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From: georgeh@www.comet.chv.va.us (George F. Hardy)
Subject: Re: Concerning the number of esperantists
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Date: Mon, 12 Aug 1996 14:47:56 GMT
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In article <4ulrdh$802@nntp1.best.com>, don@donh.vip.best.com (Don HARLOW) says:

>>I remember using the tourist information centre at the Gare de Lyon in
>>Paris about 5 years ago, and the man there made no effort whatsoever to
>>understand my rusty French.
>
>While my own experience with French is a couple of decades out of
>date, I have always had the impression from it that the French (for
>whatever reason) invariably get a bad rap when it comes to language.
>Of the three weeks I spent in France on two different auto trips
>through the country, I _never_ met a Frenchman (or -woman) who failed
>to struggle hard to be helpful, friendly, and to understand my one
>year of high-school French. (This despite the fact that I couldn't
>understand anything _they_ said, having no ear for the language; my
>wife, who couldn't speak the language, _did_ have such an ear, so we
>always ended up having three-way conversations.)
>
>I never did visit Paris, however -- in fact, I studiously avoided the
>place -- so perhaps the generalization about the French people and the
>French language is true within this geographically restricted part of
>France.

You did not have to write this last paragraph.  On my last trip
to France I tried my 'French' -- high school, 40 years ago, no
further use.  I did OK outside of Paris, in the south, Jarnac and
Bordeau.  I thought I was really doing well.  But in Paris they
acted like I was speaking some totally unknown language.

While that may be just Paris, Paris does tend to represent France.

As to English, I often have to take a few minutes to accustom my
ear to odd pronunciations.  But these odd pronunciations can be
found in England, among native English speakers.  Thus it is
probably reasonable to say that odd pronunciation is part of 
English.  And yes, I have often found written communications
impossible to understand when I could communicate with the person
himself in English.  Trying to be formal and polite in written
correspondence, using a dictionary to find a word, etc., all 
results in very odd English.  Consider Merriam Webster's
first definiton of "hide" -- 120 acres (50 hectars) of land.

GFH

