quot;Tatiana, you are talking to me in Russian.%26quot; We got a good laugh. It happens occasionally. We all need a good reason to laugh!!

Thanks for providing one today.

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