I can tell a lot about the character of a French person by the way they react to my pathetic efforts to speak French. There are those who are impatient and the second I open my mouth they roll their eyes and tap their feet. There are the mean ones who, even though they can easily understand what I'm saying, arrange their faces in the strained expression of someone utterly mystified by the mutterings of the village idiot. There are others who view life as a continuous opportunity, so when I ask a question in French they take the opportunity to practice their English. And there are the one I like best, those who are spiritually inclined and feel gratitude in all their human interactions -- they appreciate my effort to speak (and are even more grateful when I stop).
To be fair, although I have an excellent vocabulary, I speak like someone who grew up in Texas and didn't learn to speak the language until she was well into her 30's. Grammatically speaking, I don't. And I often take the long way around, constructing sentences that if translated would be something like, "Could you tell me, please, if it might be possible to travel from here to the next village by car in less than a half an hour?" rather than, "Is it far?" Perhaps I try too hard. This can be fixed.
But there is just really not that much I can do about the accent. I have been practicing lately the phrase for turtleneck as it is getting chilly and I've been buying a few winter clothes. Turtleneck is "col roulé" and this "o-u" sound gives me a headache. I simply cannot hear the subtle difference between "roulé," "rue," and "roue." The result is that sometimes when I try to say "sweater" I actually say "chicken" ("pull" versus "poule"). So if I'm dressed a little funny this winter, you'll know why.
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