“Bonjour monsieur. Avez-vous du feutre? No? Merci. Au revoir.”
Hello, sir. Do you have any felt. No? Ah, well. Thank you. Goodbye.
“Bonjour, madam. Je voudrais cinq cent gram du dix-huit moins de compt fromage, sil vous plait. Ah! Merci pour le goute, c’est bon. Merci. Au revoir. Bonne journee.”
Hello, ma’am. I would like 500 grams of the 18-month Compt cheese, please. Ah! Thank you for the taste, it is good. Thank you. Goodbye. Have a good day.
“Le turbot, sil vous plait. Ah, merci! Au revoir. Bonne journee.”
The turbot, please. Ah, thank you. Have a good day.
“Je prende deux, sil vous plait. Combien? Ah, voila. Merci. Le meme a vous”
I will take two, please. How much? Okay, here. Thank you. The same to you.
“Je voudrais ce sac a main, sil vous plait. Oui - ce le meme a moins, ah, oui, merci.”
I would like the handbag, please. Yes, it is the same as mine (with pockets as he was describing). Ah, yes. Thank you.
“Vous-etes prochain?”
Are you next?- this to a young man who was leaning casually against the corner of a vendor’s trailer. I wasn’t sure whether he was standing in line or just waiting for someone or something.
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| A typical market day at Les Arceaux |
And so I made it both in the market and in the fabric store - all in French. Slowly but surely I am coming to understand some of the conversations and many of the questions. I do need to listen harder, though. I often anticipate what a speaker is going to say, and when he doesn’t say what I was expecting, I am lost. But at least I am making progress. All this does NOT stop them from calling after us “Have a good weekend!” or “Goodbye” in English! I have no disillusions about sounding like a native speaker.
1 comment:
I love the conversations. This way when I read them, I get to practice my sad French, without worrying about my Texas American accent.
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