LYON I
During my stay in Lyon I am communicating in different languages depending on who I am talking to. Most of the time I am talking English with all the other international students. Furthermore, I speak in Spanish with the students coming from South America and Spain. From time to time I speak a little bit German with the students coming from Austria and Germany.
In high school I learnt French for six years. Therefore, I am able to communicate in French in my daily life with locals. Nevertheless, I do not understand everything when a local speaks with me and I have to ask them to repeat the sentence again. At university I am enrolled in French class for the whole semester and additionally I am enrolled in French conversation class which took place seven times. With my two French buddies I also speak in French and this helps to better integrate a little bit in the French society. The association Lyon International enables international students to have lunch with a French family. I signed in and in November, I will have lunch with another international student in the apartment of an elderly French woman and an elderly French man. I am looking forward to it.
From other foreigners I heard that they perceive French people sometimes as rude. I do not agree with that statement. I have not met a French impolite person. When I talk with a French person I do not try to speak in English with them but in French. I have already spoken French in many different situations. When I picked up the keys for my residential home at the reception desk (called “accueil” in French) I spoke French with the receptionist. For instance, when I opened my French bank account I also spoke French at the counter as well as on the phone. When I bought a French phone card for my smartphone I spoke in French to the vendor. Besides, I communicated in French at the TCL Shop which stands for “Transports en commun lyonnais” and which sells tickets and subscriptions for the public transport. In one shop I was speaking French with an employee and then he asked me if I was from Quebec in Canada because of my French accent. I could not believe that he said that because before that moment nobody had ever assumed that I come from the French speaking area in Canada. In another shop, I helped to translate from French to English so that two of my international friends could communicate with a French saleswoman. The French saleswoman told us that her English is not that good, but she still tried to communicate in English as well as French with us. In my opinion, she was really kind, she even gave us three little gifts and moments like these are also one of the moments that I will remember from the semester abroad since these experiences made me really cheerful.
My strategy to overcome communicative differences is that I translate a word I do not know for instance “potato peeler” into French which would be “éplucheur”. After translating the word in French, I ask the vendor in the supermarket Carrefour where I can find the potato peeler. Even though I could search the potato peeler myself I prefer asking the vendor where I can find it in order to improve my French and get in touch with locals. Also, customers helped me without hesitation in the supermarket, for example, when I wanted to weigh my vegetables. I first needed to find the word of the vegetable in French in order to get the price.
In order to communicate with people from all over the world it is indispensable to speak different languages. In my opinion if you speak or at least try to speak the mother tongue from the person you are talking to, you show that you care. According to my experience, your effort of trying to speak a foreign language will be appreciated and acknowledged. Furthermore, if you speak the language of the country you are living in, it will allow you to better integrate into the society and understand the others better.
ANTONIA HENGSTMANN Lyon, 31st of October 2021