My first trip to Paris

On my first trip to Paris when I was about 18, I was dying to try out my (very elementary – as I soon found out!) French so decided to go the bakery and buy myself a croissant.

Before I went in, I worked out the sentence formation in my head, practiced for a while getting the pronunciation just right, saying the words out loud.

I took a deep breath, went in and in my best french accent asked ‘Je voudrais une croissant s’il-vous-plaît?’

Well, it must have gone over well because much to my alarm, the baker started to speak back to me in French. I was, of course, lost!

But… after some more time and practice, I can now answer people when they speak to me. And if I don’t understand, I’ve learnt the most handy phrase I know when trying to pick up another language – ‘Parler plus lentement s’il-vous-plaît’ (speak a little slower please)!