Cjb Posted November 2, 2004 Share Posted November 2, 2004 The French speak better English than the English speak French, but that's not to say that the French speak good English!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
letrangere Posted November 3, 2004 Share Posted November 3, 2004 The French speak better English than the English speak French, but that's not to say that the French speak good English!! Wow! that's a generalisation, Chris, prepare for incoming flack!!!M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonzjob Posted November 3, 2004 Author Share Posted November 3, 2004 "Wow! that's a generalisation, Chris, prepare for incoming flack!!!"That's OK Margaret, why should there be any flack afterall everyone knows that generalisations are ALLWAYS wrong!John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diana Posted November 3, 2004 Share Posted November 3, 2004 Our French electrician told us in French that in our part of France (Manche) young apprentices have to study a second language as part of their college training to be a mechanic, plumber etc. And guess what 2nd language they all chose, English. I have every respect for them and think it should be our responsibility to speak their language and not the other way round, but what a relief it is when I know they are willing to try.Diana Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GRT17 Posted November 3, 2004 Share Posted November 3, 2004 [quote]Our French electrician told us in French that in our part of France (Manche) young apprentices have to study a second language as part of their college training to be a mechanic, plumber etc. And gues...[/quote]Well the last time we called out France Telecom we were visited by two excellent engineers. Their FRENCH was not great and one translated for the other! They were in fact Portuguese and had been seconded to F.T. One had been in France for two years and the other one just a few months. They also arrived in a van with Portuguese registration.Gill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mistral Posted November 3, 2004 Share Posted November 3, 2004 Our French electrician told us in French that in our part of France (Manche) young apprentices have to study a second language as part of their college training to be a mechanic, plumber etc. And guess what 2nd language they all chose, English. In lycée professionel, there is just one foreign language (as opposed to 2 in most lycées generals) but it is part of the obligatory 'tronc commun'. Most LEP's only offer English, so there is no choice. Unfortunately the curriculum is more likely to get them to be able to discuss Tony Blair, the Titanic or life in the future (all subjetcs I've had to listen to as BEP examiner) than technical terms. The technical and professional bacs teach more specialised vocabulary (or at least, they used to) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonzjob Posted November 4, 2004 Author Share Posted November 4, 2004 It looks like the EU are trying to change the way we speak English anyway. I found this on one of the lesser known sites... Official European "English" New European EnglishThe European Union commissioners have announced that agreement has beenreached to adopt English as the preferred language for European communications, rather than German, which was the other possibility.As part of negotiations. Her Majesty Government conceded that Englishspelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a five-yearphased plan for what will be known as EuroEnglish (Euro for short).In the first year, "s" will be used instead of the soft "c". Sertainly,sivil servants will reseive this news with joy. Also, the hard "c" willbe replased with "k". Not only will this klear up konfusion, buttypewriters kan have one less letter.There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year, when thetroublesome "ph" will be replased by "f". This will make words like"fotograf" 20 per sent shorter.In the third year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expektedto reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible.Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters, which havealways been a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that thehorible mes of silent "e"s in the languag is disgraful, and they wouldgo.By the forth year, peopi wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th"by "z" and "w" by "v". During ze fifz year ze unesesary "o" kan be dropdfrom vords kontaining"ou" and similar changes vud of kors be aplid toozer kombinations of leters.After zis fifz year, ve vil hav a reli sensibi riten styl. Zer vil be nomor trobis or difikultis and evrivum vil find it ezi tu understand echozer.Ze drem vil finali kum tru.So ve must al praktis!John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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