Post #1646114 · Elektrine

2026-04-21 14:24 UTC

Speaking French like a native is so hard. They basically smush every word together into one long sound. I think the French also may not just say “two croissants please, you need to stick a “je prendre” in front or something. I know people who speak fluent French who still can’t speak to the locals in certain places because they can’t understand you unless you get the accent just right.

Replies (4)

@Takapapatapaka@tarte.nuage-libre.fr 2026-04-21 15:52

Yeah, i'd instinctively say "je vais vous prendre" in front of the phrase. We have a lot of weird and technically useless or wrong phrase structures like that in everyday language, so speaking grammatically perfect french is basically sus from the start.

Open ##1646228
@Bad@jlai.lu 2026-04-21 16:11

Bonjour, je vous prendrais deux croissants s'il vous plait With about half the letters not pronounced, the "je vous" becoming "j'vou", and a pause with a smile between bonjour and the rest.

Open ##1646233
@socsa@piefed.social 2026-04-21 21:27

This is my struggle learning Mandarin as well. For individual words or short phrases, my pronunciation is pretty good, but for long sentences, my cadence is shit enough that people have trouble following unless I intentionally speak like an idiot. Like, my immediate Chinese speaking family understands, because they are acquainted with my accent, but random people on the street look at me like I'm an idiot.

Open ##1646234
@Bluescluestoothpaste@sh.itjust.works 2026-04-21 17:20

It's the same in any language, the people that were born learning it spoken will always have an instinct that those who didn't learn until school won't have. That said, if you live there for a decade you would pick it up to.

Open ##1646235