Adventure Gamers - Forums

If it works the same way it does over here, it could be a problem with the distributor box just outside the building. My best bet would be to call the provider and explain the situation…

SoccerDude28 - 17 August 2014 05:12 PM

I’m brushing up on my french for my trip to Paris next month. I’m wondering, is there an easy way to figure out what is male and what is female in the French/Spanish languages? It is so confusing to call a restaurant (le restaurant) but to call a train station (la gare). Just melting my brain

There is no easy way as there’s no clear rule of thumb. For non-native French speakers it’s done by study, for native French speakers it’s intuitive (similar to the Dutch use of the article ‘de’ for male and female words, yet the article ‘het’ for neuter words - drives non-natives bonkers).

The good part, however, is that the French don’t actually mind that much if you get it wrong and they’ll know well enough what you mean. They won’t mock you (which is what would happen if you get an article wrong in Dutch while in Flanders (*)), and they might even helpfully correct you.

(*) in the Netherlands as well, tsa?

TimovieMan - 18 August 2014 06:33 AM

SoccerDude28 - 17 August 2014 05:12 PM

I’m brushing up on my french for my trip to Paris next month. I’m wondering, is there an easy way to figure out what is male and what is female in the French/Spanish languages? It is so confusing to call a restaurant (le restaurant) but to call a train station (la gare). Just melting my brain

There are several rules of thumbs, in large part depending on the origin of the word. Which is also true for other European languages like German and Dutch, even if native speakers are no longer aware of it. A German word like “Programm” is neuter because it was neuter in Greek.

Anyway, not all French nouns have rules of thumbs unfortunately. For instance, words ending in -eau are masculine. Le chateau, le bureau, le bateau, le gâteau. Exception: l’eau is feminine.

Here’s a list. http://www.french-linguistics.co.uk/grammar/le_or_la_in_french.shtml
I’m sure you can find many other helpful sources. Just be grateful that you’re not going to Germany.

The good part, however, is that the French don’t actually mind that much if you get it wrong and they’ll know well enough what you mean. They won’t mock you (which is what would happen if you get an article wrong in Dutch while in Flanders (*)), and they might even helpfully correct you.

My own experience is that the haughty French do their utmost not to understand foreigners who try to speak their language.

tsa - 18 August 2014 06:59 AM

Please use my forum name tsa on the forums Timovieman.

Fixed.

But of course the Netherlands isn’t bilingual like Belgium and we don’t have problems with fellow Dutchmen speaking the ‘wrong’ language (except maybe if you speak Friesian). So people here won’t mock you as easily as they will do in Belgium.

Except that we’ll usually mock bad French, bad German and bad English as well even in pot-kettle-black situations. I think it’s got more to do with being a nation that was always conquered, and never did it’s own conquering (not counting the colonies). Sort of a historically acquired trait of “mocking the oppressors”...

Karlok - 18 August 2014 10:25 AM

My own experience is that the haughty French do their utmost not to understand foreigners who try to speak their language.

In my experience, that’s only when they think you’re German, and only in certain parts (that were particularly brutalized during the Second World War).
Plus that’s only with older people. Younger people are also generally more fluent in English, so you have that as backup.

TimovieMan - 18 August 2014 12:12 PM

In my experience, that’s only when they think you’re German, and only in certain parts (that were particularly brutalized during the Second World War). Plus that’s only with older people. Younger people are also generally more fluent in English, so you have that as backup.

Well, that may still happen too in some places, although I haven’t experienced it myself. What I meant was that the national attitude of the French also determines the way they behave towards foreigners. Each country has its own unique national “mindset”.

Karlok - 19 August 2014 06:13 AM

Well, that may still happen too in some places, although I haven’t experienced it myself.

It does happen, I’ve experienced that. I have an aunt who lives in the south (well, south-ish, at least) of France and while visiting there, some Dutch tourists were trying to ask for directions. The townspeople outright refused to understand what they were asking until I stepped in to translate. Then they asked me if I knew German as well, so I said “no, it’s Dutch, they’re from the Netherlands”. They immediately started giving the correct directions (without me translating what the Dutch tourists had asked so they DID understand it before).
Turns out that an entire town nearby was massacred (over 150 dead) during the Second World War. If you’re German, you won’t get a friendly reception in that area…

What I meant was that the national attitude of the French also determines the way they behave towards foreigners. Each country has its own unique national “mindset”.

In my experience (and I grew up within 100 yards of the French border - and it’s still only about 10 miles now), they’re surprisingly lenient if you try to speak French (even though it’s not a language you’re fluent in).
But yes, chances are they’ll be less helpful if you don’t try in French and immediately start in English. I had an uncle who was French, and he was the same way: he understood Dutch Flemish perfectly but he never spoke it. But he’d like you a lot more if you spoke French to him instead of Flemish (and he really wasn’t subtle about it).

subbi - 20 August 2014 03:33 AM

Don’t forget the fact that the French are notorious for their inability to speak a second language next to French and especially if it’s in English.

Very true. How many posters here are French? Virtually none.