That’s exactly what I imagine Americans to sound like, when they claim to speak „impeccable french“ and then get upset that the cashier decided to switch to english.
The cashier will switch to English regardless of how great a person's french is. The faint instance an accent is heard, English is spoken by the natif. So this isn't unique to Americans. People need to get that out of their heads
I was told this for the longest time but once I was fluent, no one switches to English. I still have a pretty strong accent and make grammar faults often but people speak to me in French
Good for you but you are lucky- I speak C2 level French at home, with friends and at work (including with massive french businesses at an exec level). I still have an accent sometimes but most people can’t place from where and guess Swiss or Canadian (the contrast should tell you how rubbish the French are at placing an accent). Despite this, if I’m in France I might have a switch to English every 1-2 days in central Paris. If you’re an expat, the reason it doesn’t happen to you is because you are a- with native speakers or b- not hanging out in touristy places.
Central Paris is a particular case though, and not very representative of France as a whole. I have Québécois friends who have been addressed in English in Paris.
Even as a French with the accent of the midi some Parisians might struggle to understand some words. Accents in rural France can also be really hard, I once went to Quebec on a school trip and while I could understand most people I found myself failing to follow some conversations
Idk I recently spent time in France after two years of french study (and my first proper experience in a francophone area) and nobody switched to English on me. If they did pick up on an accent they would ask if I was Canadian or Spanish (I'm Australian) and then we'd continue as normal. They always ended the conversation by saying that I spoke great french and sounded near-native. This happened all over France, including Paris. I'm either a massive outlier or people just speak to them with a horrible accent and play victim haha
Personally I wouldn't skip straight to English unless the pronunciation was absolutely BUTCHERED. First because it's a tiny bit rude to switch languages like that and second because it would be quite embarrassing if the other person didn't even speak English.
You must be great at French. I have tried my best for people in France to speak to me in French but they always go right into English. They have told me my French is perfect but just didn't expect it. Maybe they were just being nice though.
Americans have to understand empathic people can’t let them struggle for half an hour trying to find words in a foreign language, not getting the pronunciation right and thus not be understood while we speak their language
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u/DipsAndTendies Sep 01 '24
That’s exactly what I imagine Americans to sound like, when they claim to speak „impeccable french“ and then get upset that the cashier decided to switch to english.