Talk To the Snail: The Ten Commandments For Living With The French - Hardcover

Clarke, Stephen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670066095 ISBN 13: 9780670066094

Publisher: Viking, 2006

Synopsis

Don't go to France without reading this book!

Have you ever walked into a half-empty Parisian restaurant, only to be told that it's complet? Attempted to say merci beaucoup and accidentally complimented someone's physique? Been overlooked at the boulangerie due to your adherence to the bizarre foreign custom of waiting in line?

Well, you're not alone. Internationally bestselling author Stephen Clarke has been there, too, and he is here to help. In Talk to the Snail, Clarke distills the fruits of years spent in the French trenches into a handy (and hilarious) book of commentary and advice. Read this book, and find out how to get good service from the grumpiest waiter; be exquisitely polite and brutally rude at the same time; and employ the language of l'amour and le sexe. Clarke also illuminates some of the reasons the French get under our skins: How can they work only 35 hours a week and yet still go on strike? Why are they so convinced of their own superiority? And what's this myth about French women not getting fat?

Packed with useful phrases, candid tips, and deft intercultural analysis, Talk to the Snail is a must-have guide to getting what you want from the French.

About this title

About the Author

His first novel, A Year in the Merde, originally became a word-of-mouth hit in Paris in 2004. Since then it has been published all over the world, and earned Stephen a nomination for the British Book Award for Best Newcomer. The follow-up, Merde Actually, went to number one in the Bookseller chart. In 2006, he published his guide to understanding the French, Talk to the Snail, which he divided into ten ‘commandments’ or chapters that include “Thou Shalt Not Work,” “Thou Shalt Not Love Thy Neighbour” and “Thou Shalt Not Be Served.”

During his research for Merde Happens, Stephen was interviewed by the American police twice, found one real pistol, was told to “have a good one” 127 times, and became allergic to cranberries.

Edition details

• Publisher: Viking
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0670066095
• ISBN 13: 9780670066094
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224