Wow. We’ve just had a brief (30 minutes) meeting with the head and teachers at teh primary school regarding the progress of Molly and Joe. Boy it was tough! I like to think I can get by with the French language. My GCSE studies stood me in good stead to get me going when I arrived over here and I have gained in confidence and vocabulary over the 4 months we have been here. But I still struggle to maintain a conversation for longer than 10 minutes without drying up. I set off down a conversational path, certain that I know what I want to say, but then I hit a word that I don;t know and BAM – I’m stuck. Of course, the sensible thing for me to do would be to carry a dictionary around, but that would require me to be far too organised.
So I opened the meeting by asking them to speak slowly, which they did at first, but, as is normal, they got gradually faster and faster and Lisa and I started to lose the plot.
“Confidence” was the word we needed…we could not think of the translation. “C’est la contre de ‘timide’” we said. But even then they couldn’t think what it was. Of course, nowI’m home, my trusty friend BabelFish tells me it’s “confiance”, which I thought I had said, but there you go.
If only I had a babel fish in my ear, now THAT would be helpful.
NB. If you reached this page looking for the BabelFish translation site, you can find it at http://babelfish.yahoo.com. Feel free to stay here and look around first though… 
Not sure you’ll want to publish this as a comment but just for fun I ran your blog article through babelfish (English to France, then French back to English) which is enlightening!
http://babelfish.altavista.com
“Defect of the sound reproduction. We just held a short meeting (30 minutes) with the chief and the professors at the primary school of teh concerning the progress of the molly and the Joe Boy who it was hard! I like to think that I can pass with the French language. My GCSE studies held me in the good place to obtain to me going when I arrived here and I gained in confidence and the vocabulary during 4 months when we have summers here. But I always fight to maintain a conversation during longer than 10 minutes without drying upwards. I deposit in addition to conversational, unquestionable way which I know what I want to say, but then I struck a word that the don;t of I know and bam – I am wedged. Naturally, the sensitive thing so that I make would be to carry a dictionary around, but that would require ego remote to be too much organized. Thus I opened the meeting by asking them to speak slowly, that they at the beginning, but, as is normal, they became gradually faster and more quickly and LISA and me started to lose the piece of ground. “confidence” was the word which we had need… we could not think of the translation. “timid of It is counters it of ` ‘” that we said. But equalize-then them could not think what it was. Naturally, the nowI’ m at the house, my friend of BabelFish confidence indicates it to me is the “confidence”, which I thought that I had said, but there you go. So only I had a fish of Babel in my ear, now that are useful.”
LOL nice one Chris! I like the bit about “bam – I am wedged”!
It just shows how far away we are from the Douglas Adams vision of the universal translator in the ear!
Lol! I liked the ‘bam…I am wedged’ too! It reminds me of the two English guys on ‘Allo, Allo’. Do you think that is how we sound to French people when we try to talk….judging by their expressions, it sure feels like it!
Maybe I should write in Babel-French from now on for that extra ‘je ne sais quo’!
Sarah