French in Your Face! The Only Book to Match 1,001 Smiles, Frowns, and Gestures to French Expressions So You Can Learn to Live the Language!

162 Pages·2007·10.85 MB·English

by  Luc Nisset

FRENCH
IN YOUR
FACE!
The only book to match 1,001 smiles, frowns, and gestures to
French expressions so you can learn to live the language!
L U C N I S S E T
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contents
“pre-face” v
character and personality 
polar opposites 
le personnalitest 
personality types A–Z 
moods, emotions, and attitudes 
mood swings 
l’humeuromètre 
emotions and attitudes A–Z 
appearance and gestures 
facial descriptions 
l’agence de rencontres 
body language 
index 
iii
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“pre-face"
Let’s face it: A face is worth a thousand words. It can reveal our character
and signal our emotions and moods—even when we attempt to hide our
feelings. You sometimes expect people to know how you feel just by looking
at your face, which is convenient when, as often happens in France, your
mouth is full! T e messages that faces express are an essential ingredient
of human interaction, but when we communicate in another language, this
critical dimension is usually missing. In our eff ort to speak correctly and
avoid mistakes, we adopt the self-conscious mentality of a dunce student,
and we fail to notice and understand the facial expressions of the native
speaker we are talking to.
French in Your Face! is designed to open up your receptivity to the other
person’s face! T e French people are very emotional and sensitive: For them
a wrong word is worth a thousand swords. But—and here’s where this book
comes in—they love to laugh! T is book is your passport to communicating
with these wonderful people; it links French terms, common expressions,
idioms, colloquialisms, and even insults to the character, personality, mood,
facial appearance, and gestures behind them. Enriching your knowledge of
a language should be a rewarding source of pleasure. We hope you fi nd this
book and its illustrations to be funny, loud, opinionated, and, as the title
suggests, in your face!
using this book
Just have fun! You can browse through the book, pausing where an illustra-
tion grabs your attention, or you can look up specifi c emotions or moods
in the index or the detailed contents at the beginning of each unit, or you
can take the lighthearted quizzes in each unit to pinpoint areas to focus on.
Whichever way you use this book, enjoy it. It will enrich your French!
French in Your Face! has many unique features:
• Each of the  key terms in the fi rst two units is accompanied by an
i llustration designed to provide context, reinforce meaning, and aid
m emorization.
• Captions provide English translations for the speech bubbles in the fi rst
unit and in the gestures section.
Copyright © 2007 by The McGraw-Hil Companies, Inc. Click here for terms of use. v
• W ords that are synonymous or similar to each headword are listed, in-
cluding adjectives, nouns, and verbs. Many of these are cognates or near-
cognates of the English words, making them easier to learn.
• R elated terms and expressions are listed to provide additional everyday
vocabulary and commonly used phrases.
• O pposites are listed for some headwords. Note that in the sections polar
opposites and mood swings, contrasting character types and emotions ap-
pear on facing pages.
• T e symbol ™ indicates colloquial terms or slang expressions that should
be used only in appropriate situations. T e French appreciate the risk
you are taking in using slang, since it demonstrates your interest in their
c ulture.
• Feminine forms and endings are indicated in parentheses.
abbreviations used in this book
adj adjective
f feminine
fpl feminine plural
lit. literally
m masculine
m/f masculine or feminine
mpl masculine plural
vi “pre-face"
character and
personality
polar opposites personality types A–Z
 decisive ~ indecisive  aff ectionate 
 enthusiastic ~ killjoy  aggressive 
 erudite ~ ignorant  awkward 
 focused ~ distracted  boring 
 generous ~ stingy  clumsy 
 helpful ~ indiff erent  conciliatory 
 kind ~ mean  crafty 
 mature ~ childish  crazy 
 modest ~ show-off  distrustful 
 optimistic ~ pessimistic  dogmatic 
 polite ~ rude  eccentric 
 profound ~ superfi cial  encouraging 
 relaxed ~ stiff  gossipy 
 reserved ~ talkative  honest 
 self-confi dent ~ unsure  hypocritical 
 sociable ~ detached  indecent 
 well-organized ~ disorganized  insignifi cant 
 workaholic ~ lazy  intermediary 
kindly 
le personnalitest 
leader 
life of the party 
loser 
melodramatic 
peacemaker 
pick-up artist 
pretentious 
prosperous 
reliable 
respectful 
romantic 
star 
well-informed 
le personnalitest  
Copyright © 2007 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Click here for terms of use.
decisive décidé(e)
Here
Ça y est! Cette
we are!
fois-ci,
T at’s it!
c’est
décidé!
Allez,
on y Let’s go!
No more Ça ne va!
Mr. Nice rigole
Guy! plus!
Ça va
T ere’ll be
I’ve made
décMisaion chbiuelrle dse!s hell to pay!
my decision. est prise.
synonyms and similar words
assuré(e) assured ferme fi rm, assured
buté(e) headstrong obstiné(e) pigheaded
certain(e) certain opiniâtre persistent
confi ant(e) confi dent résolu(e) resolute
déterminé(e) determined tenace tenacious
entêté(e) stubborn volontaire determined
related terms and expressions
C’est un jusqu’au-boutiste. He’s not a quitter.
Je n’en démords pas. I won’t change my mind.
Je vais mener ce projet à bien, I’ll do whatever it takes.
coûte que coûte.
Ma décision est prise T at’s my decision,
et je m’y tiens! and I’m sticking to it!
faire un choix to make a choice
prendre le taureau par les cornes to grab the bull by the horns
prendre une résolution to take a stand
arrêté(e) fi xed, settled prêt(e) ready
convenu(e) agreed réglé(e) settled
fi xé(e) agreed signé(e) signed
un arrêté a decree, statute
2 character and personality