May I help you ?

[jimmytaktak]

Hello everybody ! I am here to offer you my assistance. I am French and please feel free to ask me anything you want and I will try to answer you if I can. In exchange, I only ask you to correct my errors. Thanks !

[Cendrillon]

[quote user="jimmytaktak"]Hello everybody ! I am there to propose (I am here to offer you my assistance)

or (I would like to offer you my assistance)

my assistance to you. I am French and you can freely (please feel free to ask) ask me what you want (anything you want) and I will try to answer you if (I can) (it will be possible you don't need these words as well). In exchange, I only ask you to correct my errors. Thanks ![/quote]

 

Well done jimmytaktak a very good try and I am sure everyone has understood your posting.

The purple words I have added / substituted just make for more English sounding English (if that makes sense! LOL)[:)]

 

Edit

Rather than "Can I help you?" May I help you?  is more technically correct though "Can I help you" is the phrase that is commonly used.

 

[8-)]CRIKEY!

The English language is a minefield![:(]

Bon courage!

 

[jimmytaktak]

Thank you Cendrillon.




The French language is a minefield too.

[Monika]

jimmytaktak I have two questions:

What is the easiest way to say: "I look forward" and "Don't worry". Both sentences I know are a real "mouth full".

Unfortunately I can not help you with your English as I am a foreigner myself!

[jimmytaktak]

According to what Nectarine said to me, the translation of "I look forward to" would be "j'attends avec impatience"

Example : "I look forward to our meeting" = "J'attends avec impatience notre rencontre"

"Don't worry" can be translated by "Ne vous inquiétez pas".

I hope to have helped you. Do not hesitate to ask me others questions.

[nectarine]

Jimmy, thanks for your offer of assistance, I am sure you are going to be very busy on this site.   I was told by a French friend that the equivalent of "I look forward to" would be "j'attend avec impatience ...".  That still doesn't sound right to me, it is more like a direct translation rather than using the meaning of "I can't wait to ...." which we are trying to convey. 

[cassis]

It may not sound good to the Anglophone ear, but "j'attends avec impatience ... (la boum, or whatever)" or "je suis impatient ... (de vous rencontrer, or whatever)" is perfect. 

Jimmytaktak's version is more like "I'm thinking of ...(doing something)."

EDIT/  That last comment does not make a lot of sense now as Jimmy's edited his response while I was posting.  I think it used to say "Je préviens .." or similar.

A colloquial translation of "Don't worry" meaning "No sweat" is "Pas de souci", BTW.

[jimmytaktak]

I agree with you.

"J'attends avec impatience +noun"

"Je suis impatient de +infinitive"

[Christine Animal]

It also depends on the context as you could also say, more formally

"au plaisir de faire votre connaissance (or de vous rencontrer)", or more simply

"j'ai hâte de vous rencontrer".

 

[cassis]

Cor, you don't 'arf mix wiv some posh folks, ma'am! [:D]

[jimmytaktak]

cassis said :

Cor, you don't 'arf mix wiv some posh folks, ma'am!

 

 

And you cassis ?

[Monika]

I felt exactly like you Nectarine, and I thought there must be an easier way to say it, in German it is a simple reflexive verb "Ich freue mich", does that really not exist in French which seems a very "round the houses way" to say I look forward. But thank you anyway!

[cassis]

[quote user="jimmytaktak"]

cassis said :

Cor, you don't 'arf mix wiv some posh folks, ma'am!

And you cassis ?

[/quote]

I know my place in society.  I look down on a saveloy and I look up to a boudin noir.

[cassis]

[quote user="Monika"]I felt exactly like you Nectarine, and I thought there must be an easier way to say it, in German it is a simple reflexive verb "Ich freue mich", does that really not exist in French which seems a very "round the houses way" to say I look forward. But thank you anyway![/quote]

That's nothing.  Have you ever seen 'The Horse Whisperer' in French? [:D]

[mint]

[quote user="cassis"][quote user="jimmytaktak"]

cassis said :

Cor, you don't 'arf mix wiv some posh folks, ma'am!

And you cassis ?

[/quote]

I know my place in society.  I look down on a saveloy and I look up to a boudin noir.
[/quote]

I would have said, Cassis, that in that case you could be on a par with a Toulouse sausage but then you don't come from or live in Toulouse!

BTW lovely to see you on the forum again.  I was worried you'd gone AWOL or can no longer bear to speak to us or some such.

Shall I pass the mustard now?  And I do mean Colman's and none of this Dijon stuff![:D]