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Media
Reviews in English:
French or Foe?
LAURA K. LAWLESS, About.com:
...an indispensable guide for anyone planning to live or work in France. With case studies and plenty of humor, Ms. Platt adroitly explains why it is that other cultures have such a hard time dealing with the French.
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JUNE SAWYER, Chicago Tribune:
A MUST FOR ANYONE who yearns to understand French behaviour and culture.
PAUL
LEVY, The Wall Street Journal Europe:
Every American or Briton who has ever spent more
than a month (in France) will acknowledge that Ms. Platt has found a formula
for living with the French.
Shelter Offshore:
French or Foe? by Polly Platt is quite simply a cultural revelation! The book tackles surviving and understanding the French and France for foreigners living among French people, and it provides great humour and terrific and essential insight into all things French.
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ANNE-ELISABETH
MOUTET, The European:
Want to know how to deal with the French? Polly
Platt has the answers... It's not often that a foreigner earns praise
from the French on how well he or she understands them. Platt has managed
it."
STEPHANIE
SCHOROW, The Boston Herald:
French or Foe?...aims to explain the
maddening ways of the French with humor and a 'je ne sais quoi'
spirit.
PHIL
HEINLEIN, The Riviera Reporter:
Platt's book is not... a vague and impressionistic
ramble through its subject. She has used her contacts with major companies...
to collect a mass of information on how real (and identified) newcomers
have coped with France...French or Foe? covers an enormous
range of topics -- from dealing with those ubiquitous bureaucrats to how
to behave at a formal dinner-party... Above all, it is a wonderfully savvy
guide to how to get things right at work in France. This intelligent,
sensitive and witty book should be given to every newcomer -- along with
a couple of days off to read and digest it.
JOHN
MUNCIE, The Los Angeles Times:
Platt has valuable insights for the vacationer.
In any case, it's fun to dip into just for the stories.
KRISTI
JAAS, The Paris Voice:
...a
veritable banquet for thought... the book tells you everything you need
to know, from management methods, education and bureaucracy to flirting,
food and love. In 250 pages, Platt deals with all those aspects of French
behavior that have caused the Anglo-Saxon to dream of either committing
a terrorist act or dedicating one's life to serial-killing. The final
section left me wondering how I ever got by without this tome.
GAIL RUSSELL CHADDOCK, The Christian Science Monitor:
...Polly Platt's French or Foe? tackles the problem of cultural misunderstanding at its most challenging point... France's brilliant and often exasperating capital... The inspiration behind this book is to understand and delight in the pleasures of a 1000 year old culture... on its own terms.
CHRIS PINET, French Review:
French or Foe? offers a fresh and original outlook on culture shock in France, and what English speakers need to know to understand the French, get along with them, and do business with them...The strength of the book lies in the compelling anecdotes Platt recounts of infuriated American business people who have been put off by French ways of being and of doing things which they, the visitors, simply don't understand. For each misunderstanding, Platt offers advice to remedy the situation and improve understanding and interaction.
BAS BLEU:
With style and wit (Platt) explains what makes tradespeople tick, why office doors are always closed, and what really matters to the French -- and it's more than food and love. We found the book helpful for even a short trip. If I were going to spend any serious time in France, I'd memorize it.
NEWSWEEK:
Polly Platt offers helpful insights into Gallic
sensibilities -- and how not to ruffle them. Platt says that visitors
to France just need to act, well, a little more French.
THE
NEW YORKER:
Diane Johnson (author of Le Divorce) is fond
of Polly Platt's French or Foe?... which has helped her
to navigate the difficult terrain of cultural differences. 'Until reading
it, I didn't know you weren't supposed to ask to use the bathroom when
at a French dinner party,' she says.
The
Globe Corner Bookstores:
Polly
Platt's title French or Foe? is more timely than ever, as the Franco-American
alliance frays a little more with each day, the exchanges more vitriolic
than ever before.
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review (opens in new window).
LOTHAR KATZ, Leadership Crossroads:
Polly Platt’s book...will teach you how to handle private and business situations, and provides plenty of insight into concepts you’ll want to be familiar with when doing business in France, from the role of space, time, and language to the high-context nature of French communication.
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