Learning French . . . aka how to be etiquettely correct when in France

[Twik]

My only attempt at speaking French in France did not go well. However, I may have just hit one of the legendary Grumpy French Storekeepers, who wouldn't have been happy if I'd spoken like Sara Bernhardt.

It was rather a jolt, though, after being in Mexico, where my attempts to speak Spanish were always greeted with encouragement, albeit some stifled giggles at times.

[jpcher]

Tipping is not a percentage. Most people just round up a euro or two. There are occasional reports of dishonest waiters trying to convince tourists that the tip is not included. In a way they are correct: the service charge is included, any *small* tip on top of that is not. An additional tip is not required and, while waiters don't make millions, they don't work for below minimum wage, either.

While not required, is it considered rude to not tip?

[Louie_LI]

No, not at all. I have been living in France for over 20 years. Among my French friends, some leave nothing extra ever, but the majority will leave a few euros if the service was good and they will probably go back (or if they have been overly demanding).

For your daughter, if the waiter takes good care of her/her group and tries to accommodate in English (or deals well with special requests), an additional 1 or 2 euros per head would be sufficient. It's hard to define, but it's certainly not a percentage like in the US. For example, we were out for dinner tonight and the staff were very attentive and handled a special request well (it's snowing *unusual* so things were slow). We left 4 euros on a 120 bill, because 5 felt like too much, but we are planning on going back. If we had left nothing extra, there would not be any feeling that we were unhappy at all.

[PastryGoddess]

I'm learning french myself and I use both Rosetta Stone and online sources.  Here are a few sites I use to practice

http://www.memrise.com/
http://www.livemocha.com

I think someone mentioned the coffee break french podcasts, they are very helpful as well and can be loaded onto an ipad