[ "All of it:" an answer somehow even more embarrassing than if the man hadn't been able to understand a word, which could have easily been the case no thanks to Irving's abysmal French grammar— the words themselves may have (somehow) translated, but like a man speaking in tongues, the meaning had been garbled and broken.

Ah well. At least the man seems to have not taken offense at Irving's clumsy, if still well-intentioned, efforts with the language. ]

I'll confess I've not had much cause for speaking French since back when I was still a schoolboy, [ he says sheepishly, by way of apology. Appropriately, his French proficiency is certainly reflective of someone who took French lessons in school, but then has barely needed it in the many years since. ] But you're in the Northern Territories of Canada— near the Arctic. We're closest to a town called Milton.