I’m lost (part 1 of 2)

A stranger stops and offers to help. Everything that happens next depends on whether you can name the place you are looking for and hang on to the turns as they arrive, one after another, in a language you are still learning.

This part of the conversation covers the opening moves of getting yourself unstuck: saying Je suis perdue. (a man would say Je suis perdu., since the word changes with the speaker), naming a destination, and reading street instructions such as Allez tout droit and tournez à gauche à la banque. You also learn to check the distance with C'est loin d'ici ? before you commit to a long walk, and to understand the answer when it turns out to be forty minutes away. These are the words that matter when you step off a train in a town you do not know, when a map app gives up on you, or when a shopkeeper points down the road and starts counting streets. By the end you can ask the question and, more importantly, keep up with the reply.