Customer Reviews

Living and Working in France: Chez Vous en France

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

French-born author Genevive Brame acknowledges the cold reputation of her own people, but promises that they would welcome anyone who takes the time to learn about French culture and customs. Thus she brings us Living and Working in France, a survival guide for anyone planning to work, live, visit or study in France. This primer on the minutiae of everyday French life, including government, communication, media, real estate, weather, shopping, schools, driving, and healthcare puts France under a microscope while teaching new expats how to accept and be accepted in French culture.

Readers may be surprised by the many similarities between American culture and French life, and even more surprised by the differences. For example, in this country where cooking is a culinary art, even rapid meals are enjoyed sitting down at a table. Practical bits of advice like this can help readers avoid the occasional faux pas, but the most important step one can take to fit into French culture is to learn the language. "Immerse yourself linguistically," Brame writes. "Take the opportunity to speak, without restraint, and learn French, without being a perfectionist." Chock full of French phrases, the book offer quick learners the opportunity to learn some key phrases before their planes touch down in Paris. It also features a list of informative Websites, a timeline of French history, maps, and a metric conversion table.

I am not even a quarter of the way through (I read at least 5-6 books at a time) kinda like when I was in school. Works for me. She has an interesting style that keeps you reading and makes the information easy to understand. Glad I bought the book!

The emphasis of this book is for people who want to start a business. There is an analysis of each department's plusses and minuses vis a vis opening one's own firm, and the information in that section may be useful for readers whose emphasis is NOT self-employment.

Having read the synopsis and the other reviews, I was very disappointed in how little information this book contained. Some of the information, such as that taxis exist and how much to tip the driver would have been more appropriate in a tourist guide. This kind of information, found in the typical tourist guide, is not what people who are preparing for or thinking of relocating need. Other things such as "You can only use French stamps in France" when talking about the post office, seemed to me to be written for very naive people indeed. Other facts like "There is a great diversity of pet food available in supermarkets" or, about driving, "If you are lost... a policeman will always be willing to help you" or that the French like to take their vacations in the mountains or on the sea or in the country, or sometimes abroad, didn't add much to my knowledge of how to prepare before moving or how to adapt once I get there.

The "further information" sections at the end of each chapter gave lists of entities or websites, but rarely were any of the entries annotated, so that if you wanted to make use of them, you would have to try each one out to find out what agency or organization it was or what information might be available there. For me the book was almost a complete waste of time. It wouldn't make a good guidebook and it provided almost no useful information about moving to France.