Very easy French

For those of you who have never been to France before, and don't know a word of french, here's some very easy ways to get you buy (my apologies to linguists and those fluent in french, but these are simple suggestions and pronounciations):

Most of you know these, so I won't write out the pronounciations, but whenever you approach a french person, remember to use them:

Bonjour - Hello
Merci - Thank-you
S'il vous plait - Please (pron: see-vu-play)
Excusez-moi - excuse me

If you want something that you can point to say:

Je voudrais la - I would like that (pron: jay vu-dray la)

If you want to go somewhere, have a map with you and point to it and say:

Ou est la - Where is that? (pron: oo a la, where "a" is pronounced like the letter "a")

Now from the above, you can pretty much figure out how to say most things like:

Ou est le Louvre
Ou est la toilette
Ou est le "Eiffel Tower"
Je voudrais une "beer"
Je voudrais une "coke"
Je voudrais une "reservation"

(Notice I put the last three words in English. Don't think that every word in french is different, or that they won't understand. A lot of words are English (like "coke"), or by saying part of the sentence in french, they may figure out the rest (a lot of them did study English as children, they just haven't used it since), and they appreciate your effort.

If you want a simple glass of water at a restaurant, however, say:

Je voudrais un crevat du l'eau - I would like a small bottle (crevat) of water. (pron: jay vu-dray un Kraft dew-low (and yes crevat sounds like "Kraft" macaronni & cheese)

This will bring you regular tap water (that we tned to prefer), instead of the carbonated perrier type that the french drink.

This should pretty much get you by in France. In regards to numbers, here is tip for most of the world. Carry a pen and pencil with you, and if you can't signal with fingers, then have them write the number. Most of the world uses arabic numerals, so whether we say huit, ocho, oct, or eight, we all write "8".

If anyone has any other specific questions, please let me know, and I will post it.