It turns out that my daughter is going to France at the beginning of December for 3 months. She will be staying with a family, helping with their children (something she is very well acquainted with 
), as well as teaching the children English. The problem is that Katherine only has the little bits here and there that Iāve been known to utter. Unfortunately after 4 years of French in high school, my French is abysmal at best, so Iām thinking that she should be armed with a good, pocket sized French dictionary as well as a book of common phrases so sheās not completely clueless when sheās there. Any recommendations would be absolutely wonderful!
āLiving Languageā..3 cdās 2 books..a fast way to get conversant, imo.
For someone with a good working knowledge at, say, high school level, I like the āStreet Frenchā series by David Burke. Good selection of āfranƧais argotiqueā that is really used in real situations:
Volume 1: French Slang
Volume 2: French Idioms
Volume 3: Naughty French
Slang Dictionary & Thesaurus
For a handy pocket reference of the quirky details of everyday usage (not necessarily slang), the Oxford āFrench Usageā Minireference is good.
But for someone with no French like your daughter, I agree with ChasR that a basic book + audio course is probably the place to start. The Pimsleur method is another popular one. Thereās also the Rosetta Stone computer method, if sheāll have a laptop (but expensive, around $200 for Level 1).
As a dictionary, something like the paperback Harper-Collins or Oxford or Larousse de Poche is fine. The mini-format Collins Gem dictionaries are good and very handy, but sometimes lack the words you need. Personally, I consider Berlitz style phrasebooks completely useless, and donāt recommend them.
One caveat: The disconnect between written and spoken colloquial French can be pretty severe, depending on the region where your daughter will be and the social level of her host family. Not to mention bizarreness like Verlan. But with some basic self-instruction and a good ear and eye, sheāll probably do fine. And if your daughter will be located near a FNAC store, a visit there would be a real treat for language resources, BDs (bandes dessinĆ©es = graphic novels), etc.
For navigating culture shock, the book āFrench or Foeā by Polly Platt is very good, and the companion volume āSavoir Faireā looks good, too.
Excellent! Thank you both for your suggestions. They will be very helpful 
She will be staying in a village called LāĆle Bouchard, which is in between Poitiers and Tours. Iām not sure which region that is specifically, though (I knew I should have paid more attention in French class!), so Iām not sure how that will impact her. I am hoping to find a school where she can take some French lessons while she is there, to help her a bit. Iām sure the bit of immersion sheāll be getting will be helpful as well.
Edited to say, after a quick look, it seems that sheāll be in the Centre region.
Why didnāt you make it a clicky piccy like the space photos? I would have clicked on it without even complaining
lazy 
cut/paste pic from web to photoshop
save
upload
link
ya donāt pay enough 
Sounds good. The regionality shouldnāt be too strong there; itās pretty close to Paris. Iāve been nearby in Angers and Nantes and found it OK, even with the Breton influence in Nantes.
I see that thereās a FNAC in Tours. And it shouldnāt be hard to find someone local to exchange language lessons with. VoilĆ , Ć votre fille je lui souhaite trĆØs bonne chance Ć son sĆ©jour !
she will be able to visit āles chĆ¢teaux de la Loireā
I like the Earworms āRapid [Language]ā series. It uses music to cement common phrases into your mind. I have the Rapid Japanese one and it really helped. They do a Rapid French version - in fact they may have two levels for that one by now.
Hereās one that I found useful:
Hereās something Iād recommend for any French Student: Itās actually a French schoolbook. The stories are wonderful! In fact, I might go and read my copy right now.
Thereās a red and a blue one as well. I never did notice which one is for younger, and which for older readers. Thereās not much difference.
If sheās staying with a French Family, I wouldnāt worry too much about getting the idiom right before she goes. She will have total immersion!
Cool. The battle of Tours took place in 732 and the battle of Poitiers in 1356. Interestingly in both battles the larger, attacking, army was defeated by the smaller defending army.
Darn, sheāll miss all the spring classics 
I was tempted to mention Agincourt in 1415 and the old joke about the English archers. I was searching the net for the full story and discovered that Snopes had a page on it (they have a page on nearly everything) which is even more entertaining than the old archers joke.
djm
I would point out that the WELSH longbow men using WELSH longbows won those battles, the English frittered away their victories which is why England on the mainland no longer exists.
I thought it was because the French had trebuchets. And cows.
It was some girl named Jeanne and a bunch of Burgundy and Bordeaux, I think.
Hereās one of the books I think are great for travelling. I used one of these for learning a few bits of Hebrew. It worked out nicely.
French: Lonely planet phrasebook by Michael Janes
- Itās pocked sized (about 5.4 x 3.7 x 0.6 inches).
- Features a basic guide to pronounciation and grammar.
- Phrases are topic-related.
- Contains a basic dictionary for quick reference.
- All of this on 260 pages.
- Fairly inexpensive. Iāve seen it around for $ 8.99.
Would be my first choice if I needed one of these.