Whenever I go abroad my brain registers that I need to go into foreign language mode and due to a 6 month stint of working in Madrid when I was 20, the default language used to be Spanish. Since moving to France it has obviously become French and Spanish no longer gets a look in. Also since moving to France my holidays have mainly been going back to the UK and a trip to Morocco, where the default setting of French worked well for me, the friends I was with (Can you get them to sort out our aircon please? Can you ask the waiter if we can buy a bottle of wine to take back to the hotel?) and the locals.
However this default setting proved to be hard to overcome when traveling round Central America. I would start in Spanish and then end up in French, as well as try and pronounce Spanish words with a French accent. Towards the end of my trip I went to a lovely beach town and was looking for accommodation. I came across a promising looking place and asked (in Spanish) if there were any rooms available. The charming man showed me round and while we were negotiating a price for a week long stay and I thought to myself “Wow, well done, you’ve been conducting this whole conversation in Spanish!” Then came the realization that actually we were both talking in French. So much for my improved language skills!
His name was Franck and he was from Vichy.
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