Product Description

Vocabulary alone isn’t enough. To survive in the most sophisticated – and the most scathing – nation on Earth you will need to understand the many peculiarities of the (very peculiar) French culture. And for that you need A Certain Je Ne Sais Quoi. If you want to fit in with the French you’ll have to know how to deal with sardonic waiters; why French children hate Charlemagne; the etiquette of kissing, joke-telling and drinking songs, what to do with a bidet, the correct recipe for a salade nicoise and, of course, how to convey absolute, shattering indifference with a single syllable (Bof!). Charles Timoney, the author of Pardon My French, provides a practical, pleasurable guide to the charms of the Gallic people – from their daily routines to their peerless gesticulations, from their come-ons to their put-downs. Read on and put the oh la la back into your French vacances. Your inner gaul will thank you for it.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3612 in Books
• Published on: 2009-08-06
• Original language: English, French
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

About the Author
When Charles Timoney and his French wife were both made redundant in the same week they decided to try living in France for a year or so. It proved much harder than expected. Charles' O level in French was little help when everyone around him consistently used a wide variety of impenetrable slang and persisted in the annoying habit of talking about things he had never heard of. But they stayed. Two decades and two thoroughly French children later, he decided to write the two books that would have saved him from so many blunders and misunderstandings along the way: Pardon My French and A Certain Je Ne Sais Quoi.

Customer Reviews

HILARIOUS GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING FRANCE
I recommend this book to anyone who loves to visit France - or indeed who lives there - and wants to get to grips with French day-to-day living. It covers just about every aspect of things French - from whom to kiss and how (and the right word to use!) via how to decipher a menu and various uses for a bidet! The author is English but has lived in France for more than twenty years and has a French wife, so he has learnt all this from experience and is a very, very funny writer. I bought his first book called PARDON MY FRENCH - about the French words you don't learn at school - and this is a companion volume - but even funnier and more useful. There have been a lot of books around on France and the French but for my money this is the best. It's a really appealing shape as well; definitely five stars.

very very enjoyable, don't miss it
I have just read the Lucy Wadham book which is quite a serious introduction by an Englishwoman to French life, but somehow I felt I learned much more from this little, funny, light-hearted book which for me just gets right to the heart of the weird differences about living in France. That they hang their duvets out the window in the morning. That they only recycle the tops of plastic water bottles. And finally, why they say "Chapeau!" if you've done something good.

I've been to French classes for many years but lots of little phrases in this book I've learned for the very first time. It's just great, short, sweet, to the point, and totally full of the authentic stuff. He is so entertaining, I will now definitely order the other book by him.

Hilarious!
I'm sure you have enjoyed "Pardon my French" by the same author, which is great, but this is even better! Full of lovely anecdotes and useful words for every situation - a must have.