FREE THE BONJOUR EFFECT PDF Julie Barlow,Jean-Benoit Nadeau | 320 pages | 19 Apr 2016 | St Martin's Press | 9781250051851 | English | New York, United States Home : Nadeau Barlow Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Yet one important lesson never seemed to sink in: how to communicate comfortably with the French, even when you speak their language. They offer up all the lessons they learned and explain, in a book as fizzy as a bottle of the The Bonjour Effect 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? It's about being interesting. After reading The Bonjour Effecteven readers with a modicum of French language ability will be able to hold their own the next time they step into a bistro on the Left Bank. Get A Copy. Hardcoverpages. More Details Original Title. Paris France. Other Editions Friend Reviews. The Bonjour Effect see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about The Bonjour Effectplease sign up. Lists The Bonjour Effect This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 3. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. May 03, Nick Imrie rated it liked it Shelves: non-fictionplace-franceconversation. 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 and American customs. The book ranges widely over different aspects The Bonjour Effect how the French interact, from the etiquette The Bonjour Effect how to say hello, to the content of conversations, which topics are encouraged and Finally, now we know why French waiters are so rude! The book ranges widely over different aspects of how the French interact, from the etiquette of how to say hello, to the content of conversations, which topics are encouraged and which are verboten, what's private and what's public, how French food culture supports French conversation styles; and at the same time always highlighting what's surprising for Americans. The biggest difference, which comes up again and again, is that Americans think that conversations are a transaction, a trade of information, but for the The Bonjour Effect a conversation is an art form. It's like a dance. You do it elegantly, you do it companionably, you do it with style. You owe it to everyone else to be interesting. This has a really fascinating knock-on effect in terms of what can be talked about. For the French, your job is both personal and dull and therefore off the table. For Americans it's The Bonjour Effect information about yourself and a neutral starter topic. For the French politics is an excellent opening topic, offering everyone the chance to say something interesting or outrageous and segues nicely into The Bonjour Effect sorts of other fun things like philosophy. For Americans, the political is personal and fraught The Bonjour Effect awkward moral judgements. For the French conversation is a game, so saying non is an opening gambit, and invitation to argue or persuade. For Americans, who assume that you mean exactly what you say, non is an alarmingly blunt dead-end. I'm struck once again by how strange and different American service culture is. Nowhere else in the world do people expect such grovelling obsequiousness from the underpaid. So there's a rather long explanation that you have to be polite to grocery clerks, petty bureaucrats, bus drivers, and so on or else you will get bad service. This seems pretty obvious to me, but the The Bonjour Effect clearly expect the The Bonjour Effect to be The Bonjour Effect. Waiting tables is such a low-status job in American it isn't even worthy of the minimum wage, but in France the waiter is an expert in the food and drink available and these skills deserve respect. Some things surprised me, although they seem obvious in retrospect. So as the French being much weaker at debate skills than Americans, as they aren't in the habit of The Bonjour Effect anything so prosaic as presenting facts The Bonjour Effect refuting arguments! And the authors assert that French people are very embarrassed to be shown as ignorant and will engage in all sorts of evasions to avoid saying, 'I don't know. The book meanders across all kinds of topics, and is an entertaining mix of anecdote, statistics and speculation, as engaging as a good chat with a seasoned traveller. View all 7 comments. This is a really great read for Francophiles, and perhaps a few francophones as well! Two Canadian journalists, Julie Barlow and Jean-Benoit Nadeau, a married couple with their two daughters, lived in France on two occasions. They written this book for anyone interested in understanding the social mores embedded in the language. With wit and lots of anecdotes, the reader is entertained by the idiosyncrasies of the French. The target audience is North Americans. One thing I The Bonjour Effect not know is that waiters are highly trained professionals in France. It's not a side-line or holiday job there. And the most important word in French is Bonjour! But wait for it, you have to wait for the reply of the The Bonjour Effect you addressed, since your greeting announced your invasion of the person's space, and by replying, the person gives you permission to be there! You may then proceed. Bonjour is code for The Bonjour Effect allow me to indulge in your services. The chapter on gender issues was too long. However, after reading the book I was wondering about the The Bonjour Effect assigned to nouns. The word 'gender' was created to address just that in dictionaries. Nowadays it is used as a social construct to 'neutralize' all genders, even forbidding anyone to apply a 'gender' to any biological sex. Now given the millions of words The Bonjour Effect many many languages, I cannot help but smile at the challenge it must pose to neutralize everything. There's the few billion animal species The Bonjour Effect their turn. Oh dear, and what about all the plants that are sexed by nature itself. Female and male plants which grow together to ensure offsprings. Full of fun, and really entertaining. By reading the book you will understand what the authors mean with this remark: The French appear to be closet optimists wrapped in a thick cloak of pessimism. To be fair, as a general manner of speaking, the French do consider criticism to be more honest than praise. To the French, unbridled optimism, enthusiasm, or unwarranted contentment all scream simplemindedness. As France's most popular stand-up comedian, Jammel Debbouze, The Bonjour Effect it, you have to sound pessimistic to look intelligent in France. Overt pessimism has an elegant anti-establishment quality about it, like wearing all black This book is a revelation. And lots of fun! Feb 07, Biblio Files takingadayoff rated it it was amazing. The Bonjour Effect 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 The Bonjour Effect French and English start out with the excellent but well-known advice to greet people in France. Greet shopkeepers, bus drivers, hotel clerks, waiters. Start every encounter with Bonjour. This will not guarantee you smooth sailing in France, but 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. This will not guarantee you The Bonjour Effect sailing in France, but not saying it will guarantee a rough ride. From that familiar ground they move on The Bonjour Effect education systems in France, politics, religion, bureaucracy, and dinner parties. It's a revelation! Feb 16, Wen rated it liked it Shelves: france. The Bonjour Effect: An Interview with Authors Barlow and Nadeau | Bonjour Paris Superhero media has a history of critiquing the dark side of power, hero worship, and vigilantism, but none have done so as radically as Watchmen and The Boys. Aussie indie rockers, Floodlights' debut From a View is a very cleanly, crisply-produced and mixed collection of shambolic, do-it- yourself indie guitar music. CF Watkins has pulled off the unique trick of creating an album that is imbued with the warmth of the American South as well as the urban sophistication of New York. Canadian singer-songwriter Helena Deland's first full-length release Someone New reveals her considerable creative talents. Joe Wong, the composer behind Netflix's Russian Doll and Master of Nonearticulates personal grief and grappling with The Bonjour Effect fulfillment into a sweeping debut album.