How to speak French in 3 days

And here I am again with some more languages tips for you. This time is the beautiful French that I would love to introduce to you.

This is a case scenario where you want to make sure you do speak that little French, because French people do not like at all English speakers. I am not saying they don't like English people, but English speakers. You could be Russian or Spanish or English, it doesn't matter. If you go to France and you approach someone with that 'I am sure you can understand English' attitude you are surely not appreciated in France, thank you for coming, bye bye, you can go back to your country.

For those of you that are thinking that French are a little bit peculiar, yes they are, but also I do understand their point of view. Don't be lazy and pretentious at the same time. You can definitely learn few basic words before travelling somewhere where the official language is not English.

So let's get started!

Unless you are a native speaker of either a Slavic or a Germanic language, you shouldn't have too many troubles learning French basic.

However, be aware that French is one of the most difficult romance languages, its grammar and its spelling are definitely something to watch out because you will find yourself in a wrong place so many times when speaking French. Don't be afraid though, you are not a native speaker and they will not expect from you to be extremely good at speaking the language. Also, they are pretty aware of the fact that their language is pretty hard to learn and therefore, they will definitely appreciate you trying.

Last but not least, French people are very bad with languages (sorry guys, buy it is true). What I do want to say is that you shouldn't feel afraid to speak because you are trying and they can very well understand what it means to not speak to a fluent level a foreign language.

Now let's learn some basic.

Words you will always use

• Salut! (Hi! ) It is pronounced as you would cheers with a glass of Champagne in your hand, but without reading it the 't'.
• Merci (thank you) Pronounced, once again as you would pronounce the word 'mercy' but with a stress in the last letter.
• Now the word please might sound hard, s'il vous plaît (formal way). Pronunciation is way easier than the way it is spelled, so please, no panic.

Silv-oo-pla(y) the 'y' is not pronounced, but the letter 'a' needs to sound as in the word 'play' minus the 'y' please.

Ok now you are ready to say hi and thank people and ask for favours, such as water at the restaurant.

You buy a little French guide before you land to France and you look up for the word you will need, could be good, drink... If you feel like you would like to challenge yourself, here is how you can spice it up a little bit when asking for a service:

• Peut-je avoir (un café)? Pe-je-a-wuar ('pe' of pet, 'je' of the word jeux and 'a' of fan, what is hard to explain).

And after the word you add 's'il vous plaît', once you received what you were asking for you can 'merci' them.

If you are meeting someone that you don't know or that is older than you are you won't use 'salut' but:

• Bonjour (Good morning): Bon jur
• Bon après-midi (Good afternoon): Bon a-pre-me-dee (accent on the last letter))
• Bonsoir (Good evening): Bon swar
• Bonne nuit (Good night): Bonn nu-i(t) (do not pronounce the 't' but the vowel 'i' sounds like in the personal pronoun 'it')

Useful phrases

• Comment arriver au centre ville? : Comman(d) (without the 'd') hurry-ver o san-tr veel?

Now, I want you all to know that is a guide for lazy people that are in a hurry and want to learn French in a very fast track way. The real sentences would be a little bit more elaborated, but there is no time here. This a very effective and grammatically correct way of ask for how reach the centre of the city from the airport for example.

You can use this sentence every time you are lost by simply changing the city centre part with the place you need to reach.

• Combien? : Kom-bian (bia as in biais)

Which literally means how much. The full sentence would be, how much does it cost, but you would be understood, plus, it will be a waste of time to ask with the full sentence.

For the curious one, the full sentence would be:

• Combien ça coute? : Kom-bian sa coot?

And you are now ready to not only order something but also to pay for it! So you can avoid to have to pay a fine or to go to jail in a place where you can barely speak the language.

And I believe this is all you need to survive for few days in France and if you would like to have more information, just comment on the comment space below.

If curious about learning other languages basic as well, I have already written 2 more posts, one on how to learn Spanish in 3 days and the other one on how to learn Italian in just 3 days.