Customer Reviews

Merde!: The Real French You Were Never Taught at School

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When I first moved to Paris, I could barely speak a word of French (and had no job, and nowhere to stay, but that's another story), apart from a heavily-accented "une baguette de pain s'il vous plait Madame". And I can honestly say that this book was THE most useful thing I read -- indeed, it's the only book I pored over and learnt sections of by heart. Yes, speaking proper sentences and being polite and all that is all very useful, but if you really want to enjoy yourself, and get on with the locals, then this is the motherlode. Even if you only know two words of French, slipping a few well-chosen words like "bagnole", "boulot", and "flingue" (and the choicer swear words) into your conversation will break the ice, and impress your hosts, a LOT more than knowing the subjective pluperfect ever could. I eventually took "proper" French lessons at the Sorbonne, and had many arguments with my teacher about the relative merits of "correct" and "colloquial" French. For me, learning a language is about communicating, not about grammar, and this is the perfect place to start. To this day, I make sure that none of my friends or colleagues goes off to France for any period of time without a copy of this under their arm...

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.

This book is an excellent source of words and expressions, of varying degrees of vulgarity, that are used all the time by french speakers. I used it often during the first of my two years in France. Its real value is not for those in French 101 but for those who already speak decent french and want to learn the expressions used every day by the young and some of the french media (magazines, movies etc). Translated literally many of these words might seem offensive (e.g., connard, encule, putain), yet as the book points out, many times these are the phrases you hear the most in the metro or cafes of France. It is important to realize that even though these words do not carry the same force as their English translations, one must still pay attention to the social context in order to aviod disrespectful "faux pas"!

I loved this book! Let's face it, every advanced French student wants a little fun. Today (Bastille Day) I took the book to work with me and translated the obscene cartoons for a friend.

But it's more than just obscenity. Sample of something I learned: un frangin = un frere = a brother. The book has lots of "innocent" words like that, and you will hear many of them in the movies!

Shortcoming: the book doesn't have an index. This makes it very hard to find that word you want to check up on: ?bagnole?

All in all, a good value for your dollar.

A Wonderful book. I moved to France without being able to speak a word of French, except for the one sentence I'd retained from high school lessons: "une baguette, s'il vous plait" (the boulangerie was the only place I actually had to speak -- in supermarkets, you just pay what's written on the cash register).

I soon realized that everything I was being taught at my language course at the Sorbonne was only going to get me so far -- a good 50% of peoples' conversations, the dialog in movies, song lyrics, etc., used words that weren't in my textbook.

This book was a godsend -- easily the most useful French language textbook I've ever read. Ultimately, it meant that I could start taking the steps to being an "insider", rather than a tourist (another hint -- knowing 1970s French pop stars is a lot more important than knowing the date of the storming of the Bastille). Trying to learn another language is always painful, so any kind of positive feedback is important, and I found that it was much easier to impress people with a well-chosen slang phrase than with my mastery of sentences designed to get you through passport control (let alone the use of the subjunctive).

Bottom line: If you're only going to learn 50 French words, they should be "please", "thank you" and another 48 from this book -- you'll

(A) Be able to amuse your hosts, and (B) Know when people are insulting you.

And don't worry, the people in passport control speak English just fine...

The very first "naughty" French word that most beginning students in the French language learn is "merde!" Thus, "Merde!: The 'Real' French You Were Never Taught in School" by Geneviève is an appropriately titled supplemental glossary of "argot" (slang) that probably is not be covered in Conversational French courses. However, one needs to learn this terminology as much as one needs to learn the subjunctive if one is to navigate successfully through the streets of France. Also, now that the internet has made it possible for people to chat online in French-speaking chat rooms, one needs to know more than formal French. Geneviève has compiled in "Merde!" twelve small chapters of "a guide to survival." On each page the English words are on the left and the "equivalent" French colloquialisms are on the right. Geneviève has added asterisks to words that "indicate a degree of rudeness above the ordinary colloquial . . . .[and] two asterisks show a whopper," which means the "strength" and "rudeness" of the expression.

Here are some of the chapter headings: "The Body and Its Functions"; "The Weighty Matters of Love and Sex (National Obsession Number One)"; "The No Less Weighty Matters of Food and Drink (National Obsession Number Two)"; "Hassling"; "Money Matters"; "Work and Social Status"; "Indulging in Racism, Xenophobia and Disrespect for One's Elders"; "To Exit Rapidly"; "Positive Thinking"; and "Foreign Invasions of the Language." The first two chapters: "Musts" and "Variations on a Theme" go over basic idiomatic vocabulary, including all the parts of speech. At the end of all the chapters, there is either a "review" or a "quiz" to recapitulate what one has "learned." This short book concludes with a four question "final exam" (and the answers are given in English).

There are several ways to approach this book. If one speaks decent French already, one may enjoy browsing through the book to "pick up" a bit of slang. (One will hear this type of language all over France and online in French chat rooms.) Further, one could make an attempt to memorize the vocabulary so that one may understand what is being said (or typed). "Merde!" offers a brief overview of the more salacious and, as Geneviève says, "authentic" language of modern France. However, "Merde!" does not offer that many idiomatic phrases because it is primarily a vocabulary book.

Highly recommended for travelers, whether "real time" or "cyber"!

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.

Contains lots of slang and is very thprough. I tend to agree with other reviewers however, this should be treated essentially as a vocab book, since no converstions are really present. If you want to see how slang is used in conversation, perhaps StreetWise French by Ian Pickup and Rod Hares and/ or the Dictionary of Colloquial and Slang Expressions by Struth are better choices. That said this book is fun to read and does provide exercises for you test your knowledge. If you study this book and apply it correctly you wil become la gosse legume avec ton amis francais!

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.

It's nice to have a source of REAL foreign slang, besides the various tame things thrown in by teachers in a sad attempt to interest the class. By far the best and most amusing use for this book is your sudden ability to retort when you overhear others talking about you. You will get your money's worth the first time you see that look of surprise.