Real life Le bricolage pour tous - Do it yourself Buying a home in a new country, especially an older house in need of some tender loving care or even major renovation, can be a source of frustration but also enormous satisfaction. Whether accustomed or not to making small or even larger repairs, every homeowner is faced with the fact that it is almost essential to be able to do a good deal of the work on a house oneself: having the work done by professional craftsmen/women can be rather expensive, and finding reliable and punctual artisans is often somewhat of a problem. Once you accept that fact and begin to consider eventual remodelling projects, you soon realize that doing things in France is not quite the same as they were back home, wherever that might be. Even if you are an experienced do-it-yourselfer, the first hurdle you face in a new country is vocabulary! “Now what's a ‘mitre box' called in French?” or “How does one say ‘bevel'?”
Facing a salesperson at the local Monsieur Bricolage, for example, can be a daunting experience, especially if you don't know the proper word for the item you're looking for. One strategy, although often a time-consuming one, is simply to cruise the various sections of the store and hope that you will eventually find what you are looking for. This tactic can actually be a good way of picking up some helpful vocabulary, as the name of the item is on the pricing information on the shelves, provided, of course, that you succeed in finding it. Another practise is to become adept at explaining just what the particular tool you are looking for does, but this has its obvious pitfalls and sometimes leaves the French salesperson with a blank look of puzzlement on his/her face. The very worst thing you can do, however, is to let the natural insecurities about speaking a foreign tongue, especially when dealing with technical items, prevent you from trying. Before your trips to Monsieur Bricolage or La Boîte à outils , try arming yourself in advance with the necessary vocabulary.
In our next issues: helpful tips One of the most important investments you can make in this regard is to purchase a good book on bricolage in French. Not only will you find tons of lists of tools and their use, but often excellent pictures of the tool and useful tips on its use. You will find a short, annotated list of suggested titles below, together with a few links to websites that you might find useful. In successive issues of French Accent , we will continue our discussion of tools, procedures, building materials and products as well as try and provide some helpful tips, including useful vocabulary, for the do-it-yourselfer in almost all of us.
Roger Stevenson
Some helpful books
Le manuel du bricolage Sélection du Reader's Digest, Paris, 2006. (about 33 euros)
This excellent, large-format, volume on bricolage is a French translation of the British version of Reader's Digest's Do it Yourself
Manual . It is richly illustrated, has very complete listings of tools for various remodelling projects, and offers quite up-to-date how-to information. It should be pointed out, however, that some of the tools, building materials and processes discussed are strictly British and not necessarily French.
Le grand livre du bricolage pour tous
Robert Longechal. Ed. Fleurus, Paris, 2003 (about 30 euros). Another excellent work by a French bricoleur and journalist. This book is 100% French and covers just about everything you could possibly imagine.
Larousse du bricolage Michel Galy, Ed. Larousse, Paris, 2006 (revised edition). (about 40 euros). Another, all-French tome that is very useful
To order one of this book,
click on the appropriate cover
www.bhv.fr
The BHV (Bazar de l'Hôtel de Ville) on the rue de Rivoli in Paris is one of the great places to shop for tools, fixtures , hinges, etc. The entire basement floor of the department store is devoted to bricolage and has just about anything you could ever imagine or need. It's a must stop for any serious bricoleur on his/her visits to Paris.
Facing a salesperson at the local Monsieur Bricolage, for example, can be a daunting experience, especially if you don't know the proper word for the item you're looking for. One strategy, although often a time-consuming one, is simply to cruise the various sections of the store and hope that you will eventually find what you are looking for. This tactic can actually be a good way of picking up some helpful vocabulary, as the name of the item is on the pricing information on the shelves, provided, of course, that you succeed in finding it. Another practise is to become adept at explaining just what the particular tool you are looking for does, but this has its obvious pitfalls and sometimes leaves the French salesperson with a blank look of puzzlement on his/her face. The very worst thing you can do, however, is to let the natural insecurities about speaking a foreign tongue, especially when dealing with technical items, prevent you from trying. Before your trips to Monsieur Bricolage or La Boîte à outils , try arming yourself in advance with the necessary vocabulary. 
Le manuel du bricolage Sélection du Reader's Digest, Paris, 2006. (about 33 euros) 
journalist. This book is 100% French and covers just about everything you could possibly imagine. 
Larousse du bricolage 
