Lisa wrote:And the French language has (I think) speakers who will not be very sympathetic to your sense of being trapped in an unfair system, and who place a high value on speaking correctly. It's much easier to face French knowing I can walk away any time....
Yes. This seems to be either unpalatable for some or they might be simply oblivious. It probably depends how adept a person is in tandem with how empathetic they are towards those who are less adept or less further down the road.
There'll be those here who speak French well and so don't really feel that pain. I used to be a bit ignorant like this, but I once experienced someone deliberately not invite a German person out with a group of us because he didn't speak fluently enough - and asked me 'don't you find it a chore to talk with him?' Even though he wasn't asking them to speak his native language. And whilst it can differ from person to person, I have heard more French people rudely accuse someone of 'butchering' their language than any other native speaker of any other language. It's not great to say it, but it's just true. And there seem to be a lot of amateur
spécialistes de la langue française.
And since French people are among the Europeans who speak the worst English and practically no other languages anyway to the point of looking down on them (like they do with Dutch and German), I find the attitude extraordinary.
If anyone would like a quick glimpse into how delusional the French are about their own language, here are some snippets from the government's diplomatic website:
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French is the international language of cooking, fashion, theatre, the visual arts, dance and architecture... (as if all renowned chefs, fashion designers, theatre actors/dramatists, artists, dancers and architects work in French!)
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French is an easy language to learn... (therefore why aren't you speaking it properly ?!!!
)
This gem:
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The ability to speak French and English is an advantage on the international job market. A knowledge of French opens the doors of French companies in France and other French-speaking parts of the world. (Right... 'Cos France is the centre of the economic world.)
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The language of love and reason. (Forget the 'love' bit it's the
reason we should pay attention to. This is a very widely-held notion in French, that the language itself especially embodies the tools for 'reason' and clarity for unravelling philosophical problems. This explains much.