Brussels was a primarily french speaking city, and that made for some pretty funny scenarios.

Around 3 or 4 of my peers spoke decent French, some bordered on fluent. But when trying to order or start conversations in French, they were quickly shut down. Ironically enough, I do NOT speak french past the elementary level, but I am however, fluent in Spanish.

So, in order to avoid the American tourist treatment, I went into shops speaking Spanish first, and French second.

And you want to know what the funny thing is? It worked!

I would walk into coffee shops, starting the conversation in Spanish, and then slipping into my VERY minimal French, and here’s the kicker, they would let me talk and continue the conversation till I eventually started blankly and shrugged “that’s all I got sorry” in a very clearly Pennsylvanian accent. This happened more times than I can count. I wonder what the people at the coffee shop thought when someone came in with a thick Caribbean accent, then an odd French one, then a mountain raised Pennsylvanian one.

It was also funny to see the look on my friends faces. There were times when one of them, who does actually know French, coached me through an entire conversation, and the shop keeper still let us finish ordering. Other times were I was the last man standing, with two High School years of French under my belt.

I recommend you try it next time abroad! (Just make sure you have at least one french coach nearby)