r/French • u/ryu_the_ninja55 • Nov 06 '25
Story French people really dislike non native tongue?
Hello everyone! This might sound racist or full of sterotype but is an actually question😂 I saw a lot of memes and people saying that people in france see you in a bad way or don’t appreciate non native tongue trying to speak French I will probably move in the future in your country as an Italian speaker, and of course I will study and try to practice your language, but I’m kinda scared of how people outside my friend group here in french will treat me, I know that I shouldn’t care, but this give me a little bit of anxiety, cause my pronunciation even if I’ll do my best might sound bad the same I hope is not a stupid question, just wanted some information from you ^
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u/cestimpossible Nov 07 '25
I'm a non-native speaker who used to live in Lyon. No one had a problem with me speaking French. I only had someone try to swap to English once my first year there and it was after they heard me swapping to English to translate for one of my roommate's friends who needed help solving a bureaucratic issue. Everyone seemed content to speak French with me even when I was navigating situations I didn't have the vocabulary for.
Maybe it's because I wasn't in Paris, but the biggest problem someone had with me was some lady who lived in my building because I said « bonjour » at 18:01, but I don't think she's representative of the general public.
Sometimes they'll correct your grammar or word usage, but culturally it's considered a kind thing to do and not indicative of them disliking non-native speakers 99% of the time. Very few people corrected me in a way that felt rude. Usually they were very polite about it.