This book explains the difference between levels of colloquial French and when you'd be likely to use it.
Learning French is straightforward but speaking it with native speakers is another matter. Sure, you can learn verbs and grammar and understand how to construct sentences but can you contribute to a conversation when someone starts talking about how their girlfriend dumped them, in colloquial French? If you want to immerse yourself in the French language and live or study in a French-speaking country you need to understand how to use different levels of colloquial French. This book sets out two objectives - to provide you with a series of authentic situations where different people are talking naturally, and to give you comprehension lessons so you can test how much you understand of slang and everyday French.
The book explains the difference between levels of colloquial French and when you'd be likely to use it; for example, from everyday language like "guy" instead of "man", to slang that might be used more often by younger people, to "langue verte" - vulgar French that could be highly insulting when used in the wrong (or right!) context. While it’s good to know about all the different ways to say “go away!” learners have got to be careful. You’ll certainly learn the hard way if you try out phrases on the wrong group of people in the wrong situation. For this purpose, the authors mark certain words and phrases with an asterisk to signal these "are probably not for you to use personally unless you know your companions well; even then, you may get it wrong".
"There is clearly no substitute for a year abroad or some time spent living and communicating with native speakers. However, if your budget doesn’t stretch that far then this text is a good alternative."
Streetwise French is split into 14 chapters. Each chapter focuses on a different language function, for example greeting people, complaining, and asking for a favor. Each chapter has two conversations between French speakers. You follow these dialogues by listening to the CD that is included with the book. It is useful to find a transcript in French as well as an English translation of the dialogue - some of the conversations are hard to understand as the participants speak very quickly. It is handy to be able to check certain words that you may have missed. If you are a more advanced student, don't look at the transcript in French. However, you will probably need the section where idioms are literally translated. While it is not always helpful to look at literal translations of idioms, there are also notes regarding usage which provide you with the context for the spoken French.
Following the dialogue and translations are a variety of exercises to test how much you understand. For help completing these exercises, use the vocabulary lists. There are three review chapters in the book that have a crossword puzzle and a set of exercises linked to the topics in the preceding chapters. I found the addition of jokes and cultural commentary to be interesting from the perspective of learning how French has developed and where it stands today in relation to the rest of the world. The illustrations are also a good addition – you can learn a lot about the context of certain phrases and words when looking at the humorous pictures.
Spoken French is difficult to get right and the speed at which the people in these dialogues speak makes it hard to understand t first, but this is the nature of real-life conversation and as you go through the book you should get used to the speed and discover you are more proficient at understanding and are making progress with the language.
The book is certainly not for a beginner. But it can be used by anyone with a grounding in French alongside more traditional learning materials. You don’t need a teacher to work through this book. Streetwise French is a worthy attempt at demystifying French slang and giving you, the outsider, an entry into the real world of French speakers. However, slang is a difficult subject for any printed materials to cover. As soon as the jacket is on the book, the colloquialisms and current expressions have changed. Some of the examples in English are already dated (who says "I was just shooting through to tell you that I'm having a bash at my place Friday…”) There is clearly no substitute for a year abroad or some time spent living and communicating with native speakers. However, if your budget doesn’t stretch that far then this text is a good alternative.
