Common French Words for Travelors?

Question

I'm going to France on vacation. Does anyone know of any good websites where I can find "common French words for travelors." I've looked and have been unsuccessful. I'm leaving in a week so taking a class is out of the picture at the moment.

Answer 1

Manners are very important in French. Remember to say Bonjour (hello) madame, or bonjour monsieur, rather than just bonjour (which is curt). Merci for thank you (merci beaucoup for thank you very much). Je voudrais is also very good for saying 'I would like..' S'il vous plait is please and l'addition is the bill/check in a restaurant. I would also recommend getting a little phrase book. The site at http://french.about.com is very good, look for 'basics' on the left hand side.

Au revoir!

Answer 2

Have a look on http://au.franceguide.com/ : they have a brochure to download for free with all the words to know

Answer 3

Bonjour,

http://www.amazon.fr/s/ref=nb_ss_eb/402-...

on amazon.fr or amazon.com

you should be able to find short books to learn useful french

Cheers, Val.

Answer 4

if you want to ask someone if they speak english say "Parle vous anglais?" if they say Oui or yes than you can ask them more questions in engilsh instead of trying to ask in french with a pocket dictionary or translator. translators are usualy wrong any way. like to get up. when translated it turns into buy on top of.

Answer 5

French for travelers vocabulary:

http://french.about.com/library/begin/bl...

Answer 6

I don't, but I can recommend getting a Lonely Planet phrasebook which you can at least take with you.  It has basic phrases (with a pronunciation guide) that will cover pretty much everything you're likely to need. You should be able to get a copy in any good book shop or on Amazon.

In the bigger cities, many of the French do speak English quite well -  but don't like doing so as they think "why should we make the effort if they can't be bothered to try to speak our language?"  If you make some effort to speak French, they will be very friendly and helpful back.

Key words worth learning off by heart:

Yes - si

No - non

Please - s'il vous plait  (si voo play)

Thank you - merci

How much? - combien?  (kom bee an)

Have fun!

Answer 7

You could try that one:

Je suis desolee, mais je ne parle pas francais. Parlez vous anglais?

j sui desolay, me j n parl pa fransay. Parlay voo anglay?

which translates to

I'm sorry but I don't speak french. Do you speak english?

In you case, it will certainly the best option. Just image being able to ask questions and not understanding the answers....

Answer 8

Write to me, i'll translate everything you think you should know cause I don't know what kind of vocabulary you want :)

Answer 9

the person who answered just before me is wrong.  The word for 'yes' is 'oui'.   'Si' is only used to answer 'yes' to a question which anticipates a negative answer.

Example:

'Êtes-vous français?' ('Are you French?')

'Oui' ('Yes')

Or ...

'Vous n'êtes pas français?' ('You're not French?')

'Si!' ('Yes [I am] !')

Answer 10

a phrase book/ pocket dictionary is the way to go.  it'll have key phrases to get you through, and words incase the phrases aren't enough.