Working in an airport, I have French customers everyday. Most of them, if not all, speak English. They also continue to speak English after they realize I speak French.
Would you say they have typically a strong or an acceptable accent? +compared to other nations?
I'm wondering that because I was in a debate the other day with my friend, we are the best students in our english class but we still have an awful, ear-tearing accent. The other students however, most of the time make basic mistakes like forget to conjugate their verbs or do so like they're rolling a D20, after 10 years of learning English. So we looked into it and from what we've gathered we basically sound horrible because our learning system is focused on reading and learning vocabulary and contructing argumentations instead of hearing, talking and study everyday language. We were wondering to what extent that was true. As a non-French your opinion would be quite interesting!
I'm half French actually, so I'm afraid I'm used to the accent and a bit biased. Having lived in Thailand, Austria and Cambodia, though, I can assure you, there are worse accents and school systems. I agree that the older generation might have difficulty with other languages, as their school system and exposure to English speaking cultures was more limited. The younger generation, though, are definitely more advanced, given globalization and a greater oral understanding of the language :)
I can tell you that listening to Thai speak English is a lot tougher than French. They miss a lot of words like "a" and others that are in between the important words. Frevh speaking english you get sued to it after a while. Just their H thats hard to pick up in sometimes
I'm wondering that because I was in a debate the other day with my friend, we are the best students in our english class but we still have an awful, ear-tearing accent. The other students however, most of the time make basic mistakes like forget to conjugate their verbs or do so like they're rolling a D20, after 10 years of learning English. So we looked into it and from what we've gathered we basically sound horrible because our learning system is focused on reading and learning vocabulary and contructing argumentations instead of hearing, talking and study everyday language. We were wondering to what extent that was true. As a non-French your opinion would be quite interesting!