French phrase list

You could buy the ebook or borrow it from the library.

In the past, I have ripped out the cheat sheet pages and laminated them, but now I take a photo to keep on my phone for easy reference.

You could use Google Translate. It’s easier than shuffling paper to find a phrase. Plus you will have pronunciation.
There are YouTube videos to help you learn a little French, at least the “polite words”, before your trip.

I second the recommendation for Google Translate. Or just take pics of the relevant pages from the book.

How about this one: Ricks French Phrasebook

You can take a photo of the page on your phone and you can access it anytime.

there are so many sites on line with top 20 or so useful phrases -- just print one out.

Either tear out the pages in the book or photocopy them.

I use a phrase list, writing them out which most likely will be most helpful and useful in superficial conversation (maybe even more), yes, it is text book French but so what?

No google translate at all since re: diction, nuance, and especially on context the word , phrase, or expression provided by google can prove to be unreliable or just plain off.

That is an interesting idea, to have a list of printed phrases. I should think it also necessary to have a list of all the possible responses.

I’ve always wondered about the utility of phasebooks. If one asks “Where is the train station?” in a language he doesn’t speak, and gets an answer in that language that he doesn’t understand, what good is it? Maybe it’s better to learn the niceties and rely on Google Translate or some other nifty app that simultaneously translates a foreign language response. I’ve never used it, but several people have mentioned iTranslate to me.

Wanderlust 58 posted:
If one asks “Where is the train station?” in a language he doesn’t speak, and gets an answer in that language that he doesn’t understand, what good is it?

Reminds me of the time I asked for directions in my limited French and got a pleasant response. When we walked away, I told my wife I had no idea what the nice man had said. My wife, who speaks virtually no French, told me, "He said go down this way for two blocks and turn left."
I asked how she knew that, and she said, "He was gesturing the whole time he was answering you."

Probably 90% of the time if you ask a question in French with your American accent you will get an answer in English.

Just be sure to Bonjour everybody, everywhere.

There’s a function on Google Translate to save favourite phrases.
And yes, be sure to save the responses too.
Put the app on the front page of your phone apps.

Practice speaking them all at home first!

"Probably 90% of the time if you ask a question in French with your
American accent you will get an answer in English."

That presumption is accurate in locations (museums, hotels, etc.) focusing on tourists.

If you're visiting the vast majority of France away from such places, I would suggest changing that 90% to 5%. Maybe 10% on a good day.

In the Normandy countryside, when you ask a question that typically calls for a straightforward yes or no, the response you might receive is:

"p’têt ben qu’oui, p’têt ben qu’non"

I’m not sure how helpful Google Translate will be with that! :)

"...away from such places." Yes, that has the focus of the three trips since 2023.

You stop and ask the guy/woman in the street the question in French, they give you the answer in French period, regardless of my accent and if I can understand the answer. I've done this in numerous small towns

I ask the question in French, if 'they" can't understand it fully, then I ask again rewording my original question. It does me no good getting the answer straight up in English.

JoLui,
Haha! Love the reference! My husband's grandmother was a true Marseillaise. Her French had the liveliness and accent and pronunciation of the Provencale, almost Italian-sounding. My favorite phrase from when we would visit her, or when she would visit us (in the 1970's and 1980's) was "Ah ben mangeah, ah ben beguh, ah ren pagah". (I am guessing on the spelling....trying phonetics.) It had another sentence that followed which I can't repeat in polite company.
We still have some records (45s and 33 1/3s) of Darcely's songs from Provence, and they are so uplifting and reminiscent of our stays in Marseille, Bandol, Aubagne and Le Pegue, and all the meals with the family gathered around the table for hours. Two of the family were Breton, so between the regular French, the Provencal and the Breton, this American with her high school and college French would sometimes feel she was on another planet, especially after aperitifs, wine with the meal, and a digestif! All ended well, and a rendering of "Chevaliers de la Table Ronde" would bring all the accents together before we said goodnight.

Tocard, the reason to have the list is so you can rev iew them on the plane and have the phrases you need for simple interactions like asking for the bill, asking where something is, excusing yourself if you bump into someone etc etc. With 20 or so phrases including all the politeness locutions you can do very well even in places where English is not spoken. (and this includes some shops and markets etc on the edges of Paris.

On our first trip to Europe together about 40 years ago I got a two cassette tape set called 'Getting by in Italian' of which I had none. I listened to it in the car. the philosophy was that you didn't need long sentences, just a few words and gestures and ina pinch you could look up the noun you needed. This was before cell phones and google translate etc. We did remarkably well driving around the byways of northern Italy and staying in a village where no one spoke English. You can get a long ways with willingness to communicate, politeness phrases, and a handful of simple phrases.