À la française Ep. 5: "Parler français comme une vache espagnole"

🎧 Here’s a podcast about it!

Want to learn more about this fun expression, what it means, and hear some in-context examples? Then listen to Aurélie and Céline‘s related podcast below:

🐮 Some context

“Parler français comme une vache espagnole” is a rather strange French idiom meaning “to speak French really badly”.  It mockingly describes someone who is trying to speak French with such a heavy foreign accent or by making many bad grammatical mistakes that it is rather hard to understand what they are saying. French Native speakers will use this expression with humour rather than malice.

This expression appears to date back to the 17th century with one of its early versions being “parler comme un Basque espagnol” (= to speak like a Spanish-speaking Basque) with the word “Basque” being replaced over time with “vache” (=cow), supposedly to remove its vexatious nature.

Whatever its origins, this phrase has stuck around as a playful way to talk about really messy, hard-to-understand French.

👀 How about some examples?

To help you commit this expression to memory, here are some useful examples of how to use it in context:

• – Ça fait trois ans que mon amie anglaise Jane habite à Paris, et pourtant, elle parle encore français comme une vache espagnole !

• Je croyais avoir fait de bons progrès en grammaire. Mais mon prof m’a dit que je parlais français comme une vache espagnole !

• – Arrête de te moquer de ton père ! Il vient juste de commencer les cours de français.
  – Oui, ça s’entend vraiment ! Il le parle comme une vache espagnole !

• Quand mon oncle va en France, il insiste pour commander dans les restaurants. Mais comme il parle français comme une vache espagnole, les serveurs ne le comprennent jamais !

🙌 Now is your time to shine!

Challenge yourself to use this expression in a French conversation or piece of writing, and let us know how your French friends reacted to it in the comments 🙂  

À toi de jouer !