you speaking french?

If you're an english speaking person, and you like to travel, the whole world is heaven, but France is definitely hell.

You're in a foreign land, you want to ask someone where the bus station is. "Excuse me could you tell me where the bus station is?"

In Malaysia you'll probably hear this
"The bas stesen? You go stret, at the trefik light you tern rait"

In India the lady you asked might not answer straight away, instead she'll yell "Nandini! Nandini!" calling another girl who's just behind her. She'll strike a conversation with the other lady in their own indian dialect, but you're quite sure they're discussing about a bus station as the word keeps on being repeated in english throughout their conversation. At last, one of the will answer as the following:
"To get to the bus staysion, you walk straight, and you turn ride at the traffic lighde"

In Japan, already, when you're asking your question, the young lady would nod her head, if not bow, after each two words you speak, and she'll answer
"Hai, you waruku suturetto, atto do turaffikku raitto, you turuno rraittu" and she'll bow to you again when you reply thank you. Be sure to bow back to her also, but if she bows again after that, do not bow back, as this cycle might last 5 minutes.

Now in France, the first guy you ask to, will no longer takes interest in your question as soon as he heard you speaking English. The next person will say "Basse Station? (low station), Desolé je ne parle pas anglais" and walks away. The 14th person you ask to ( which by this time you might as well give up and have a go with your map reading skills), if you're lucky enough, actually understands your question. And his answer will depend on his english level. The following answer would be from a person with a very impressive level.
" To go to ze buzz stassion, you continue tout droit, and at ze tghaffique light, you tughn a droite"

Note that the most important information, the direction, is left untranslated, for two reasons. He doesn't know the word in english, or he doesn't even bother to translate it since he thought you might've guessed it anyway.

Seriously, I think France is the country with the least english speaking people.



Hari ni bawak kuih raya sikit pergi kelas. Cuba teka apa habis dulu? Mestilah tempeyek yang sedap. Diorang suka kuih raya, and favourite diorang ialah Almond London yang mak buat. Tapi diorang kata kuih bawang tu pedas. Pedas ke?