Authors: Dodi-Katrin Schmidt, Dominique Wenzel, Michelle M. Williams
ISBN-13: 9780764551932, ISBN-10: 0764551930
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated
Date Published: December 1999
Edition: BOOK & CD
Berlitz has taught languages to millions of people for over 120 years.
Dodi-Katrin Schmidt has been a writer, a translator, and an editor for almost ten years. Aside from translating German, French, and English texts of various kinds, including linguistic handbooks, film reviews, travel guides, and children's books, she has also been involved in developing language textbooks, language courses, teachers' handbooks, and grammar companions for video language courses. Dodi has been teaching for more than two decades at high school, adult education, and college levels in Europe as well as the United States. She also writes test items for various national language tests and recorded textbook and test material. Together with her husband, she travels a great deal, and they continually house and entertain foreign students and former students in their home in Princeton, NJ.
Michelle M. Williams is an editor at a major educational publisher. A former French teacher, she has taught students ranging form 2 years old to adults, in both the public and private sectors. She is currently a private French tutor to a young Olympic-hopeful figure skater. She is a firm believer in making the language fun and accessible to all who want to learn. Her most rewarding experience, however, is in watching and listening to her 3-year-old son, Nathaniel, learn to speak and sing in French.
Dominique Wenzel has been a freelance teacher of French and translator for 15 years. Born and raised in France, she received a Master's degree from the University of Paris-Sorbonne and studied at the University of Chicago on a postgraduate Fulbright scholarship. Her students include businessprofessionals, children, and adults of all levels and interests. She travels regularly to France. Dominique raised two bicultural, bilingual children who are both active in the international field.
If you buy into the Pepé Le Pew stereotype of the French – arrogant, stuffy, overly amorous, and rather odiferous (Pepé Le Pew was a skunk. Talk about stereotypical!) – then think again. Not only are the French people some of the most relaxed, pleasant people you'll ever meet, but their society is one of the oldest, most culturally rich societies in the world. So it's no surprise that French is known as perhaps the most beautiful of all languages. Listen to someone speak French – sure, you don't have a clue what she's saying, but aren't you enraptured by the sound of it?
Unfortunately, just because a language is beautiful doesn't mean that it's easy to learn. Although French has many things in common with English, French has had many, many centuries to evolve into the language it is today, which means it's had all that time to become more complex. That's where French For Dummies can help. Written in partnership with the language experts at Berlitz, this book can give you what you need for basic communication in French.
French For Dummies covers the following topics and more:
French For Dummies also comes with a CD that has audio transcriptions of all the exercises in the book, so that you can actually hear the French pronunciations.
So whether you're taking a business trip and need to pick up a little French quickly; you're cramming for your high school French final; or you've always wanted to learn a new language but don't have the time to drag yourself to a class once a week, French For Dummies can get you well on your way to becoming fluent in no time.
Introduction | 1 | |
About This Book | 2 | |
Conventions Used in This Book | 2 | |
Foolish Assumptions | 3 | |
How This Book Is Organized | 3 | |
Icons Used in This Book | 4 | |
Where to Go from Here | 5 | |
Part I | Getting Started | 7 |
Chapter 1 | You Already Know a Little French | 9 |
The French You Know | 9 | |
Friendly allies - bons allies (bohN-zah-lyay) | 9 | |
Kissing cousins | 11 | |
False friends - faux amis | 12 | |
Idioms and Popular Expressions | 14 | |
Mouthing Off: Basic Pronunciation | 16 | |
The French alphabet | 16 | |
Vowel sounds | 18 | |
The accent | 19 | |
The mute e | 19 | |
The nasal sounds | 19 | |
Consonants | 19 | |
The liaison | 20 | |
The elision | 21 | |
Stress | 21 | |
Using Gestures | 22 | |
Chapter 2 | The Nitty Gritty: Basic French Grammar | 23 |
Simple Sentence Construction | 24 | |
Nouns | 24 | |
Adjectives | 24 | |
Verbs | 25 | |
Adverbs | 25 | |
Things That Are Easier in French | 26 | |
Regular and Irregular verbs | 26 | |
Regular verbs | 27 | |
Irregular verbs | 27 | |
The Simple Tenses: Past, Present, and Future | 28 | |
The Gender Question | 29 | |
It's "You" You Know: The Tu/Vous Issue | 31 | |
Numbers | 32 | |
Chapter 3 | Bonjour! Hello! Greetings and Introductions | 33 |
Saying Hello and Good-Bye | 33 | |
Getting Formal or Informal | 34 | |
Asking "How are you?" | 35 | |
Replying to "How are you?" | 35 | |
Introducing Yourself and Others | 38 | |
Being There: Etre (To Be) | 41 | |
Describing Cities | 45 | |
Speaking the Language | 46 | |
Part II | French in Action | 53 |
Chapter 4 | Getting to Know You: Making Small Talk | 55 |
Asking Key Questions | 55 | |
Posing Simple Questions | 59 | |
Chatting about the Family | 59 | |
Making Small Talk on the Job | 61 | |
Going to Town with the Verb Aller | 63 | |
Talking about the Weather | 64 | |
Doing the Numbers | 66 | |
Talking about Where You Live | 68 | |
Chapter 5 | Bon Appetit! Dining Out and Going to the Market | 75 |
All About Meals | 75 | |
The meals | 76 | |
Eating at home: Setting the table | 78 | |
Going Out to a Restaurant | 79 | |
Perusing the menu | 82 | |
Talking with the waiter | 83 | |
Understanding what's on the menu | 84 | |
Eating and drinking | 89 | |
Finishing the meal | 90 | |
Finding the restrooms | 93 | |
An Article on Articles | 93 | |
Buying Food at the Market | 94 | |
Talking about weights and measures | 96 | |
Making comparisons | 97 | |
Getting to know a few useful verbs for the market | 98 | |
Going to the Supermarket and the Food Stores | 99 | |
Chapter 6 | Shopping Made Easy | 103 |
Going to Stores | 103 | |
Just browsing | 105 | |
Getting around the store | 105 | |
Getting assistance | 106 | |
Shopping for Clothes | 109 | |
Finding the right fit | 109 | |
Clothing materials | 112 | |
Getting dressed | 113 | |
Using Superlatives | 118 | |
When the adjective precedes the noun | 118 | |
When the adjective follows the noun | 118 | |
Chapter 7 | Going Out on the Town | 121 |
Telling Time in French | 122 | |
Visiting Museums | 125 | |
Going to the Theater | 128 | |
Going to the Movies | 132 | |
Going to a Concert | 134 | |
Going to a Nightclub | 137 | |
Chapter 8 | Enjoying Yourself: Recreation | 141 |
Playing Sports | 142 | |
Going Skiing | 145 | |
Going to the Beach | 149 | |
Setting Up Camp | 152 | |
Chapter 9 | Talking on the Phone | 159 |
Making a Phone Call | 159 | |
Leaving a Message | 162 | |
Livin' in the past: Using the past tense | 163 | |
Using the past tense with etre | 165 | |
Chapter 10 | At the Office and around the House | 169 |
Making an Appointment | 170 | |
Business hours | 170 | |
Lunch hour | 170 | |
Business around the holidays | 171 | |
Conducting Business | 173 | |
Using the Internet | 176 | |
Visiting a Private Home | 179 | |
Part III | French on the Go | 183 |
Chapter 11 | Money, Money, Money | 185 |
At the Bank | 186 | |
Entering a bank | 186 | |
Cashing checks and checking your cash | 189 | |
Staying Current with French Currency | 192 | |
The franc (Le franc) (luh frahN) | 192 | |
French money (L'argent francais) (lahr-zhahN frahN-seh) | 193 | |
Using Credit Cards and ATMs | 193 | |
Using your credit card at an ATM | 193 | |
Getting to know ATM language | 194 | |
Currency Wisdom | 200 | |
Chapter 12 | Where Is the Louvre? Asking Directions | 203 |
Asking "Where" Questions | 203 | |
Answering "Where" Questions | 204 | |
Getting Direction about Directions | 206 | |
Using commands | 209 | |
Expressing distances (time and space) | 210 | |
Discovering ordinal numbers | 210 | |
Going north, south, east, and west | 213 | |
Asking Questions When You're Lost | 215 | |
It's Necessary to Know about "Il Faut" | 216 | |
Chapter 13 | Staying at a Hotel | 219 |
Arriving at the Hotel | 220 | |
Asking inverted questions | 226 | |
Losing your objection to object pronouns | 226 | |
Checking In to a Hotel | 227 | |
Checking Out of a Hotel | 229 | |
Chapter 14 | Transportation | 235 |
Getting Through the Airport | 235 | |
Leaving the Airport: Finding a Taxi | 238 | |
Getting a Taxi | 240 | |
Getting Around in Major Cities | 241 | |
Buying a Train Ticket | 242 | |
Taking the Bus | 245 | |
Taking the Subway | 247 | |
Renting a Car | 249 | |
Getting Gas | 252 | |
Chapter 15 | Travel Abroad | 255 |
Where Do You Want to Go? | 256 | |
Passports and Visas | 258 | |
Buying Tickets | 260 | |
Getting Your Dates Straight | 260 | |
Specific dates | 261 | |
Less specific dates | 261 | |
Timing phrases | 262 | |
Choosing Accommodations | 266 | |
Packing Your Suitcases | 269 | |
Chapter 16 | Handling Emergencies | 273 |
Getting Medical Help | 273 | |
Talking with Doctors | 278 | |
Getting Legal Help | 285 | |
Accidents | 286 | |
Robbery, theft, aggression | 287 | |
Part IV | The Part of Tens | 291 |
Chapter 17 | Ten Ways to Pick Up French Quickly | 293 |
Look stuff up in the dictionary | 293 | |
Write shopping lists | 293 | |
Celebrate French day! | 293 | |
Use language tapes | 294 | |
Listen to French music | 294 | |
Try a CD | 294 | |
Watch French movies | 294 | |
Read French publications | 294 | |
Surf the 'Net | 295 | |
Chat | 295 | |
Chapter 18 | Ten Things Never to Say | 297 |
Chapter 19 | Ten Favorite French Expressions | 299 |
C'est un fait accompli | 299 | |
Quel faux pas! | 299 | |
Comme il faut | 299 | |
Bon appetit! | 299 | |
Quelle horreur! | 300 | |
Oh la la! La catastrophe! | 300 | |
A toute a l'heure! | 300 | |
C'est la vie! | 300 | |
Comme ci, comme ca | 300 | |
C'est le ton qui fait la musique! | 301 | |
Chapter 20 | Ten Holidays to Remember | 303 |
L'Epiphanie | 303 | |
La Chandeleur | 303 | |
Mardi gras | 303 | |
Le Poisson d'Avril | 304 | |
La Fete du Travail | 304 | |
L'Ascension | 304 | |
La Pentecote | 304 | |
Fete de la Musique | 305 | |
La Prise de la Bastille | 305 | |
La Sainte Catherine | 305 | |
Chapter 21 | Ten Phrases That Make You Sound French | 307 |
Ca m'a fait tres plaisir! or C'etait genial! | 307 | |
Passez-moi un coup de fil! | 307 | |
Passez-nous un coup de fil! | 307 | |
Je vais vous/lui/leur passer un coup de fil | 308 | |
On y va! or Allons-y! | 308 | |
Je n'en sais rien | 308 | |
Mais je reve! | 308 | |
Quel amour de petit garcon! | 308 | |
Vous n'avez pas le droit | 309 | |
Tu cherches midi a 14h | 309 | |
Je veux acheter une bricole | 309 | |
Prenons un pot! | 309 | |
Part V | Appendixes | 311 |
Appendix A | Verb Tables | 313 |
Appendix B | Mini-Dictionary | 323 |
Appendix C | About the CD | 337 |
Index | 339 | |
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