Martinique - Do you Speak English ?

[kvidal]

I put a post on here a few months ago and got some great advice. And now I'd like to post another inquiry for you Cruisers, in hopes that you can alleviate my fears of Martinique.

I am picking up a charter bare boat in Martinique and was considering spending at least a week of the month there with my wife. I have been told by several people that if you don't speak french don't bother. Mind you that I was also told of the rude french before a trip I made to France back in 98. But I never met anyone that treated us poorly.

We don't speak french and I don't want to spend the entire month in St Lucia. I am open to any suggestions. Anybody have any advice they'd like to share. We would truly appreciate it!

I really would like to sail up to St Pierre and hike up Mt. Pelee, and then down the coast and eventually go to St. Lucia for the tail end of the trip.

Thanks in advance.

Sharktattoo

[atoll]

most french speak english these days,if they don't they are just screwing with ya!
or they never went to highschool..............

[saxoldies]

Originally Posted by atoll

most french speak english these days,if they don't they are just screwing with ya!
or they never went to highschool..............

Stop being chauvinist ! What do you say to people visiting the US who don't speak english ? Go home ? The beauty of travelling in foreign countries is all about discovering new cultures and different languages.

[atoll]

Originally Posted by saxoldies

Stop being chauvinist ! What do you say to people visiting the US who don't speak english ? Go home ? The beauty of travelling in foreign countries is all about discovering new cultures and different languages.

connar! on parle frances moie bien,jus' suis anglais n pas americaine!

chuvaniste! ton que,toutes les francais je conais in martanique parle anglais tres bien,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,sakit fete la,parle oci patois la!!!!!!!!!!!!

[bobconnie]

Altho it's amazing how fast they understand when moneys involved !! LOL Bob and Connie

[rgscpat]

Well, I can kind of see that if you're in Paris in August that the remaining tourist industry workers who didn't get a nice vacation might be grumpy, but the further one goes from Paris, the more tolerant people seem to be.

My wife and I were changing planes at Charles de Gaulle several years ago when a couple of young big-ego big-mouth American business masters of the universe boarded the shuttle bus. The shuttle was on a modified route because of a damaged / out of service terminal, but the American jerks refused to understand that and instead hassled and bullied the poor Moroccan driver into changing his route just to get the two pseudo-execs to their terminal -- and delaying us and other passengers. That was very embarrassing to me. I don't speak French (my wife does), but if those guys had asked me if I were an American or spoke English I might have said:
"Pardon. Je ne parle "Jerk".

[zeta]

Please and thank you in the native language has always opened up the language barrier and I've never had a problem. If you have a tablet there are some very nice programs for communicating. I have on one my iPad (Converse) that has keyboards on opposite sides of tablet, you type in your language and it is read by observer in their language and they can respond back. It works.

[saxoldies]

Did not want to offend you Atoll, just saw too many peolple travelling and acting like if they were at home instead of enjoying the oportunity they had to discover something new.

[atoll]

Originally Posted by saxoldies

Did not want to offend you Atoll, just saw too many peolple travelling and acting like if they were at home instead of enjoying the oportunity they had to discover something new.

pas de offense,non intendee,jus suis parle six langue! pas bien!

all ways found that a few words of a foreign language when you first arrive somewhere will go a long way to smoothing your passage.

failing that sign language , patcience,and a smile will get you every thing...

[bobconnie]

what french language I learned in school(so long ago it's scarey) has been ruined by these French Cajun friends I have down here in Louisiana !! a couple we are close to went to france last yr, you should hear them about the strange looks they got with thier French speaking over there!! LOL I think mostly it was thier accent !! they talk funny you know !! Bob and Connie

[avb3]

Originally Posted by atoll

pas de offense,non intendee,jus suis parle six langue! pas bien!

all ways found that a few words of a foreign language when you first arrive somewhere will go a long way to smoothing your passage.

failing that sign language , patcience,and a smile will get you every thing...

I thought Afrikaans was just a dialect?

[avb3]

Originally Posted by bobconnie

what french language I learned in school(so long ago it's scarey) has been ruined by these French Cajun friends I have down here in Louisiana !! a couple we are close to went to france last yr, you should hear them about the strange looks they got with thier French speaking over there!! LOL I think mostly it was thier accent !! they talk funny you know !! Bob and Connie

One of the funniest things I saw was a couple from France trying to communicate with a couple from Quebec in French. They both gave up and did a better job making sense out of each other in bastardized English.

[Boracay]

On my first trip to France I wowed the locals with my schoolboy French. After only a few words they suddenly discovered passable English. No worries.

More recent trips had the French all speaking good English. Must have been my Aussie accent.

I would bring a phrase book just in case. I'm sure a few halting words will bring out perfect English.

[scove]

Martinique was one of our favorite stops last year. We spent 3 weeks there and 5 in St. Lucia. I would do the opposite next time. The food is better, the culture was more interesting/different (that's what we wanted), the roads were more drivable (and we took lots of wrong turns on purpose) and we didn't really run into many language issues. While my wife and kids speak some French I certainly don't and yet I managed to get along just fine. If you try just a little bit everyone is very helpful. You just have to go into it with an open mind, be humble and remember that you're there for the adventure/experience.

Cheers,
SC

[sailorboy1]

every one speaks cash and a smile