Customer Reviews

The French Way : Aspects of Behavior, Attitudes, and Customs of the French

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is part of a series of cultural guides; others in the series are "The Hispanic Way", "The German Way", & "The Italian Way". I'd read & enjoyed both "The Hispanic Way" & "The German Way", so when finding "The French Way", I wanted to read it, too. Taken as a guide exclusively to France & its people, this book is quite serviceable & thorough. And like any book this size & attempting to deal with a topic of this scope, "The French Way" is not going to be exhaustive, but rather is a good introduction & "stepping-stone" to further reading. There is indeed good information in this book. However, "The Hispanic Way" & "The German Way" are more thorough, providing information not exclusive on "Spain" or "Germany", respectively, but on Spanish-speaking countries & German-speaking coutries, too. Obviously, the francophone world is huge, & a book of this size would have to focus primarily on one area; "The Hispanic Way" focused on Spain, does provide information about Hispanic America as well. I had hoped that "The French Way" would include some information about Belgium, Luxembourg, & Canada at least. Since this book doesn't include at least a little more information about these other francophone areas, I'd have to give it only 4 stars.

This book is too clichéd! Everything is described so briefly. I hesitate to call is succinct because it really doesn't delve deep into the culture. The topics covered are very superficial and it makes the culture look very transparent.

The book just barely gives you enough information to be a tad bit familiar with French culture but by all means will not prepare you for any immersion into French culture.

I've seen worse books than this, though. But there are better ones out there.

This book gives a very broad, basic view of France. If you know nothing about France, it can be helpful. However, if you've ever taken French classes in high school or college, you've probably learned these cultural notes in the introductory courses. As a study abroad advisor, I would recommend this book to anyone who doesn't know anything about France, but would be very worried if I was sending a student to France for a year and this was the extent of his/her knowledge! If you're going to France for a week on a tour, this book will help prepare you and may explain some of the questions you have about France. If you're going to be going to France for a longer period of time and/or want to really develop a greater understanding of French culture, this book is way too general and introductory for you. It's set up like a mini encyclopedia, with the subjects arranged alphabetically, not by category or subject area. It's an interesting set up, and fine for a brief introduction to French culture. If you're a strict grammarian who finds it distracting to read texts with grammatical errors, be forewarned: this book has several grammatical errors throughout its subjects.

Although some historical references are right (not all of them however), most of the content of this book is based on cliches and stereotypes about France ...
First of all , how can you name a book "Aspect of behavior, attitudes , etc ... of French people" ? It sounds like a book about animals.
Also I was very disappointed by the lack of information about regions and cities other than paris.
To me it is not the kind of book that will help you understand the French culture or even help you travel throughout France, it is rather a very biased pro-american comparison between french and american cultures.

Stay away from this book !

This book was organized very well and an easy read. It was very interesting and I read it in 2 nights! It needs to be updated, though, because the French have since changed to the Euro and no longer the franc.

Book was in perfect condition and fast shipping to my study abroad residence without hassle! Highly recommend!