I've never been to France, but my mother took 6 years of French in school here and spent 6 months in French immersion program at college where the dorm she lived in spoke nothing but French. When my father was stationed in Germany and they visited France, my mother asked a man for directions in her best French and the man relied in English, "Madam, youe accent is atrocious!", and walked away. Things may have changed since the 60's
