Basic French for sailors

Can't recommend getting a french girl friend. Years ago i was lucky enough to do just that. My command of french did not improve (she was at the language school in Cambridge) but my pronunciation of the little bit I did have got immeasurably better. Trouble was, when I tried to communicate in France, I sounded as if i was fluent and the resultant flow of high speed french lost me completely.
 
Carmel2 said:
Try that when asking for a pipe, do come back and tell us how it went blow by blow:encouragement:

Get a copy of the French version of Accastillage Diffusion catalogue, it has a few drawings that might help you with boat bits and bobs, as for general language have a look at Earworms, its French set to music.

Good luck and get stuck in!
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Inspector Cluso is the key!
 
Bloc Marine, the French Reeds Almanac, is incredibly useful for yacht French. It's the best way to get the actual current words in use for parts of the boat, tides, radio prowords, points of the wind etc etc ad infinitum. An out of date copy could be free or very cheap.
Essential I reckon, have a look you will see what I mean, cheers Jerry
 
I found that sleeping with French speaking girls takes you a long way into the knowledge of the language.I had six years of French at school and then got a Belgian ex athlete(no boobs) girlfriend and more recently a Dutch Moroccan one. Things like,ah oui,merde que c'est bon,continue,ah ah je vais jouir,ahhhhhhhh.You know,very useful stuff!
 
I have asked on here about pro-words for use over vhf in France but no one seemed to know. What is French for 'over' for example?
 
Thanks for all the responses, brought a few :)s

libertyman said:
I had similar issues and decided to take an adult education course which has worked wonders for me. Crucially it gave the confidence to fail in a friendly environment. You may not have the spare time to do this of course. Agree that Cherbourg can be a bit of a mixed bag but my experience has been that as you go further west they speak less English and are more inclined to help you out if you at least make some effort. Just don't let them think you are Parisienne!
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I did an adult education course. There was about 10 of us to start. In the first week practised saying Je m'appelle for 2 hours. The next week we practised it a bit more to make sure the pronunciation was spot on and then moved on to something else. By week 5 we were down to 2, I don't know if he turned up in week 6 but I learned sod all.

816swim said:
There is a book, (spiral bound) specifically about marine french for the english - don't have title as it is down on the boat.

I complemented this with Michel Thomas's basic course (I think 8 CDs).
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I see the book is mentioned below, its on the Christmas list. I have some CDs but didn't get on with them.
I'll give duolingo a go as some have suggested.

Seajet said:
I find the French are great people, and especially good sailors.


it's ' Passez Moi le truk* s'il vous plait '
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Never had a problem with the people (except one, but even the other French dismissed him as an ignorant Parissienne).

I've got my first sailing phrase in the book.


Burnham Bob said:
Can't recommend getting a french girl friend. Years ago i was lucky enough to do just that. My command of french did not improve (she was at the language school in Cambridge) but my pronunciation of the little bit I did have got immeasurably better. Trouble was, when I tried to communicate in France, I sounded as if i was fluent and the resultant flow of high speed french lost me completely.
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I like the plan, not sure if swmbo is on board with it though :encouragement:

jerrytug said:
Bloc Marine, the French Reeds Almanac, is incredibly useful for yacht French. It's the best way to get the actual current words in use for parts of the boat, tides, radio prowords, points of the wind etc etc ad infinitum. An out of date copy could be free or very cheap.
Essential I reckon, have a look you will see what I mean, cheers Jerry
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I shall look out for one, thanks.

colind3782 said:
Back in the day, all the phone boxes in the West End of London had little cards in them from ladies advertising "French Lessons". Quite useful I would have thought... :)
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I'm in London fairly regularly and will investigate but again not sure about swmbo
 
I would keep your French learning off the VHF for now. The guy on the other end is probably better at marine lingo in English than you are in French as he does it all day long. I'm fluent and tried speak to Calais Port in French - they just replied in English when they heard my accent and boat name. And that's fair enough when they have a busy commercial port to run in safety.

But when in port, throw yourself into speaking French with gusto and no embarrassment. You can have a good laugh when you get it wrong. Oh, and I heartily endorse the "get a French girlfriend" advice :)
 
The word of the moment last year when we did Normandy and a bit was "d'accord", which served a wide range of functions for everyone from shop-assistants to street urchins. You can't go wrong with it.
 
TSB240 said:
You failed your exams also!
In think you will find The french use "a vous" for Over and "Termine" for OUT........

A vous termine?
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That's what I meant sorry...
I think you can also say j'écoute but there will be somebody correcting me shortly ,I'm sure.
 
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I spent four years conjugating the verb "Etre" before sitting my French O-Level.

When the results came out I was summoned to the headmaster's office to be told I had achieved a distinction in my French O-Level.

"Really sir? Me?"

"Yes, young Smith." (pause for dramatic effect) "NO ONE from this school has ever failed it so abysmally!"

"Should I try a resit sir?"

"No!"
 
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