Life

Americans Try To Pronounce French Names

Look, if I'm being brutally honest, I only took French in school because I had this persisting fantasy about some handsome Jean Jacques Michel feeding me baguettes (yes, baguettes plural) in front of the Eiffel Tower while a poodle performed magic tricks in the background. It hasn't happened yet, and weirdly, neither did the part where my French improved. At least I know I'm not alone in that struggle now that I've seen this BuzzFeed video of Americans trying to pronounce French names, because it turns out, there are some bread-loving Americans out there who are every bit as hopeless as I am.

The level of expertise of these brave humans ranges from completely inexperienced to a few of them who have had as much French tutelage as I have. I have to admit, even I started this video feeling smug that I could get these names right. I sat through countless public school approved videos of French teenagers ordering "des croissant" and "des boissons" with their chill French friends, so this was basically my moment to shine, right?

WRONG. I am an embarrassment and I hope my French teacher never sees this. I'm so sorry, Madame. You tried.

Here are some of the names that severely stumped Americans:

Capucine

Lefebvre

Laetitia

Ready to humiliate yourself? CHOUETTE. Here are a bunch of names you can butcher right along with us:

Images: YouTube(4)