Review by LoisCHenderson -- Idiom Attack Vol. 1 Everyday...

[LoisCHenderson]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Idiom Attack Vol. 1 Everyday Living (German Edition)" by Peter Liptak.]

---

4 out of 4 stars

---

Share This Review

---

Idiom Attack Vol. 1: Everyday Living (German edition), by the combined authorship of language acquisition writer Peter N. Liptak, English education consultant and author of English educational material, Matt(hew) Douma, and his brother, story writer and collaborator on creative projects, Jay Douma. The translator involved is Angela Basten, who has her Master of Education in German literature, linguistics and history, allied with a deep interest in teaching German as a foreign language. From such a highly professional and skilled team, one can expect only the best, and with Idiom Attack Vol. 1: Everyday Living (German edition) that is precisely what one gets.

Geared towards the needs of German speakers who have some knowledge of English, but who might find some American English figurative expressions confusing, Idiom Attack Vol. 1: Everyday Living takes the English as a foreign language learner through 300 idioms that are frequently used in a variety of everyday contexts. Overall, there are 25 theme-based chapters that range across a wide spectrum of commonly encountered situations, including weather conditions, shopping, telephone talk, dating and relationships, and sickness. Each chapter contains several German sentences, with each containing the English idiom used within the German language context. Some of the sentences are accompanied by a witty line drawing illustrating the literal meaning of the expression, which serves to lighten the tone of the book. The German sentences are followed by their English translations in full. Synonyms of each idiom are provided in both English and German, so that the guide also serves, to a certain extent, as a thesaurus.

Additional notes are also supplied to many of the terms, indicating ones on register and giving other qualifications of word use, such as with which other wording the terms are often employed. Each chapter rounds off with a fill-in-the-blank exercise, in which the idioms learned in the chapter have to be used in the context of full sentences, as well as with a story, about which several questions are asked to test the comprehension of the learner, as well as to prompt discussion using the language employed in the chapter. The story is provided in German, as well as in English. For ease of access, an index is provided to the terms used. In addition, there is a list of idioms with dual meanings, which makes comparing different usages of the same term in varying contexts easy to do.

Idiom Attack Vol. 1: Everyday Living (German edition) is a user-friendly work that can be used in a variety of contexts, stretching from the classroom to home study. The formatting of the book is delightful, in that the font varies in size and color, so that the learner should never become bored or easily distracted. It is very easy on the eye, which can definitely (and unfortunately) not be said of all language instruction books.

I found very few errors in Idiom Attack Vol. 1: Everyday Living (German edition), which is particularly good in the case of any language-focused instructional guide. Also, I found it very pleasing that one could use the book to learn more German (thus giving it a dual purpose), if one already has a basic mastery of the German tongue. My rating of the text is, therefore, 4 out of 4 stars. It should appeal to a wide range of learners, no matter their age. What a fun way to learn—if only all language guides were like this!

******
Idiom Attack Vol. 1 Everyday Living (German Edition)
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon

[Julius_]

I've read a French edition of this book. I like the idioms and how they're explained. Thanks for the review.