Newspaper Review by Theresa Conroy:
Savoir-Flair,
211 Tips for Enjoying France and the French

Ms. Conroy's review:

Polly Platt once saved my hide.

A tip I picked up in her first book, French or Foe? Getting the Most out of Visiting, Living and Working in France, turned a near reporting disaster in Paris into a wild success.

So it was with great excitement - and gratitude - that I dug into Platt's recently released Savoir-Flair! 211 Tips for enjoying France and the French.

Platt, a native Philadelphian and former Evening Bulletin reporter, has lived in Paris and the Dordogne for 33 years. She operates Culture Crossings, a training company for executives and their spouses transferred to France.

She imparts such a wealth of information about French culture that I've frequently sought her advice - either through her books or, on one rare, lovely occasion, at her Paris apartment - on how to maneuver vacations and reporting trips to her adopted home.

In "French or Foe?" Platt used her insights into French culture to solve a collection of mishaps and discomforts faced by non-French managers who attended her cultural seminars.

She tackled many of the basic problems faced by Americans working or touring in France. She gave advice on eating out, making purchases, flirting, being polite and - most useful to me - working through bureaucracy.

I put Platt's advice into practice last year when the Daily News sent me to France for stories on fugitive Ira Einhorn.

My assignment led me to the guard post outside the mansion-style office and residence of French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin. I had to convince reluctant members of the PM's police force to deliver to Jospin nearly 5,000 petitions from People Paper readers asking for Einhorn's return.

The officers quickly lost patience with me and kept insisting that I go to the local post office and mail the 20-pound sack of coupons.

Frustrated and desperate, I turned to what I had learned from reading Platt:

The only way to do that in France, according to Platt, is to be persistent, polite, amusing, funny, ingratiating, self-deprecating and - above all - theatrical.

It worked like a charm.

A little pouting, a lot of compliments, a few jokes, and I was in.

It helped, I'm sure, that I conducted all this sweet-talking in French, but weaseling truly is a universal language.

I adore the French, but, even with a good command of the language, I still need a guide book to understand the culture and social rules.

The French truly are unique. That is one of the divine pleasures of visiting their country. But the French have a bad rap here.

Many Americans consider the French rude and snotty. Everyone, it seems, has some outrageous story of a spurn or insult perpetrated by an uppity Gaul.

It's just a matter of perception or a deep misunderstanding, Platt explains. The French are lovely, polite, kind and witty people who are easily offended.

It's not that they're hypersensitive. It's just that they value, above all else, politeness. La Politesse, as the French call it, has an impact on every transaction, every meeting, every casual encounter. The intense level of politeness practiced in France is something that must be learned by outsiders.

In France, everything is negotiable. But to negotiate here, you must use the Systeme D. The "D" stands for Debrouiller, the French verb for disentangle. In its pronominal form, se debrouiller means to find your way out of a mess.

Platt teaches it better than anyone else.

"France is a new, different game, with different rules that you need to know, just the same as if you wanted to learn how to play tennis or golf," Platt writes in "Savoir Flair!"

For anyone who wants to play - whether for business or fun - Platt's rule books are essential.


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