Cherbourg: embarrassing question

greggron

greggron

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Ok, I have the boat, the documents, the liferaft, the desire but the thing that is stopping me setting off from Gosport for Cherbourg is my p!ss poor French. Is a good command of the French language necessary to arrive and get a visitor's berth etc in Cherbourg over the radio?

I can't be the only person with this fear. What do others do?

As always help/ reassurance greatly appreciated
 
greggron said:
Ok, I have the boat, the documents, the liferaft, the desire but the thing that is stopping me setting off from Gosport for Cherbourg is my p!ss poor French. Is a good command of the French language necessary to arrive and get a visitor's berth etc in Cherbourg over the radio?

I can't be the only person with this fear. What do others do?

As always help/ reassurance greatly appreciated
Click to expand...

The English ,when faced with a foreigner, just talk a lot louder.
 
Practice shrugging (most effective over VHF) & learn the following;

"Pardon, je ne comprends pas" :o

"Parley-vous Anglais, s'il vous plait?" :D

And if all else fails, revert to shouting Anglo-Saxon phrases, it seems that they are now well known all over the World.:rolleyes:
 
Google Translate (free, of course, on a smartphone) may not be a huge amount of help for comprehension, but it is amazing how much confidence it gives you to say stuff...
 
25931 said:
The English ,when faced with a foreigner, just talk a lot louder.
Click to expand...

It's not just the English. All the marineros here (Crete) already speak (or have learned to speak) good English. A year or three ago a French yacht came in with the crew shouting instructions to the marinero in French. The marinero said very slowly "I'm sorry I don't speak French. Can you please speak English?". The French people on the yacht repeated what they had just said. In French. And much louder. :)
 
You don't need to use the radio when arriving at Cherbourg - just turn up and choose a berth on the Visitors pontoons.

The staff know enough english to take your money off you in the office :)
 
25931 said:
The English ,when faced with a foreigner, just talk a lot louder.
Click to expand...

:). so true - witnessed many times :)

The weird thing is courtsey doesn't cost anything. The following, said at the begining of each conversation opens doors....... followed by your best english at normal decibel levels!

"je suis désolé monsieur/madame , je parle mais un petit peu français"
 
greggron said:
Ok, I have the boat, the documents, the liferaft, the desire but the thing that is stopping me setting off from Gosport for Cherbourg is my p!ss poor French. Is a good command of the French language necessary to arrive and get a visitor's berth etc in Cherbourg over the radio?

I can't be the only person with this fear. What do others do?

As always help/ reassurance greatly appreciated
Click to expand...

Unlike Uk, when you enter most marinas in northern France the first sign is a big arrow pointing you to the visitors berth. You just help yourself and find the office later. You dont call ahead..
Otherwise you can always call Port*** and then just say...er, do you speak English !
 
At age 9, some 40 years ago, my daughter was being taught french at her primary school. I managed to browse through her vocabulary book.

"I do not speak french very well." >>> "Je parle Francais comme une vache espagnole"

Just like me!
 
Thanks so much for the reassurance her. Good to know that I don't need much French and I can just go straight to a visitor's berth without having to converse by radio beforehand (which I also did not know). That's not in the Almanac.

Excellent stuff.
 
greggron said:
Ok, I have the boat, the documents, the liferaft, the desire but the thing that is stopping me setting off from Gosport for Cherbourg is my p!ss poor French. Is a good command of the French language necessary to arrive and get a visitor's berth etc in Cherbourg over the radio?

I can't be the only person with this fear. What do others do?

As always help/ reassurance greatly appreciated
Click to expand...

Every time I want to try my linguistic skills the natives want to practice their English and I might add their English is normally so good I feel somewhat uncomfortable. I sometimes think we are an island race in more ways than we think.
 
bedouin said:
You don't need to use the radio when arriving at Cherbourg - just turn up and choose a berth on the Visitors pontoons.

The staff know enough english to take your money off you in the office :)
Click to expand...

When I last Cherbourg visitors were spared the 'hassle' of visiting the office in order to pay by a member of staff who was 'patrolling' the visitors pontoons in a RIB carring a mobile chip and pin machine ;)
 
Can't help you with the froggie language but being an ex pat in Sweden if anyone wants help with Swedish I'll be glad to oblige:)
 
The biggest problem is finding the visitor's pontoons once in Cherbourg! Fortunately for me my ancient chartplotter is still current :0)

Once there, Port Chanterelle is however a very pleasant marina, in a nice part of town and with most of what you need right there.

Watch the tide as you approach, don't be set down tide as it runs fast.

Don't go into the military section of the port...

http://www.premar-manche.gouv.fr/services/actualites/avis_navigateur/index.php
(Click on the map)

http://www.portchantereyne.fr/acces-environs/acceder-au-port/

edit: Check out http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=322149
 
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