Jean-Benoit Nadeau - Böcker

After more than a decade of travelling throughout France one important lesson eluded married couple Julie and Jean-Benoit: how to communicate comfortably with the French, even when you speak their language?In The Bonjour Effect, they chronicle the lessons they learned after returning 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 champagne, the most important aspect of all: the French don't communicate, they converse.To converse in French, one must understand that 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, old friends and business acquaintances, Julie and Jean-Benoit explain why, culturally and historically, conversation with the French is not about communicating or being nice. It's about being interesting.After reading The Bonjour Effect, even someone with a basic understanding of French will be able to hold their own the next time they step into a bistro on the Left Bank.

Most of what we know about the French comes from what the French say about themselves. Yet how are we supposed to understand a people who say non when they mean yes, who never say "I don't know," even when they really don't, and who argue at the drop of a hat? Jean-Benoit Nadeau and Julie Barlow spent a decade traveling to and also living in Paris. In The Bonjour Effect, they chronicle the lessons they learned after returning to France to live, for a year, with their twin daughters. In a book as fizzy as a bottle of French champagne, they reveal the most important lesson 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 discussions? Through encounters with school principals, city hall civil servants, gas company employees, old friends and business acquaintances, Julie and Jean-Benoit explain why, culturally and historically, conversation with the French is not about communicating or being nice. It's about being interesting.After reading The Bonjour Effect, even readers with a modicum of French language ability will be able to hold their own the next time they step into a crowded bus, a beloved boulangerie, or a bistro on the Left Bank.