I was sitting on the train coming home from school one day doing my French homework and minding my own business. At one stop, a middle-aged African American man came onto the train and sat down next to me. There’s nothing different here, so I continued my homework. The train leaves the station and everything continues on normally, I do my work, people talk, I move my bag away from the spilled coffee. But then out of nowhere I hear:
“Parlez-vous francais?”
I glance over and he’s talking to me. He must have looked over my shoulder and saw my homework with all its scribbles and terrible grammar. Of course in a mix of shock and me not being great at French, I start stuttering.
“Uh, ummm.. oui un peu.”
Yes, saved myself for a little I thought. But then he continued to talk and I would quote him again but I have no idea what he said. I thought to myself that this is going to be a long and awkward train ride. Why didn’t I just sleep instead of trying to do work? Instead I just responded in English that I was only in my second year studying French and wasn’t very good at it. He then started to help me with my conversational skills, giving me tips and advice on how to be more spontaneous with conversation. We continued talking and he ended up helping me finish my homework.
After some talk about verbs and studying, we moved on and talked about French culture. I specifically remember talking about the controversy over the burqa ban in France and learning a lot from him. He was really easy to talk to, even though he was a complete stranger. We talked for about 12 stops until I had to get off. As I was getting off the train, I thanked him for everything and wished him the best. With a handshake he replied:
“Bonne chance!”
I think it’s really cool that you were able to talk to a stranger for that long. Many times, my conversations with strangers are about directions and how to get from one place to another. Actually, the other day I was on the LIRR on my way back to the city when a middle-aged man woke me up from my nap to tell me about his morning. At first, I thought he was just being friendly so I went along with his conversation. While I continued to nod and smile, our conversation was suddenly about college being useless and a waste of money. I tried to pretend to go back to sleep but he just kept on talking, which was actually really frustrating. Well, at least one of us had a meaningful conversation with a stranger!
A good way to test your language skills: on the subway!
Your story has an overall good vibe. Most encounters with strangers on the subway are scary; I am often eager for my stop to come so that I can get off and avoid all that awkwardness. Its really nice to read about a positive encounter that seemed to be both fun and educational. Its important to have an open mind and listen to the words of others, even if you are not acquainted with them.