Rather than the standard word-for-word translator, is there a book that helps with menus at restaurants? Our French gets us by as far as speaking with tourists, but we'd like more info when choosing from menus. Any thoughts?

I use the Rick Steves French phrase book, which has a fairly extensive "menu decoder" section. For something more extensive that is still small and light, I recommend the Marling Menu Master, which is tabbed by course/type of food and is available for order from amazon.com (among other places.) I have used the versions for Spain and Italy. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...999310-5079342

Hi,<BR><BR>I posted this same question about a month ago. Try and see if you can find the thread. Someone was kind enough to tell me about their free menu dictionary on the web. Go to www.intimatefrance.com On this web site you will find a French Menu and Foods Glossary. It is alphabetical and appears to be easy to use. You can print it out for free. Have a wonderful vacation and eat well.

Thank you so very much for your recommendations. I printed the intimatefrance.com menu guide. Exactly what I was looking for!

A-Z of French food. Small, accurate, easy to carry, complete.

http://www.amazon.com/French-English...1894709&sr=8-1

You can download Patricia Wells' Food Glossary, or it is in the back of her Paris Cookbook. A food glossary is REALLY necessary because just translating the words from a dictionary may not give you the correct interpretation of the dish, AND can even "gloss over" something you really may find disgusting!!

I long ago downloaded the Patricia Wells French/English Food Glossary, as a Word file, and put it on my PDA, where I can easily search it. I've found it better than any book I can buy.

You can get it for free in either Word or PDA form on the page:

http://www.patriciawells.com/glossary/

Scroll down a bit - bottom middle of the page.

ANother vote for Patricia Wells !!

While as noted above I prefer Patricia Wells, if you can't carry a file on your PDA or smart phone, and prefer a small book, here are three of them, with links to them in Amazon:

<i>Eating and Drinking in France</i>:
http://www.amazon.com/Eating-Drinkin.../dp/0884964426

<i>Eating Out in Five Languages</i>:
(English - French - Spanish - Italian - German)
Not as detailed, but good if you travel to multiple countries.
http://www.amazon.com/Eating-Five-La.../dp/1904970052

<i>Marling Menu-Master for France</i>
I don't like this one as much, because it's arranged by type of food: <i>Hors d'oevres, potages, poissons,</i> etc. Hey, I'm looking it up because I <i>don't</i> know what it is.
http://www.amazon.com/Marling-Menu-M.../dp/0912818034

- Larry

Don't underestimate Fodor's

http://www.fodors.com/language/french/

(yes, I know, I'm posting on a thread that is 9 years old!)

Save the Patricia Wells glossary as a Word or pdf file on a smartphone, iPod Touch, tablet, or Kindle. So many more ways to have it always ready than there were when this thread originated.