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Title: Rick Steves' French Phrase Book and Dictionary
ISBN: 1566915171
Author:
Rick Steves
Publicate Date: 2003-05
Publish: 2003-05
List Price: $7.95
Average Customer Rating: 4.5
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $4.08
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $3.35
Amazon Merchant Price: $7.95
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| Customer Review: |
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1: So far so good...
I have yet to put the phrases to use but I feel more confident already...the phonetic pronunciation guides are very clear. The humor and variety make the book easy to read and become familiar with. Thanks also for the hints on manners and realistic expectations.
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2: Helpful and compact
I speak enough French to survive in France without assistance if I had to, but why do that when I have this handy little guidebook? Seriously, this book brought back to memory much of the vocabulary I learned in high school and college. I didn't really need to use it much, but it was a great refresher. If I didn't speak any French, it would have been a lifesaver. My husband actually referred to the book quite a bit because he doesn't speak French.
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3: Hard to use
I would not recommend this phrase book because I found it very hard to access the phrases. It is organized by situations where you would use the phrases, such as counting, traveling, eating, and sleeping. It requires too much skimming and scanning to find what you want to say.
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4: A Little Book That Helped A Lot!!
Great book! Highly recommended. Easy to use, easy to find the topics you need when you need them. The phonetic words are easy to understand, and are spot on with the real corresponding word (with some other phrase books I have tried, the phonetics were not quite right). There are phrases for real situations, even some funny situations, covering everything from being pulled over by police in your rental car to dealing with pushy street venders (which are abundant in Paris! - which came in handy for us when at the Louvre!). There is a menu and food decoder which we referred to quite a bit so as to know what we were ordering to eat. With this book, we were able to communicate easily everywhere we went: the metro, the train station, eateries, museums, grocery store, and even in the countryside where hardly anyone speaks English.
My Spouse and I were in France last month and I had purchased this book weeks ahead of time and began reviewing the phrases inside. By the time we got to France, we both had learned enough to communicate nicely with the people. In Paris, there are a great many people that speak English, or at least understand it a bit, but it's still nice to be able to say something to them in French even if it's just a greeting. But we stayed in the countryside where English is rare, but we got on just fine at the grocery store, the villages, and the cafes with this little book in hand. The easy to use words and phrases are great in a pinch, but as a helpful tip: Don't just buy the book and wait to use it until your there standing at a ticket booth trying to figure what to say - familiarize yourself with the key phrases that are important to you, and where they are located in the book before you even get on the plane.
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5: Not needed if you get the Paris Guide book
While this is helpful, it is not a necessary purchase if you purchase the 2008 Paris Guide by Rick Steves. But it is a fun and entertaining read!
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