Originally Posted by
Laura Knotek I'm glad things are going well for you. That's incredibly brave to me! I cannot imagine moving to a country in which I don't speak its language. I'd have a hard time even buying things in a store.
You'd be surprised how quickly you learn things when you live somewhere. Usually out of need. :)
Also Google Translate is very helpful.
When you decide to travel to the UK (I'm being positive here because I think you should and will), definitely go to France. Sure, go to Paris, but I highly recommend getting out to a smaller town. There's also the Loire Valley. :)
In France you typically need to know three words for a person visiting, hello, goodbye and thank you. French people are big on politeness and if go into a shop or cafe and the staff say hello, reply back and you'll have a good experience.
There are three ways of saying hello in French so it's best to go with whatever the person says to you and you reply back the same.
Also, you know a lot more French than you think. There are a lot of French words in the English language (some people may think this is the other way around). The Normans (French) invaded England and left their legacy.
The other key words to know is - boulangerie (bakery), patissiere (pastry shop) and boucher (butcher). This is still the norm in France though there are large grocery stores as well.
What I've found with travelling, in general, as tourist, show some respect for where you are and you'll have a great time, even in those places that people report on being 'rude', which gets said a lot about Paris. 90% of the time, the person complaining is the problem and all it takes is a little politeness on their part to make things easier for themselves and the person they're dealing with.
As I always see it, you're a person visiting another country, probably unfamiliar with norms of the country. You should not assume anything, even if you are paying certain amounts of money or whatever.
I do know some French having grown up in Canada and taken French lessons when younger, it is rusty and it does help but even my wife picks up things as quickly. The best way to learn though is to be there. Which is why we haven't bothered with French lessons here.
It will be interesting though.
You're not as ancient as me. I got started on CrackBerry with a BlackBerry Bold 9000(which wasn't my first smartphone, just my first on forums).worldspy99 likes this.09-04-2017 11:25 PM
