The Bonjour Effect, Julie Barlow
The Bonjour Effect, Julie Barlow
4 Rating(s)
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The Bonjour Effect
The Secret Codes of French Conversation Revealed

Author: Julie Barlow, Jean-Benoit Nadeau

Narrator: Teri Schnaubelt

Unabridged: 8 hr 38 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 08/29/2017

Synopsis

Jean-Benoît Nadeau and Julie Barlow spent a decade traveling back and forth to Paris as well as living there. Yet one important lesson never seemed to sink in: how to communicate comfortably with the French, even when you speak their language. In The Bonjour Effect Jean-Benoît and Julie chronicle the lessons they learned after they returned to France to live, for a year, with their twin daughters. They offer up all the lessons they learned and explain, in a book as fizzy as a bottle of the finest French champagne, the most important aspect of all: the French don't communicate, they converse.

To understand and speak French well, one must understand that French conversation runs on a set of rules that go to the heart of French culture. Why do the French like talking about "the decline of France"? Why does broaching a subject like money end all discussion? Why do the French become so aroused debating the merits and qualities of their own language?

Through encounters with school principals, city hall civil servants, gas company employees, old friends, and business acquaintances, Julie and Jean-Benoît explain why, culturally and historically, conversation with the French is not about communicating or being nice. It's about being interesting.

About Julie Barlow

Canadian journalist-author Julie Barlow is a regular contributor to Montreal public affairs magazine L'actualite. Her writing has appeared in magazines and newspapers in the U.S., Canada, and Europe, including the New York Times, USA Today, Toronto Star, and the International Herald Tribune.

In 2003, Barlow published the international bestseller Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong with her husband, Jean-Benoit Nadeau.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Nick on May 10, 2018

Finally, now we know why French waiters are so rude! The best bit about this fun and easy read is that the subject matter is French etiquette and customs, but the authors are Canadian with an eye to an American readership. So for a Brit like me it's really a 2-for-1 deal, you get insight into French......more

Goodreads review by Biblio on April 06, 2016

More than a language tutorial or a guide for doing business in France, this is more like an ethnography of France, such as Kate Fox's anthropological study of The English. And it's a bit sly -- the authors (a married couple from French Canada, fluent in French and English) start out with the excelle......more

Goodreads review by Irena on May 01, 2019

6 stars. One of the most knowledgeable, informative and useful books I've ever read about France ( nothing like the usual content of books about France aimed at foreigners: shallow rehashing of stereotypes and clichés). The authors, husband and wife, lived in France for years, not just traveled arou......more

Goodreads review by Leftbanker on March 30, 2023

Some interesting points are made in this, but it’s too long-winded, like it could have easily been a long magazine article. I taught my two brothers to say “Bonjour” upon entering any French business establishment and they both said they were treat much better, even though they speak little or no Fr......more

Goodreads review by Jocelyn on August 11, 2018

Five stars for the amount of research that went into this book, and for the fascinating presentation of material in ways the reader can understand. I learned so much. This would be a great book for anyone planning to spend any time in France (especially Paris) or for one who wants to understand Fren......more

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