I did a brief search on the Corsica forum regarding this topic, but didn’t quite find the information I was looking for.
I am planning a bicycling trip in Corsica for September. I bought my plane tickets several months ago, with the intention of learning some basic French prior to the trip. However, with summer activities and a busy work schedule, I have not had much of an opportunity to teach myself the language.
To compensate for my lack of French language skills, I plan to make all ferry and hotel reservations prior to arrival.
Will I be able to “survive” this trip with very limited knowledge of French (i.e. bon jour, au revoir, merci, s‘il vous plait, un, deux, trios, etc.)?
Thanks for any insight.
Brad
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I reckon you%26#39;ll be OK. With every year that goes by, more people speak English on this island though buying tickets in advance seems a good plan. You%26#39;ll be fine in restaurants and hotels unless you%26#39;re very unlucky.
Having said that, every hour you spend learning French will be worth it. It will add another dimension to your holiday if you are able to communicate with the people here. As a matter of principle I always start conversations in French, poor and ungrammatical tho%26#39; mine is.
One final thought - if you have a little Italian, you will find it very useful too. The Corsican language, which is widely spoken in the interior and taught in schools throughout the island these days, has many words in common with the dialects spoken in northern Italy. This reflects the fact that Corsica was ruled by Genoa for many centuries.
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Corsica is gorgeous, you should enjoy it. Not flat enough for my own low cycling skills, but from your name I would think you are a trained expert.
The new generations of French have improved as for their understanding of English (when they travel abroad, they can%26#39;t speak French). However in some nice remote towns and villages, you may be the first American appearing since WW2, restaurant menu is not likely to have an English version, and I would not assume the waiter will be able to translate, so a pocket dictionnary might be useful!
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You%26#39;ll find the tourist trade (hotels and restaurants) will have a bit of basic English which they%26#39;ll deploy if you%26#39;re a nice person. By arriving on votre velo you are automatically a nice person deserving of respect., especially if you try a few words in French on a merci level.
If nothing goes wrong, you won%26#39;t have the slightest difficulty. Your only problem is trying to explain obscure stuff for the bike. You might be advised to create your own basic bike dictionary of French words for tyre, spoke, gears, brakes and puncture!
The thought of cycling in Corsica fills me with half-respect (the upslopes) and half-envy (going down). Are you taking your own bike?
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you will love cycling in corsica, i have just returned, and one thing i noticed was the amount of cyclists there.
the views you will have are really second to none as the GR20 covers most of the island, however, for any cyclist,your fitness would have to be very good as its nothing but up,up,up.
My French speaking is so limited, its embarassing, but the 17 days i was there i never had a problem as everyone we met in Corsica was very friendly and spoke a fairly good level of French.
Enjoy your trip.
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sjb3310 seems a little confused. The GR20 is a long distance footpath from Calanzana in the north to Conca in the south. You would find it impossible to cycle along, especially the infamous %26quot;Cirque de la Solitude%26quot; which is a rock climb!
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