I do not read nor speak French, but I do read GOOGLE TRANSLATE quite well, thank you! Welcome here, Nettle. Enjoy wearing more and more as you read and exchange with us.
After flunking French 4 in highschool my only subsequent exposure to the language was the song " je t’aime, moi non plus". I spent a few hours in a casino in France, but slot machines sound pretty much the same in any language. Bienvenue to ADISC.
Alas, I became proficient in Spanish. Naturally, I work for a large Paris based company in the U.S. After 11 years and dozens of trips to France, I still speak almost no French. Fortunately, it is a requirement for everyone in our company world-wide to speak English. Further, anything I might have learned in school vis a vis French would not have been business language anyway. I have found most Euros speak some amount of English. I start out any conversation in a restaurant or hotel by saying I’m sorry I don’t speak French, can you help me. Most people are accommodating. The stereotype of the snobby Frenchman is limited to a few Parisians who also look down their noses at their own countrymen. Some feel it’s a big deal to say you live within the boundaries of the city rather than just outside. Quoi qu’il en soit, bienvenue sur le forum!