The great Hawaiian Scout Trip 2012 is all over except for the laundry, pics.... and, of course, gifts! The group returned this morning looking tanned, happy and tired. Gib has about 300 pictures to be downloaded. Look for them soon. It's so good to have the dude back home! We laughed all the way back from the airport.
French for Dummies: Question Du Jour
My source for these extremely pertinent, chic, and completely up to date French expressions is, once again, right ON when it comes to need-to-know.....
English: Pronounciation: French:
Do you have a... Ah vay voo Avez-vous
a map? Ewn kart Une carte
a lighter? Uhn bek Une bec
the time? Lehr L'heure
Where is the... Ooh-ay leh Ou est le
Bistro? beez-troh Bistro
Cafe? kah-fay Cafe
Restaurant? res-tah-rahn Restaurant
Yep, that's what every traveller MUST be able to communicate and on the top 10 of the tricky, never would have thunk it. Not "Do you have... Google Translate?" or "Where is the....bathroom?" Imagine the horror when a native-speaker asks you for L'heure and you reply "Oui, Matt Lauer on the Today show!" or the odd sense of deja vu when the word "res-tah-rahn" is mentioned.
Wait a minute.... I just figured it out! A bistro, cafe or restaurant might have bathrooms there, and THAT'S why we were given every opportunity to discreetly find one's own way, oh so nonchalantly to leh twah let --- also known as lez toilettes
The best tip by far is to shout ENCORE! whenever you see someone leave the commode. You know what's really amazing is how many french words are already in our repertoire.
encore, a simple adverb in French, in English, refers to an additional performance, usually requested with audience applause.
1 comment:
On my mission, I learned that the funnest phrases were "Oh, really?" and "Be Careful". Both were useful in a practical and humorous sense
Post a Comment