Customer Reviews

Tune Up Your French: Top 10 Ways to Improve Your Spoken French

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"Tune Up Your French" is not your ordinary French book. The theme of the book does not emphasize the normal grammar structures or verb drills nor does it highlight naughty French gros mots. Instead, author Natalie Shorr extends an informative welcome to enter the inner circle of native French speakers in both understanding and imitation. She hits upon ten topics that will bring your formal textbook French to a more comfortable level where you and the person to which you are speaking are more in tune with each other, resulting in less cultural misunderstanding. Her hints cover a wide spectrum from nonverbal cues, sound effects and interjections, through manners, table talk, practical idioms, slang to the all important use of wit and improvisation in language (think the magnificient French film "Ridicule"). By explaining the French response to certain expressions used by an unsuspecting native American speaker, the student reader becomes aware of the nuance behind his conveyed mannerisms, his words, the intended meaning and actual interpretation of any of the numerous expressions detailed by Schorr. The text demystifies many all-important ideas like how the French use more words to convey one word ideas in English, the French idea of food and a meal, the way slang is interpreted more negatively when used by a non-native speaker and the very European way of expressing the positive while using negative expressions. Schorr unlocks the door to understanding this centuries-old civilization by illustrating that language is alive and changing through numerous examples that are gastronomical, historical, philosophical and above all uniquely French and hence somewhat alien to the average American listener and observer. She stresses that once realizatiion of what the recipient of your dialogue understands and interprets,dawns, the non-native will be better equipped to use the right phrases, expressions and gestures to ensure that the correct point is being transmitted.
"Tune Up Your French" is by no means a diatribe about language. On the contrary, the information for each tune-up or chapter is presented in the following easy-to-read manner: a preview, explanation, list of top ten expressins and some reheasal time to review.
The book includes a wonderful CD which runs for about an hour which contains listening and repeating of expressions; the male and female French speakers will review some of the text's highlights and then use dialogue to allow you to practice usage. Very enjoyable.
This book is not for the beginner. The student purchasing this book must be pretty well versed in French basics. Some of the phrases used as examples are not translated; others are. The dialogue portion of the CD is rapid fire (spoken as French is truly spoken) without translation and without repetition.
Nevertheless, I most whole-heartedly recommend this very readable and enjoyable departure from most language textbooks. I would love to see a "Tune Up Your French II" with another fun-to-listen-to CD. Tres Bien, Madame Schorr! Please, McGraw Hill, do a "Tune Up Your Italian" also, s'il vous plait!

I recently interviewed the author for Lansing Public Radio's BookTalk and have to put my praise for this book on-line. I studied French for eight years, won my high school's award and shook the French ambassador's hand, and do well in France or Quebec when I travel (after the first day or so of language shock), but it's always with the help of a new book to brush up my fluency. This book is the most original, entertaining, and helpful of any of the the ones I've bought over the years.

The author doesn't lecture or overwhelm you, but rather makes you feel you're sitting down to chat with a very good friend about how the French live, how they speak, and how you can best fit into that world while you travel. To that end, Schorr very intelligently shows you how to ask substantive questions in French to get people talking so that you can engage in a real conversation and learn from it. She warns you against trying to sound too hip by using inappropriate slang, which may come off as sounding phony. You'll learn slang terms that are acceptable and others that aren't (in varying degrees).

The author also ends with epigrammatic French phrases you can learn and embroider so as to manifest wit and style, which the French admire. It may sound intimidating, but it really isn't. What she's after is getting you to relax and try various methods of entering the culture as a vistor who can truly enjoy it. A woman in a store on the Ile St. Louis once complimented my French, asked where I was from (America? Hard to believe!) and then sagely observed that one couldn't really appreciate a culture without knowing its language). Tune Up Your French will take you down that road. It offers help across the board, but is especially informative about matters of food and dining, and is there anyplace else where the French are more unqiquely themselves? Best of all, the book is entertaining and funny without going for cheap jokes. You don't have to be contemplating a trip to France to enjoy this informative, smart, accessible book.

How can you speak American English without using "Wow?" Yet when we study foreign languages in school, we never learn how to say things like that. Do you know how to say "Yuck" in French? It's "Buerk!" That's the kind of fascinating and useful thing this book tells you. What the author calls a "tune-up" is really the best possible introduction to speaking French -- a truly original approach which emphasizes the sounds, the gestures, the drama of French speakers. It's taken me 20 years of living with a Frenchman to realize some of the things Natalie Schorr reveals offhandedly in this book. How I wish I'd learned French from her in the first place! All languages should be taught this way. A truly wonderful book.

I love this book! Although my spoken French isn't bad, there are so many little things I've learned from skimming through this book -- for example, how to order a decaf espresso, what to say when someone is about to cut in front of you in line, or the fact that when giving a phone number, the French say the digits in pairs, whereas Americans say each number individually. The book is organized in chapters by topics, but because of its "top ten" format you can also open it at random and you're sure to learn something new and unexpected. Although it is written in a very amusing style, it's packed with useful information. A French friend who looked at it gave it her seal of approval, saying that the author really knew French expressions and customs. I keep the CD in my car and pop it in occasionally just for the fun of repeating some of the idioms and phrases along with the French speakers.

I've given this book to friends whose proficiency in French varied greatly and they've all raved about it. Highly recommended!

I have taken about 9 years of French classes in the U.S. at the middle and highschool and the college level, including a semester abroad in Paris. Although I know a lot of grammar and vocabulary, I have still always felt limited in my conversational skills. My confidence in my ability to convey exactly the nuanced feeling and attitude I wanted was low. At the same time, ordinary French books seemed to give me a lot of the same knowledge I had already learned (grammar and vocabulary) and in the same old format. It was hard to articulate what I was looking for in terms of improving my confidence in speaking French. Tune Up your French was just what I was looking for. It covers the nuances of speaking French - the posture and mannerisms that go with the language, the cultural nuances of certain words, the repetition of certain words and expressions and their meaning to the French, the use of facial expressions and mannerisms to go with the language, and even French slang (which is so useful but rarely taught in French classes and books). For exampe, how do you say that someone is a jerk in French? How do you show disgust? What does it mean when someone raises their eyebrows? Also, the set-up of the book lends itself to practical learning - with pretests at the begining of each chapter and then a chance to practice what you've learned at the end. Lastly, it is impressively accesible to any reader with some French in their background and even pretty witty and amusing at times. You don't feel like you are reading a text book and yet you are learning. C'est formidable!

This book/CD is AWESOME.

It's EXTREMELY informative--it not only teaches you phrases but also about FRENCH ETIQUETTE.

I wasn't planning on purchasing a French phrase book, but I was flipping through it in a bookstore and thought it was SO informative that I just had to purchase it.

Examples of things you'll learn:
-How to pronouce things to sounds more French (i.e. Ce n'est pas grave should be prounced in 3 syllables instead of 4: snay pa grave)
-How to conduct yourself in a restaurant so you blend in (i.e. call the waiter "Monsieur" in lieu of "Garcon," the French don't drink water with ice, the French don't butter their bread, etc)

How they teach:
1. Teach you phrases (of course)
2. Have you listen to a dialogue and then ask you questions concerning the dialogue.
3. Have you be part of a dialogue (i.e., you're giving someone driving directions)
4. Teach you 2 phrases (i.e. Ca tombe bien and ca tombe mal) and have you react to a series of phrases where you should react by saying one of the 2 phrases
5. etc

Anyway, I find this EXTREMELY HELPFUL.
It's also amusing at times.

VERY WELL THOUGHT OUT.

My spoken French is pretty good, but textbookish. I found Tune Up to be very useful and interesting, the material and idioms covered are actual phrases I can use and not quirky "slang" that one is better off not learning; in addition, the authors stress context, so you get a feel for nuance, how the idioms and phrases should be used. The audio CD is especially entertaining and a great help with pronunciation and comprehension. The French speakers are amusing as they whisper the correct answers...

Insightful and practical book that will provide that je ne sais quoi to your speech (and knowing it's pronounced "jeune say kwa" not "je ne sais quoi", silly!) It is, how do you say..."frenchifying"? Having studied French for 6+ years in high school and college as well as post-college, I still find myself speaking like a 2nd grader in the presence of a native French speaker. This book smartly gives you key phrases, slang expressions, pronunciation tips as well as non-verbal cues and French "sounds" that will get you closer to sounding like a natural speaker. Note that this book is designed for someone already familiar with French grammar and vocabulary. My only complaint is accompanying CD which is nice but could be more useful by following the book text and providing even more content.

Excellent CD! I enjoy listening to it while I'm commuting to work as a high school French teacher. I've been able to use some of the info with my classes, even though they are not experienced or even intermediate learners. They especially enjoyed learning about the actual French usage of "Oh la la (la la(la la))". And the insights into the French mind behind the usages are entertaining and useful. The book provides further insights into the mind behind spoken French.

Instead of grammar and endless conjugations and silly useless exercises, we get useful insights into how to say useful things. I couldn't recommend a book more highly! It takes a lot of practice, and a lot of embarrassing errors, to learn a new language. It's hard to find people who will give you just the right correction at the right time--because this is what sticks in my brain. It is infinitely pleasing to try out a new phrase and have it understood and accepted. This book gives lots of that type of phrase, reassures about spoken verbs, tells you how to say "I'm just looking" and "I'll think about it," and provides nice lists of "faux amis" and good swear words. Really excellent, useful book--if you want to learn more French, read this book!