Think spoken French is hard? Try understanding English

To the Editor,

I am in complete disagreement with your reader, C.M., who lambastes rapidly spoken French as being uniquely – really? – among the six languages that they claim to speak “virtually impossible to understand”.

This is while asserting that English “is generally easier to follow in conversation”. 

Well, yes. When it is spoken slowly and with perfect grammar – but which of us normally achieves that?

Let’s eavesdrop on the fabulous Del Boy: werl, mite, ahdunno.

It ain’t alwuzz eezi’ah suss. Djer n’ah’-ah-mean, bro?

Or let’s go to Newcastle (rhyme it with ‘hassle’), use a glottal stop in the middle of ‘butter’, pronounce the middle vowel ‘oo’ as in book, and let ‘er’ become ‘ah’. Boo’ah.

Linguists consider Geordie to be one of the oldest and most authentic English dialects still in existence, yet this stuffy southerner strains to understand wass’at aal aboot?

What’s more, I often need subtitles to make sense of American films.

Those are just a sprinkling of countless potential examples of linguistic variety.

And so what do non-English-speakers make of our language as she is spoke?

Generally easier to follow? I think not.

I have French friends who accuse me of rattling away like a machine gun when in conversation with other Anglais.

However, it is just our normal way of speaking when not making courteous allowances for speakers of other languages.

Instead of issuing a blanket criticism of the French and their linguistic contractions, try actually speaking with a few of them and you will find that they slow down as soon as they hear your foreign accent and see your difficulty.

So give the French a break. They are entitled to converse entre eux in whatever way they want.  

T.M., by email

How long did it take you to understand day-to-day conversations? Share your experience at letters@connexionfrance.com