Girlfriends family speaks French...I don't know French.

    • Girlfriends family speaks French...I don't know French.

      So I've been dating this French girl for a while now, and tomorrow night I'm going over at her house for dinner. I'm meeting her family for the first time,and they all just moved here from France less than a year ago, so of course they all speak French at home. She says they know a lot of English, but are not completely fluent. I barely speak ANY French. I just learned how to introduce myself to try and impress my girlfriend. I don't want to go in and force them to speak English for me, I think that's rude..and having my girlfriend translate for me is a little weird, and I don't think that's fair to her. Help...what do I do?
    • Re: Girlfriends family speaks French...I don't know French.

      MilesFish wrote:

      So I've been dating this French girl for a while now, and tomorrow night I'm going over at her house for dinner. I'm meeting her family for the first time,and they all just moved here from France less than a year ago, so of course they all speak French at home. She says they know a lot of English, but are not completely fluent. I barely speak ANY French. I just learned how to introduce myself to try and impress my girlfriend. I don't want to go in and force them to speak English for me, I think that's rude..and having my girlfriend translate for me is a little weird, and I don't think that's fair to her. Help...what do I do?


      YOUTUBE IS YOUR FRIEND. AT LEAST MAKE AN EFFORT.


      [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caDsOVsIbwo]Basic French Lesson 1: Learn basic French - YouTube[/ame]
    • Re: Girlfriends family speaks French...I don't know French.

      Hipster wrote:

      Don't worry yourself like that. Leave a nice impression, learn a bit of french to introduce yourself. They don't expect you to speak french, so lighten up a bit. :)


      I agree with this, but like others above mentioned, introduce yourself to the language a little better. At least take down the basics such as "Thank you, hello, how are you?" blah blah. French is my first language. :) English is truly hard to master. Do the best you can to show them you are interested!
    • Re: Girlfriends family speaks French...I don't know French.

      Learn the polite bits, please, thank you, hello, how are you (s'il vous plait, merci, bonjour, ca va) and don't worry about it. You can try to get a little bit of your french in to sound polite, and between your girlfriend translating and their english, you should be fine. So, don't worry about it.