I work with a guy, lets call him Mike.  Mike travels OFTEN, but always stays comfortably within the borders of the good old USA.  That is about to change!  Mike is going to be going to France.  This will be Mike’s first experience with “real” international travel (because going to Mexico doesn’t count).  Now, if I was going to pick a country to get through that first, very real, dose of culture shock, it would not be France.  I think I would pick Singapore.  France is not the most English (the language) friendly country on the planet.

Mike is cheating a bit, he is bringing (or is being brought by) an experienced world-traveler with him.  The truth be told, I think you could bring the whole company, it won’t make reading a French menu any easier.  So, one word of traveling advice for Mike:

Learn French as fast as you can!

Short of that, here are a few important words and phrases:

• Vous faire parle l’anglais (”Do you speak English?”)
• Vous faire sait une personne qui parle l’anglais (”Do you know a person that does speak English?”) 

OK, seriously:

• Oui (”yes”)
• Non (”no”)
• Bonjour (”Hello” in the morning)
• Bonsoir (”Hello” in the evening)

Author’s note:  No person on the planet knows when Bonjour turns into Bonsoir, but it does…

• Au Revoir (”Good bye”)
• Merci (”Thank you”)
• Note, s’il vous plaît (”may I have a receipt”, unless you don’t want to be re-imbursed)
• Pouvoir j’ai une bière (”May I have a beer”).  After a day or two, this one is going to become a must!

One more thing … Hair dryers that say they work on 220 VAC, do.  For about 3 minutes.  Then sparks shoot out the end…

Enjoy, Mike!  Take lots of notes and tell us the story when you get back (on muteDonkey.com).

P.S.  When you get real hungry, French bread and yogurt is the best in the world.

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