Anyone speak French?

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Anyone speak French?

the mk1 kid

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Hi All,

I have a not posting seller on ebay who is located in France, where sadly they seem to speak French! How inconsiderate!

Any hoo, i requested their number and called last night but by gcse French is not what it used to be!

If anyone is willing to help in anyway i would be very, very grateful, and willing it make it worth their while as i believe this can be resolved without trying to claw back the money.

Thanks in advance

Tom
 
anyone speak french?
Charles%20De%20Gaulle.jpg
NON!
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WEE!
 
there are some excellent free translators online. you can send the seller an email in french, and then translate their reply into english. i've done this several times in the past, it works very well.

if you dont think you can do that, post what you want to say and i'll translate it for you. (y)
 
The frustrating thing is that they are not reading my emails.

I have emailed several times to the same address that the paypal payment was made to, and i have not had a read receipt back.

:(

Thank you for the very kind offer though, much appreciated!

Tom
 
Start a dispute through Paypal? Can be a bit of a slow process but if they're not even opening your emails then it's not gonna matter what language they're in!
 
I bought and paid through .co.uk.

The description of the item and all his feedback that he had left for others looks like it was written by someone very fluent in English.

According to ebay before raising a complaint/dispute you must ring the seller.

I also believe the seller is genuine, and it can be resolved through normal lines of communication.

Tom
 
Babelfish French translator is very good. I speak fairly well but I suggest use of babelfish first.
 
Hi,

As i mentioned the emails are not being opened and therefore i could be writing in greek, i dont think it will make a difference unfortunately.

I have just send myself an email from my work address to see if there is any way of avoiding a sending a receipt back.

Tom
 
Just tried, and i dont see a way of avoiding it, and i conclude they/she/he/it are not opening them! :(

To reiterate, i am willing it cover the call and buy someone a beer if they can help.

Tom
 
I am not good enough to hold a conversation in French over the phone about something complicated, sorry.

A read receipt won't be sent if they use a service like hotmail AFAIK?
 
Babelfish French translator is very good. I speak fairly well but I suggest use of babelfish first.

Just sent an email in French, afterall it can do no harm.

Thank you for recommeding babelfish, it was very helpful.

Regards

Tom
 
i'd get the translation ready then call up and speak in french

pronunciation is important obviously
for example desole is pronounced de-so-lay, not des-ole
since you did gcse french this should not be a problem, so this idea has a good chance of working

i'd want to bascially say:

sorry my french is not good
i have bought something from you on ebay
i paid by paypal
the item has not been received yet
you have not replied to my emails
can you please check your email.

desole mon Francais ne sont pas bonnes
j'ai achete quelque chose de vous sur ebay
j'ai pay par paypal
l'article n'a pas ete recu encore
vous demuni avez repondu mes email
pouvez vous svp verifier votre email
 
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Some people only register an email account for the use of registering things to it i.e. paypal and don't use it for messaging. This could be why he hasn't replied.

Try the ebay messaging service instead as you know he uses the site and will be alerted to the message.

Just a thought(y)
 
I have unfortunately, they are one and the same.

***

If i do not get a response from my 'french' email i will call them after work.

Thank you for your advise, i will pretty much say what you have suggested.

Wish me luck, my gcse's were a long time ago!

Tom
 
Many years ago a French lad appeared at City Road police station but didn't speak English so a call went out asking if any officer spoke French to return to the station.

A young nice but rather dim probationer answered that they spoke French and would return. On her arrival she made her way to the French lad and said rather slowly and deliberately "Whaaaaaaat doooooooo youuuuuuuu waaaaaaant" :bang: :nutter: :shakehead
 
desole mon Francais ne sont pas bonnes

He'll know that - that makes no sense :p You've gone from singular to plural; should be 'Je suis desole, mais mon Francais n'est pas bon' or 'Je suis desole, mais je ne parle pas le Francais' ('I'm sorry, but I don't speak French')

J'ai achete ton/ta/tes (insert thing you bought, ton/ta/tes is 'your', dependent on gender/pluralisation of the noun) sur eBay et j'ai paie avec Paypal sur (insert date). Je ne l'ai pas recu. Voulez-vous verifier votre email s'il vous plait? Je t'ai envoye un email.

'I bought your (whatever) on eBay and I paid with Paypal. I haven't recieved it. Will you check your email please? I sent you one.'

That's off the top of my head, haven't spoken a word of French for almost 5 years, so there may be a grammatical mistake or two :)

HTH
 
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