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Are you descended from any nobility?
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No. like 99% of the population, I come from a long line of french peasants. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
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How do you feel about French men depicted as flaming homosexuals in America?
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They are? Please give me examples of this. First time I've heard of such a cliché (I know the french = coward, french = dirty, french = arrogant ones and so forth.).
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It looks like I'll be taking an unexpected trip to France between Christmas and New Years. I spent about two weeks in France many moons ago. I didn't and don't speak much French. I was accompanied by someone who spoke French but at times not knowing French that well was a problem. Not sure what it's like today. I'll be flying into Paris and I'll do some sight seeing. Then to visit someone in the French countryside. Any tips, info about picking up enough French to get by greatly appreciated. Any other info greatly appreciated for a USA resident that hasn't been there in a very, very long time.
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Like in most other countries, if you show up speaking a little of the local language, it is always extremely appreciated.
Try some onlines courses like
http://www.easyfrench.net/ . Ideally, find yourself a real tutor for real life discussions though. French grammar is a bitch so if you have no intentions of really learning the language you'd want to stick to the basics.
Also feel free to join in the discussions on clubpoker.net (the french poker forum), or in the 2+2 francophone forums, it could help.