How do you say "I'm sorry" in French?

I'm terrible at speaking French, not that great at English, and can't hear worth a damn. The first thing I asked my friend, who's helping me learn conversational French, was, How do I say I'm sorry? I figured that would be very helpful in the likely event that I act retarded, stupid, spill something, fall over, or generally insult someone of the French persuasion with the dumb look on my face.

It's "Je suis desole," by the way. And I'm practicing it, over and over, like a mantra. I'm sorry, so sorry, so sorry. Sorry about that accidental punch in the face. Sorry about the way I made you stop what you were doing to help me find my way. Sorry for making you repeat yourself eighteen times before I caught the gist of what was being said. Sorry for not making a greater effort to learn a language other than English. Ever.

I've still got a little over a month before I leave on my OSU study abroad trip to France. I will post more specifics about the trip soon.