Customer Reviews

Lonely Planet French Phrasebook (Lonely Planet Phrasebook: India) (French Edition)

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

 

 

We just got back from a 2-week vacation in France. We do not speak any French, and on the advice of the other reviews and the reputation of the publisher, we used this phrasebook for the trip. Boy were we disappointed! Tons of really basic things are missing from the book. For example, in the 2-way dictionaries and the food section, we could not find a lot of simple food items. What does "oeuf" mean? I'll give you a hint: you'll be as luckless in finding the answer as you will in finding the French word for "egg." The book also lacks standard travellers' phrases like "could you take our picture?" These are just a few of the many basic words, phrases, and terms that are missing here. What's even more infuriating is what this book DOES contain instead: an entire section devoted to "social issues," including talking politics, buying drugs, and dealing with the police if you are caught with drugs. My own views on these issues tend to be pretty liberal, but really - if you are not a native speaker of French, and are travelling abroad, do you have any business arguing social issues or getting involved in drug deals in a foreign country? And do these things really have any business being in a phrase book that doesn't even have the word for "egg"? I think the authors put in the extraneous stuff in order to fit in with Lonely Planet's hip, with-it image. Instead, they should have concentrated on making this book a little more helpful and useful. In France, the word "acceuil" appears in train stations, metro stations, airports, and on street signs. Not the most esoteric of terms, to be sure. The only place it doesn't appear is in this most useless of phrasebooks.

Let me see if I can help clear up some of the confusion caused by the mixed reviews of this book:

It is true that this phrasebook is sorely lacking in pronunciation instruction. The emphasis is on phrases and general sentence structure. The grammar advice can be hard to follow unless you are already familiar with basic French grammar. Therefore I would not recommend this book for beginners, especially beginners who truly want to learn French beyond just the words needed while traveling.

Having said that, this book is an AWESOME resource for those with at least some background knowledge of the French language. Pretty much every idea/situation you would want to communicate is in this book. It's very well organized and a handy pocket size as well. I had 1 semester of French each in high school and college, and while I don't speak French too well I still remember the basic pronunciation and grammar rules. I found that this book contained enough phrases and general information to jog my memory enough to the point that I can sufficiently communicate in French with the help of this book alone.

So if you know a little (or more) French already and are looking for something with lots of handy phrases, go for this book - it will serve you well. If you are looking for an introduction to the language and/or have an interest in learning French from the ground up, I would recommend purchasing some sort of book & tape set, maybe with this phrasebook as a backup guide while traveling. Hope that helps!

I picked this book up in Germany before I headed over to France and to my surprise it was actually fairly useful. The dictionary in the back wasn't very thorough. I ran across many words in day to day activities that weren't in the book. However the book is well organized by subject category. For any given instance this book had several phrases to use. It certainly came in handy where a straight dictionary would have not.

THIS IS A VERY COMPACT BUT VERY COMPLETE PHRASE BOOK. IT IS VERY EAST TO READ AND HAS INTERESTING TIPS AND HINTS THROUGH OUT. THE PRINT IS ALSO A GOOD SIZE FOR EASY READING. IT IS WORTH EVERY CENT.

We used this phrasebook to get around Paris. A recommended reading on the plane to France. Master looking up the phrases fast. The logical sections makes this easy. We used this phrasebook frequently to decode menus at restaurants which are not as touristy (as recommended in LP Paris book). Overall, excellent guide, a must buy for your trip to France IMHO.

This book was a big help to me. I was in Paris for a week and I don't speak French. The menu decoder section and the brief dictionary were particularly great.

Terrible book with no prounciation of any phrases WHATSOEVER! It really makes me mad when people write phoney reviews. I also purchased the Berlitz French Phrasebook so that my husband and I would not have to share a phrasebook. I would suggest it because the Lonely Planet Phrasebook is useless unless you already speak French.It would cost me more time and money to return the book than it is worth.

I found this book to be very helpful, but only if you've taken a French class before and know basic vocabulary and pronunciation. I don't think it will prove as helpful to someone with no background in French, unless maybe they study and practice it before going to France.
I found the sections on socializing very thorough and useful, but I wish that there had been more about the public transportation system. Overall, a useful guide if you want to talk to locals, who are so much nicer to you if you attempt to speak French, even if your accent isn't that great.