Logistics
I was wondering has anyone thought about how they are going to deal with such things as language? And I'm not just talking Paris here. Have you ever spoken to someone from Ireland? I know it's English, but sometimes I'm not sure what they are saying and that's just my relatives.
Your web master wants to know.
The Lovely and Gracious
posted by Azdez at 9:20 AM
2 Comments:
Hello all!
I don't know how many people that are going speak French but I speak a little (I had 4.5 years of French in grade/highschool). If anyone needs some help or would like to learn a few, basic phrases before we arrive in Paris, I would be willing to teach/help out. Just let me know! (also, I will be bringing a French-English dictionary so if you need to use it, feel free!)
A former Cronkite School professor, who has lived in Paris twice, weighing in here. (Professors Schwalbe and Silcock were kind enough to invite me to join the blog.) Based on my experience, Kenny and Michiko are exactly right. It helps to remember, too, that the French grow up with a more formal set of manners than we do. For example, if you enter a small shop or restaurant, you're expected to catch a salesperson's eye and say, or at least mouth, "Bonjour" or "Bonsoir" (depending on the time of day). You wouldn't think of doing that, especially if you were involved in conversation, when you went into Urban Outfitters or Quizno's in Tempe.
A French cab driver actually asked me last summer why American and British visitors never said, "Bonsoir, monsieur" when they got in his cab. I now live in New York, where it's not uncommon to see people jump in a taxi, bark their destination and then go back to their cell phone conversations without greeting the driver. That kind of betrays, I think, an attitude that the driver isn't important in the transaction because he's just a service person. The French don't have that same attitude toward "service" jobs or the people who do them. (Being a waiter, for example, can be a career, not just something you do while you're in college.) So if you fail to greet a store clerk or a taxi driver in Paris, you may unintentionally give the impression that you lack basic manners or at least are a little cold.
It helps a lot, I think, if you attempt please (s'il vous plait, which sounds like SEE VOO PLAY) and thank you (merci) and learn the numbers from one to 10, which Jesika could probably teach you on the plane!
Susan Keith
Rutgers University
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