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Synopsis
Explains the meaning of French slang expressions, idioms, epithets, and colloquialisms.
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
174 of 177 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
When I first moved to Paris, I could barely speak a word of French (and had no job, and nowhere to stay, but that's another story), apart from a heavily-accented "une baguette de pain s'il vous plait Madame". And I can honestly say that this book was THE most useful thing I read -- indeed, it's the only book I pored over and learnt sections of by heart. Yes, speaking proper sentences and being polite and all that is all very useful, but if you really want to enjoy yourself, and get on with the locals, then this is the motherlode. Even if you only know two words of French, slipping a few well-chosen words like "bagnole", "boulot", and "flingue" (and the choicer swear words) into your conversation will break the ice, and impress your hosts, a LOT more than knowing the subjective pluperfect ever could. I eventually took "proper" French lessons at the Sorbonne, and had many arguments with my teacher about the relative merits of "correct" and "colloquial" French. For me, learning a language is about communicating, not about grammar, and this is the perfect place to start. To this day, I make sure that none of my friends or colleagues goes off to France for any period of time without a copy of this under their arm...
99 of 101 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is an excellent source of words and expressions, of varying degrees of vulgarity, that are used all the time by french speakers. I used it often during the first of my two years in France. Its real value is not for those in French 101 but for those who already speak decent french and want to learn the expressions used every day by the young and some of the french media (magazines, movies etc). Translated literally many of these words might seem offensive (e.g., connard, encule, putain), yet as the book points out, many times these are the phrases you hear the most in the metro or cafes of France. It is important to realize that even though these words do not carry the same force as their English translations, one must still pay attention to the social context in order to aviod disrespectful "faux pas"!
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I found this less helpful than the [ASIN:0764103458] Dictionary of French Slang and Colloquial Expressions as it has something of the tedium of schoolboy humour about it. However the words and phrases are given Michelin-like stars according to the degree of rudeness which saves one from social gaffes. But it is less useful than the slang dictionary for watching films or reading modern French novels and I would never dare to use the swearwords in my all-too-obvious English accent anyway.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Brilliant wee book.
This book is great. Simple format with a good list of offensive and useful words. Difficult to know exactly how offensive some of the words are, so best to check with a french... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Gillianimation
Good but not great
This is a fairly good book. It essentially gives you idiomatic phrases that as a native English-speaker you would say, but in idiomatic French e.g. Read more
Published on 26 Sep 2009 by Colin Madden
Merde
A very useful and amusing book. At least it let's one know when one is being insulted, and possible have a response ready. Read more
Published on 22 Jun 2009 by D. E. Turner
Good to flick through
Bit of a cheap print job on the inside, but I guess that doesn't really matter. Great to flick through, and not very expensive. And definitely will make you cringe! But a bit thin.
Published on 30 May 2009 by DJ Turpin
not what i hoped for
I bought the book for a Dutch friend who used to live in the UK, but now lives in France. She told me that the book was more sexually orientated than expected, with not exactly a... Read more
Published on 13 May 2009 by M. H. Paul-van Voorden
Great for learning a bit of authentic French!
I recommend this for anybody who is sick of learning 'proper' french at school and not slang. This book is great!
Published on 3 May 2009 by Ms. L. C. Chapman
Synopsis
Not an exhaustive or scholarly dictionary of 'argot', but a saucy guide to survival in everyday French as it is really spoken. Read more
Published on 16 Sep 2008 by Javaslublu Books
Good Fun! Useful?-Probably
Any author of this type of book is on a hiding to nothing - the readership is likely to stretch from the purient schoolboy to the scholarly student! Read more
Published on 23 Sep 2007 by Mr. Michael Gayler
Entertaining.
This book is entertaining to leaf through every so often, paritcularly if you might be visiting France any time soon! Read more
Published on 20 Dec 2006 by Seb
The French you really wanted to know... and spanish too
I've had the UK version of this book for years, as well as the sequel "Merde Encore" and the Spanish version "mierda".
I couldn't believe my luck. Read more
Published on 18 Feb 2001
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