Zoe Erotopoulos - French For Dummies

French For Dummies, 2nd Edition

by Dodi-Katrin Schmidt, Michelle M. Williams, Dominique Wenzel, and Zoe Erotopoulos

French For Dummies, 2nd Edition

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Copyright 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2011932271

ISBN 978-1-118-00464-7 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-118-13864-9 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-13865-6 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-13866-3 (ebk)

Manufactured in the United States of America

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About the Authors

Dodi-Katrin Schmidt has been a writer, translator, and editor for over a decade. Aside from translating German, French, and English texts of various kinds, including linguistic handbooks, film reviews, travel guides, and childrens books, she has also been involved in developing language textbooks, language courses, teachers handbooks, and grammar companions for video language courses. Dodi has been teaching for more than two decades at high school, adult education, and college levels in Europe as well as the United States. She also writes test items for various national language tests and recorded textbook and test material. Together with her husband, she travels a great deal, and they continually house and entertain foreign students and former students in their home in Princeton, NJ.

Michelle M. Williams is an editor at a major educational publisher. A former French teacher, she has taught students ranging from 2-years old to adults in both the public and private sectors. She is a firm believer in making the language fun and accessible to all who want to learn. Her most rewarding experience, however, is in watching and listening to her son Nathaniel learn to speak and sing in French.

Dominique Wenzel has been a freelance teacher of French and a translator for 15 years. Born and raised in France, she received a Masters degree from the University of Paris-Sorbonne and studied at the University of Chicago on a postgraduate Fulbright scholarship. Her students include business professionals, children, and adults of all levels and interests. She travels regularly to France. Dominique raised two bicultural, bilingual children who are both active in the international field.

Dr. Zoe Erotopoulos was born in Greece and immigrated to the United States at a young age. Her love of the French language, literature, and culture inspired her to pursue her academic studies in these areas. She holds an MA, MPhil, and PhD in French and Romance Philology from Columbia University in New York, NY. Dr. Erotopoulos has also studied in Aix-en-Provence, at the Sorbonne, and at the cole Normale Suprieure in Paris.

Her teaching experience in French ranges from elementary to advanced level courses, including literature and theater. Dr. Erotopouloss area of expertise is 17th-century French theater. Throughout her academic career, she has taught at a number of institutions, including Columbia University, Reid Hall in Paris, and Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. She is presently teaching in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut. Dr. Erotopoulos is the author of French Verbs For Dummies and French For Dummies, Audio Set. She lives in Connecticut with her husband, Steve, and three children, Despina, Olga, and Stathi.

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Dedication

Zoe: To my family.

Authors Acknowledgments