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Understating what you can do
Asked whether you play the piano, the expected French answer is smaller than the truth. Je me débrouille — I get by — is what a competent player says, and un peu can cover years of lessons. Claiming outright to be good invites a raised eyebrow; the modesty is a social form rather than real doubt, and everyone reads it correctly. It runs the other way too: when a French colleague says they manage a little English, assume rather more. The same instinct shows in school marks, where 20 out of 20 is treated as theoretically possible rather than actually awarded.