<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
 
>I agree with Esterman's praise of "Against the Grain".
> However, my wife and I used The French card while visiting Quebec City
>last summer. We passed it on to the manager of one restuarant who came
>out to ask us to translate it into English! This man was spoke primarily
>French so I don't know if there is a problem with the card's translation
>or his interpertation of it.
 
against the grain is an american book.  the french section was probably
translated into european french.  quebec french has its own separate idioms
& quirks, just as american and british usage of english do.
 
for instance candice (murphy brown) bergen is fluent in both english and
french, her late husband being french.  here in canada she does a zillion
commercials for sprint canada's long distance services. her french
commercials were pulled and replaced because her european accent and idiom
were scoring very low with french-canadian consumers.
 
hope this clarifies things,
geri
vancouver, bc, canada
i need a REAL(tm) .signature