Continuing yesterday's topic, when I was in France and visited Paulette's relatives, they laughed at my French, because my pronunciation was almost perfect but my grammar was awful.
The big laugh came in Alsace when I ased if someone would pass the bread--in Alsatian! Foreigners do not speak these local languages, of which there are half a dozen still spoken in France.
And if you want to know, it goes something like Noch a petsala broht ven s'pliapt There's no standard way of spelling it .
Interesting historical fact: Alsatian is related to low German and Hitler considered Alsatians German, though they thought of themselves as French. When the Germans invaded, Paulette's father was conscripted into the army, and her first language was actually Alsatian. Couldn't be heard speaking French until the war was over.
