Practice your English in exchange for helping me with my French

If you are interested in attracting friends in Madagascar then you would need to learn the native tongue of Madagascar which is Malagasy.  French is rarely spoken by the population in  Madagascar and a few who try to speak French, usually to foreigners, do it poorly and it is broken French. And there are not many Foreigners nor tourists in Madagascar.  To learn the proper etiquette  to speak French you would have to go to France. What could be the precursor to the Law of Attraction you may want to understand a 2000 year old custom of  Fihavanana which  is a Malagasy word encompassing the Malagasy concept of kinship, friendship, goodwill between beings, both physical and spiritual. The literal translation is difficult to capture, as the Malagasy culture applies the concept in unique ways.  I have participated in this Fihavanana as a group but it is practiced on a passive level on a daily basis.
If you wish to learn French then perhaps French Forums would be the place to seek advice.

Hello,

Thanks for your message and your advice.

When I was exploring Reunion and Mauritius French was the language I was advised to communicate in.

I had heard that Madagascar was similar but as you have pointed out  this is not the case.

Thanks again for your comments

Naveena

Yes La Reunion is French , Mauritius ( once a British colony)  Being both an English-speaking and French-speaking nation, Mauritius is a member of both the Commonwealth of Nations and La Francophonie. Mauritian Creole, which is spoken by an estimated 90% of the population, is considered to be the native language of the country and is used most often in informal settings. 
I have traveled Mauritius about ten times, for vacation and getting documents for Madagascar from Malagasy Embassy in Mauritius,  and English is easy to get around with.

Hi again

Your name is Alex?

Can you tell me why you chose Madagascar as your home?

I will be settling in the region soon and will spend some weeks on each island in order to appreciate their uniqueness.

Thanks for your thoughts

Naveena

I traveled a lot and when I came to Madagascar it just felt right, it is just that simple, plus I like the tropics.

Hi Naveena,
I am Malagasy and there is some truth in what Alex said... but a lot of educated Malagasy can speak perfect standard French  without an accent especially in the capital. Creole is not spoken here as we have our own native language. Of course we appreciate that foreigners learn to speak Malagasy. On the other hand if you go to  remote places or rural areas, that is 95% of the country, like Alex said people will barely speak French or a broken form of it. But they will still address you in French as we Malagasy tend to think that all foreigners are francophone.