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Title: Merde! : The Real French You Were Never Taught at School by Genevieve, Michael Heath ISBN: 0-684-85427-9 Publisher: Fireside Pub. Date: 09 December, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $9.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.36 (11 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: good slang vocabulary book
Comment: This book does contain lots and lots of slang words well arranged in categories. Somewhat lacking are examples of how these words are used. This should be treated as a vocabulary book rather than a book to learn to speak and understand slang. It is hard to learn to speak the real french from a book containing list of words. For that, one will have to pick up an audio tape and books containing dialogs.
Rating: 5
Summary: Un truc d' ouf!
Comment: Despite some serious misgivings about perhaps in some way contributing to the sin of French slang spoken with an American accent, I must nevertheless praise Genevieve for her entertaining "p'tit bouquin." From my close contact with the Frenchies I've noticed that two ways to make an impression are: (1) achieve a perfect French accent, and (2) (easier) learn some slang. Even people fluent in school-taught French, who have read Moliere, Balzac and Proust in the original, cannot and will not understand much in French Films, TV etc. without a basic knowledge of French slang. It is much more present than in American English or in German. From the few books on this topic that I've come across, Genevieve's remains the best. She covers all the basics and throws in some witty remarks on French culture as well. Of course, one must first have a good background in French in order to eventually use the expressions here, especially since phonetic pronuciations are not given; without a certain level of proficiency one runs the risk of sounding like a foreign fool. But this book is also good precisely for figuring out when you've been called a fool (or something worse!) For those interested in expressions past the essentials, check out her other book: Merde Encore.
Rating: 4
Summary: Wow!
Comment: The only reason I rated this book at 4 stars instead of 5 was that it lacked any pronunciation help. That is my only complaint about the book, it's really that good!
The book is arranged into 13 logical groupings of content and each has a quiz of some sort at the end so that you can test your (written/reading) comprehension.
I would love to see Genevieve put out a version of this book (as well as Merde Encore!) with an accompanying audio tape and/or CD. I have a fairly good grasp of French pronunciation, but I know that there are some words that I am butchering. Even if the book was just revised to include phonetic spellings of the French words used, that would be a big improvement.
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Title: Merde Encore! by Genevieve, Michael Heath ISBN: 0684854287 Publisher: Fireside Pub. Date: December, 1998 List Price(USD): $10.00 |
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Title: 101 French Idioms by Jean-Marie Cassagne, Luc Nisset-Raidon ISBN: 0844212903 Publisher: McGraw-Hill/Contemporary Books Pub. Date: 11 January, 1995 List Price(USD): $7.95 |
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Title: Street French 1 : The Best of French Slang by David Burke ISBN: 0471138983 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: 12 April, 1996 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: 101 French Proverbs by Jean-Marie Cassagne ISBN: 0844212911 Publisher: McGraw-Hill Pub. Date: 15 August, 1998 List Price(USD): $7.95 |
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Title: Street French 2 : The Best of French Idioms by David Burke ISBN: 0471138991 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: July, 1996 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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