Thursday, July 15, 2010

I'm what the French call les incompetents

I'm heading to Paris for the weekend! Its pretty exciting because of course, I've never been, but I've always admired the French for their fries, toast and manicure style.

Yeah, uh, just kidding. I have a sneaking suspicion I'm not going to be eating any French toast when I'm there but I can't complain. I'm sure Paris has plenty to offer a girl like me! But I don't really know what to expect at the moment.

This will be round 2 of Alison v. Foriegn Language but I don't expect to do as well as I did in Barcelona. Apparently despite my laziness and test anxiety, I picked up a lot more spanish than I thought in school. But unfortunately, the only French I've ever been exposed to has been through pop culture. I've been comprising a list of what I know:

1. Bonjour = Hello
2. Au revoir = Farewell
3. Au contraire = On the contrary (I use this line fairly frequently for no particular reason. Hopefully I'll be crafty enough to utilize it when speaking to a local. ... Everyone will hate me, won't they? Hm.)
4. Hors d'oeuvres = appetizers (Thanks Mom! You made me so cultured.)
5. Bon Apetit = Enjoy your meal (I don't think I'll be able to use this much. I don't suppose I'll be serving many meals this weekend. ... Rats!)
6. Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir? = This is a line from that old girly song Lady Marmalade. I just looked up what it means and its inapropriate. I definitely won't be using that line. Mom, dad, where were you when I was singing this song in the 5th grade? My radio use should have been monitored.

And then of course theres my favorite, the line from Home Alone: "Kevin, you're what the french call les incompetent." I don't suppose this will be useful either.

Maybe this weekend will have less talking on my end. More listening. More observing. I think that will be best for me!


No comments:

Post a Comment