h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Handy French Phrases - A2207783
Author: The French Connection - U201936


Bonjour, all you PeeRevueurs,

For your delectation, a pretty self-explanatory entry on something I know about.

And I know that it ought to link to the EG entry on 'France' (The very first word, no less!), but I don't think much of that entry, so merde!

All suggestions/corrections/criticisms bienvenue, venez nombreux!

A plus
Fr_Conn

very good, very straightforward. I enjoyed perusing the list. Tres bien, merci beaucoup, J'espere voir ceci a la premier page du hootoo.

dave

Great entry, really useful. When I was travelling around France this summer I found using 'ouai' instead of 'oui' in southern areas was great for breaking the ice, perhaps you could make a mention of this?

This is good!

I'd add two items to the eating and drinking section, because they often cause confusion:

English - French
The Menu - La Carte
The Set Dinner - Le Menu

I don't like the way you've linked to the pronunciation entry:

It should be near the start of the entry, not down at the end. The link should be on the words "French Pronunciation", not on the word "here". As it is, the references section in the right margin repeats the word "here" with a link to the pronunciation entry.

thankyou --> thank you
mediterranean --> Mediterranean

"Where" is included twice in succession.

A couple you might like to add

Food and Drink section

Wine is also sole in a "Pichet" or "Pot" - usually the house wine, these can vary in size from 25cl (un quart) to 46cl (normal for 'Un Pot')

Beer... Certainly in Lyon you'll never hear the words 'un serieux', you're far more likely to hear 'Un Pint SVP' - however unfrench it is

Good list!

A couple of comments...
In the section where you translate "wine" as "le vin", you should clarify that "le vin" means "the wine". If you wanted to order a glass of wine, you would say "Un verre du vin, svp."
The term "le Samu" must be a term used in France. I haven't heard that term used in Quebecois french ever.
If you're going to list numbers, you should probably do one to twenty, inclusive.
There's a typo in footnote 1.
Describing "beer", the word "usually" is incomplete.
Talking about nationalities, I think you could say "For the female form, an 'e' is added and the final 's' is pronouced." When I read the description, I interpreted it as the 'e' is pronounced.

Hmmm... that's more than a couple, but it's not that bad.

You might want to add section on transportation terms. And maybe terms like "north", "south", "east" and "west".

Cheers!

Anyone looking after this entry?

All in All it is good I think, but it seems a bit bland. Sorry.

I would agree that it is very handy, if a little bland (which may be unavoidable given the content and purpose).
Some points to consider:
- another place that this list would be very helpful is Canada: English and French are both official languages here, and in Quebec French is the primary language.
- it may be helpful to have a slang section. I know this is very region-dependant, but some are pretty universal and well used, such as 'Salut' for 'Hi' and 'Allez!' for 'Go!'
Overall, a good entry!

"in Quebec French is the primary language"


You mean its French you lot speak... I keep getting into trouble over here for using a Canadian French/English technical dictionary that keeps giving me words that don't actually exist outside of Quebec



Whisky
(In Lyon )

true true... i guess it's better to say that "Quebecquois is the primary language of Quebec" seeing as it's so loaded with slang.

Having said that... I love the accent

But you might want to say that if there are letters in brackets at the end of words, are feminine.

Speaking as someone who has lived in France for a while & STILL not come to grips with the language, i'd say this is a reasonable short guide to basics.

I live in South West France & would definitely agree with:

<>

--here it is pronounced "way", it is now so automatic for me, i confuse English people on the phone by saying it, used constantly for "OK, carry on, i understand" etc

"How are you?" round here is inevitably "ça va?"

"STOP!" could be shortened to simply "ARRET!"

A useful phrase which is somewhat vulgar, but effective if an unwelcome person is being very persistent is "caisse-toi!" (basically means "sod off!")

Terri.

ps: whatever happened to the "Let's parlez franglais" thread?

See the language thing if you wanna speak french

Which one? Is there one for all languages, including English?

Terri

There's a link to it from my personal space thing

!

Or should i say "merci"!

I hope this is still being worked on... is The French Connection a single person or a group?

A couple of things...
In the section for emergency phrases you have listed 'Help!' as well as 'Help! Help!' which seems a bit redundant.

Your link to French pronunciation would be better at the beginning of the entry as was mentioned, and the words French Pronunciation should be the link. You might reword it to say 'A guide to *French Pronunciation* might help you get more use out of this entry' or something to that effect. And if you change the link to a h2g2 specific link the title of the entry will automatically appear in the sidebar:

**kicks this one back up to the top of the list**


Anyone out there still working on this?

It'd be a shame to loose it!

Whisky