Ellie Malet SpradberyCritiques

This was a fun book to read. I don't know how much I retained when I actually went to France, but I was pretty terrified to say something if I wasn't completely positive I knew exactly what all the connotations were. I was looking for something a little easier to put into practice.

Nice book. Good resource for brushing up on my French.

Perhaps because I am unfamiliar with the first installment of this series, I didn't have the depth of background necessary to enjoy Book Two. It wasn't a badly written book and it paced quickly enough, I just felt that I didn't understand the characters motivations or relationships as well as I could have. And this very well could be because I had never ready Book One. I am going to look up the first book on Amazon, read it and see if that makes any difference.

Anyone who has ever studied French will find a lot to laugh at in this book. We have all seen a familiar word and leapt to the conclusion that it means the same in the other language. Who would have thought, for instance, that 'faste' means 'lucky'?
The possible misunderstandings and subsequent embarrassment are endless. This book might rescue you from just such a situation.
I loved the occasional note in brackets, as in (take care with 'baiser' as it goes much further than kissing). Nobody ever told me that before! How many times, I wonder, have I got that wrong?
But for me the most entertaining section was that on colloquial expressions.
How about this one? 'Piquer du nez dans son assiette' - to nod off (during a meal) - NOT, you notice, to pick your nose.
Or 'tomber des nues' - to be taken aback, to be flabbergasted. (Nothing to do with nude ladies falling down).
An incredibly useful addition to any French student's library.

A disappointing book. Little more than lists of words, it is not for the casual acquaintance of French (but lover of languages and their histories and nuances) that I am.

Many books about language(s) are more interesting, quirkier or useful. I'd give this one a miss.

A very easy to read book which will help you to become not just text book fluent in French, but speaking like a local in no time. Organisation leaves alot to be desired so post it notes are a must whilst reading :)

This, the second pass at helping beginning students, is a great little read, prompting users to think about differing sources of meaning, rather than assuming a single root word, especially helpful when English has many more sources than the romance French bases.

While not a book for beginners, False Friends does two things well as a reference book. First, it teaches you to mind the little differences so as to not embarrass yourself. Next, it sheds light on a section of spoken language that most textbooks have forgotten - all those little phrases we've grown to use that are culturally specific. The book is a great reference to those expanding their knowledge.½

Not bad, a little muddled. Not really what I had thought the book was going to be about. For a beginning French student.

Don’t let the title of this book mislead you. This is not a teen drama but a French conversational. It’s an interesting title but the information is quite solid.
The book is broken into six sections – False Friends; French Expressions; Twins, Triplets, etc.; Lists, Miscellaneous; and English Expressions.
False Friends focuses on words that sound the same in English and French except don’t necessarily mean the same thing. It’s an interesting look at the two languages because you get the feeling they should be the same.
French Expressions covers some familiar phrases and some not so familiar.
Twins, Triplets, etc. – French words that have more than one English meaning.
List – series of words with a common theme such as insects, birds, and words associated with automobiles.
Miscellaneous says learn to play cards in French but I didn’t get how the words were associated.
English Expressions – just as it says, English expressions translated to French.
This is not a book for a casual learner. This is designed for someone who wants to move deeper into the French language. There’s little pronunciation information for the words nor information on how to add them to sentences. I believe the author assumes the reader is already familiar with the language.
I’ve had French in high school and college and I still found some of the words and phrases beyond my understanding but it was definitely fun to read through.½

Avoid faux pas! Don't / be le roi des imbéciles: / la libraire sells this!

If you haven't already heard of faux amis then the chances are that you've not studied French at school, where the phrase and the concept would have been made very clear to the beginner. As it is, False Friends is really only aimed at those already in command of a reasonable understanding and vocabulary since beginners are given no concessions in terms of supportive pronunciation or grammar.

So, assuming you've gone as far as picking up the book knowing what to expect, what are you likely to find in this, the second of a series of books designed to help you "avoid those awkward misunderstandings"? First, it's primarily aimed at those to the north of la Manche rather than across the Atlantic, though North Americans and other native speakers of English may still find plenty to enlighten them and maybe amuse them (lots of subtle humour is included in these pages). Second, the phrase banks (because that's what they essentially are: lists of French key words in alphabetical order) are broken up into five somewhat arbitrary sections entitled "False Friends" (old favourites such as journée and magasin), "French expressions" (includes the amusing boîtes pour piles), "Twins, Triplets" (typically, la glace can mean 'ice' or 'mirror'), "Lists" (groups of nouns clumped together under subheadings such as Insects or Football), "Micellaneous" (unlike Hôtel de Ville these strictly are not all false friends) and "English expressions" (the only section not determined by the French alphabetical order).

I enjoyed rummaging through these pages to encounter friends both old and new, and to savour the unexpected good humour that leapt to meet the eye. But I was confused by wondering who the imagined target audience were and how they were to use this. It's not a primer (not very basic) nor, despite protestations to the contrary, is it a phrasebook (the entries are far too random and the choice of sections much too idiosyncratic). Perhaps it's desgned as a treasury to dip into, though to do so in a determined way is rather exhausting.

I suspect this is the kind of publication the author would have liked to have encountered at an earlier stage in her language acquisition, and that this is the kind of reader she is hoping to please. I wonder if she would do well to consider improving its visual presentation (imaginative layout, varied typeface and the inclusion of appropriate illustrations), as this might help to broaden its appeal to a wider readership and start to repay the loving attention she has given to compiling these two companion volumes.½

I read book 2 first and loved it. It gave me a brilliant insight into translations between English and French and French and English and how translations that we take for granted can be totally incorrect - some with potentially hilarious consequences! This first book did not disappoint. I cannot wait to try out my new found knowldege on my French friends in the summer.

As a recent student of French I really enjoyed the layout and the language of the book. I had been already finding these faux amis on my own, so it was good to have a greater lexicon at my fingertips. However I would have liked more of a context or structure to the book. I recently read "Hide this French Book" which essentially was a vocab book, but used humor and context to make it much more user friendly and fun.

Overall this is not the best book. It's ok to reference it but not to read like a novel. I was thinking this would be a linguistic reference using historical linguistics as a base. Even though I am not fond of the book overall, it does have a great amount of words. It is a good book for a beginning French student that hasn't had the immersion experience.

My wife and her French friend really liked this book, they often have discussions on the differences between the two cultures and this has allowed them to additionally discuss the language differences. Not being a French speaker myself I really haven't done more than briefly scanned through but it wasn't for me but my wife has said it is best used as a dictionary, dipping into, rather than as a book you sit down to read.½

I got this from the Early Reviewers Programme and really wanted to like it. I try to keep up with my written and spoken French, and the book arrived well packaged with a personal message from the author, so I am reluctant to be unkind. Unfortunately, I don't have much choice - I can't see the point of this book. It seems to be merely a list of oddities of the French language for those of us who are anglophones. It doesn't work as a reference book and it can't be read as a text. I suppose one could use it to memorise phrases and then drop them into conversation in order to prove that you know what it all *really* means but to be honest - who does that?

A really good addition to the canon for the older student. However the absence of memory jogging illustrations , cartoons etc such as can be found in 'Dans le vent' or 'Ciel mon mari' mar it slightly. Humour makes things stick and while the content is here the presentation could improve to get the additional star

Ok, so I’m an Australian who’s been shifted to Strasbourg, France, because of her husband’s job. And I can actually speak OK German. French? Pas de tout. So I am quite keen to learn French, and was glad I was sent this book. It’s a good book to open at random pages at the breakfast table and read in short bursts. This is really a dipping-only book because apart from the six categories listed on the contents page there is not a lot of organisation. This book does not work as a reference book. But it works fine as an entertaining repository of wierd factoids of the French language vis a vis English. Thanks for sending it my way.

This book is a French-English dictionary with a twist. Rather than aiming to be exhaustive for experts, or a concise for beginners, it aims to add colour for those with an intermediate knowledge of French. It warns us when similar words in the two languages have very different meanings. It gives some colloquial phrases. It gives some examples of French words with multiple English meanings. It also provides some useful vocab for a few specific contexts: illnesses, sports, birdwatching.

It is fairly short and eclectic. I could have done with a bit more commentary, maybe an introduction, just a page or two, for each section explaining why that section was there.

Probably would be welcomed as a gift by someone who has been taking French lessons for a while, and / or travels there occasionally.

I received a copy of False Friends: Book Two through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers & I have to say, I really don't see the point of this book. It is just a never ending (ok, slight exageration, it does have an end) list of English phrases, with their French counterparts. I will readily admit that I didn't read these - why would you? Skimming was bad enough! This isn't a book it's a English/French phrase dictionary. To make matters worse, though they are presented in some form of order, it certainly isn't an order that would ease searching for a particular phrase, say while in France on vacation. Also, there is no pronunciation guide, so again, it's just a random collection of phrases that if you don't already speak better than basic French you probably won't be able to read, let alone say.

In many ways a very useful book, I struggled to get to grips with its rather muddled format.

The book is presented in six sections: the first is a very nice list of faux amis, divided into two columns so that the similar French and English words are side by side, with a definition of each one in the other language. Exactly what you’d expect from this title, but by this point I was already wary of the fact that the slim tome had no introductory text.

Section two moves on to French expressions, and without any explanation from the author you begin to feel you’re being led away from the point. Perhaps those included are thought to be misleading for an English speaker who might be inclined to take them literally? I certainly wouldn’t have known that un avis de tempête is a storm warning, though I could have guessed la racine carrée, a very literal counterpart to it’s English equivalent.

But then we have the magnificent third section! Called Twins, triplets etc., it is a list of French words which have more than one meaning, or pairs of very similar French words not to be mixed up. Never again will I get a parish priest (un curé) confused with a quarry (un curée). And did you know that a beautiful butterfly can also be a parking ticket in French (un papillon)? This is why I love learning languages!

The final few sections of the book can only be an anticlimax after this. Sections four and five are just lists of French words with English definitions, listed thematically (section four) or in a miscellaneous list (section five). Although undoubtedly useful words, it feels like filler in a book called Faux amis. Again some commentary from the author might have remedied this, but without it it begins to resemble a rather skimpy dictionary.

The final section is a counterpart to section two, this time English expressions translated into French. Nice, but it’s no section three.

In summary I’d describe this as a kind of pseudo-reference book that would really really like to be something more. It’s clearly not a dictionary, although in some ways its presented as such. I might have forgiven it this if it had some entertainment value, but then its also not a commentary with humorous observations on the content as you might expect. The lack of anything other than words and definitions to bind the sections together makes it hard to sit down and read it from cover to cover as I think is probably intended, but its not detailed enough to be a true reference work to be dipped into when required.

Undoubtedly useful content, but I was left wanting something more.

I was lucky enough to receive Book 1 Faux Amis through Early Reviewers and the second did not disappoint.

Having studied French to A level standard a long time ago...sadly.... it amazes me how much I have forgotten and this little book made me smile as much as the first one.

Another great little companion for travelling and reference. Highly recommended and thanks to Ellie for sending this to me and her kind personal messages.

as with volume 1, great if you want to avoid saying the wrong thing in french, but this is just lists of phrases, no narrative, and a little lacking for that in my opinion.

This, similar to the first book, is a collection of "false friends" (words that sound the same in two languages but mean different things), phrases and idioms in the French and English languages. It is a small but informative book which is best suited for the intermediate to advanced learner of the language. The critiques of the book are similar to the first: the false friends are organized alphabetically, and there is no clear reason why they were chosen over others. The general organization of the book does not serve well as an on-the-spot reference, as it is not comprehensive enough. This book should be a companion to a course of study; it is entertaining for an advanced learner but has very little pedagogical value.

I received this as part of LT's Early Reviewers scheme.

It's an interesting and useful approach to learning a language although it seems to be for reading through rather than for reference, which reduces its usefulness somewhat. I haven't seen book 1 so I don't know if it contains phrases that I looked for in vain in book 2.

I can't judge this book properly as my copy was an pdf of the printed copy which didn't read well on screen or Kindle. If an ebook version is published I hope it will be properly formatted for ebook readers.