Overview

Jean-Benoit 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-Benoit 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-Benoit explain why, culturally and historically, conversation with the French is not about communicating or being nice. It's about being interesting.

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9781541461802

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The authors clearly had a ball researching the book, and their glee is infectious. The writing is as light as it is substantive, and if that sounds like a contradiction, I would refer you to a souffle ---New York Times

The authors clearly had a ball researching the book, and their glee is infectious. The writing is as light as it is substantive, and if that sounds like a contradiction, I would refer you to a soufflA (c) ---New York Times

Author Information

Award-winning author and journalist Julie Barlow is a regular contributor to the 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. Jean-Benoit Nadeau, an award-winning author and journalist, is coauthor, with his wife, Julie Barlow, of the international bestseller Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong. His writing has appeared in newspapers and magazines across Canada, the U.S., and Europe. Teri Schnaubelt is a Chicago-based stage, on-camera, and voice actor as well as oil painter and photographer. She has voiced over 100 books for New York Times and USA Today bestselling authors, in addition to helping independent authors get their stories heard.

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