Why do you think French people speak English so badly?

Question

I am French and would like to know your opinion about it! Thank you in advance!

Answer 1

I don't think that all native French speakers speak English poorly. It all depends on how much they have studied and how much exposure and practice they have had.

It's the same with any language. Practice, practice, practice makes nearly perfect :)

For me, it is more important that people try to learn other languages, and make an effort to communicate over language barriers, than anything else. To me, the effort to communicate is a lot more important than grammatical errors, or spelling, or an accent.

However, if you are actually asking about some of the barriers that make it difficult for French people to learn English, here are some of the problem areas, not just for the French, but for all people who attempt to learn English:

--Verbs are very difficult to master. Unlike Romance languages, where the majority of verbs are regular, and only some are irregular, English verbs are very irregular in their forms, and many of them are very difficult to learn. Also, verb tenses are confusing.

--Spellings and pronunciations frequently make no sense at all. The same sequence of letters can have variable sounds, depending on the word in which it is found.

--The vocabulary is immense, and is the largest vocabulary for any language, living or dead, with new terms being coined daily.

--There are two main types of English, the British variety and the American, with many smaller branches coming off of those. Grammar, spelling and usage can vary significantly between the two types of English and their smaller sub-branches.

--English does not have cases or genders. While that may seem to simplify things for people learning English, I believe it actually is confusing, especially when dealing with written English. Endings of words in other languages often give helpful clues about their meaning, or their function in a sentence.

--English does not take its roots from one type of language. It incorporates Germanic languages, as well Anglo-Saxon, and has many words borrowed from other families, such as the Romance family of languages.

Those are just some of the things I have noticed. I have studied Latin and French intensively, and while I am no longer fluent, I was fluent in Spanish as a child. Having to learn about the structure of foreign languages made me realize how difficult it must be for someone to learn my own native language and achieve any kind of fluency.

And I can only imagine that you are asking a hypothetical question, as your snippet of English, in the form of your question, is great :)

Answer 2

As an English speaker learning to speak French, I find the two languages to be VERY different in terms of grammar, verb agreement, and prounciation. Take past tense forms - in English there is a big difference between saying "I ate" and "I have eaten." In French, they are both the same: "J'ai mange" (pardon the spelling). English and French come from two different mindsets. I'll bet we Americans tend to speak French pretty badly, too, and for the same reasons.

Answer 3

I like French accents, and the French people I have met usually speak English a lot better than we speak French.

Answer 4

Most English speaking people don't speak fluent French either. I think it's just because it's not their native language. I've been trying to learn French through a program on CD's. I'm getting nowhere. The masculine and feminine words keep me in total confusion. It must be just as hard to figure out how to translate from French to English as from English to French. Also, you can't just learn the words. You have to learn how to think in another language too, or you spend too much time translating in your head before you can reply to anything.

Answer 5

Most people who speak romance languages as their mother tongue (portugese, spanish, french, italian) will speak english poorly because the language structure is totally different. But they'll manage better in the other romance languages. I bet you can get around in say Spain even if you don't speak spanish that in say Hungary if you have no idea of Hungarian! Am I right?

You see, there's a thing like THINKING IN french, english or whatever language. That's the key. When you actually THINK in a language then you really speak it (or write it or understand it).

Answer 6

For the same reason a lot of Americans speak French so poorly. You are born and raised hearing certain sounds and intonations. Americans use certain sounds that the French do not, such as the H sound or the TH. The French say their R's in the back of their throats, which is hard for a lot of Americans.

Answer 7

I'm a French speaker, and I have to disagree about the overgeneralization. Some poeple speak English badly, others don't.

To answer your question, it is basically a very simple physiological reason when a person cannot speak a language well. As babies we have all the possibilities to learn a language. Our speech muscles are brand new and can do anything. As we grow up, and learn our first language, these muscles learn to pronounce certain sounds. As there are sounds that do not exist in certain language, and we never pronounce them, the muscles who would be used for these sounds are never used. They would basically need practice. As adults, though, it is very difficult for some people to get these muscles producing these specific sounds.

Some people seem to have greater ability to reproduce sounds, even if they are not in their first language. And, again, practice is the key to success.

Answer 8

I am acquainted with a few French people who speak English very well. It's impossible to make generalizations about an entire group like that.

Answer 9

Most English speakers will speak foreign languages poorly as well. French speakers probably speak other non-English languages with an accent too. Very few non-native speakers can speak a foreign language without any detectable accent. French-accented English is very sexy.

Answer 10

The same reason Americans speak French so badly. Just not their native language..