Review by Arina Siaban -- Idiom Attack Vol. 1 Everyday L...

[Arina Siaban]

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

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3 out of 4 stars

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If you have ever felt the desire to spice up your use of the English language with a skillful demonstration of commonplace phrases, then the following review is about to introduce you to your match made in heaven.


In this French edition of their first volume of the Idiom Attack series, titled Everyday Living, authors Peter N. Liptak, Matthew Douma, and Jay Douma walk French speakers through the intricacies of ordinary English speech patterns, introducing a better understanding of everyday conversation to whoever is bold enough to wander its pages.


Idiom Attack Vol 1 Everyday Living (Attaque d’idiomes 1 La vie de tous les jours) is not merely a compendium of commonplace sayings, but an explanatory journey complemented with learning exercises, thus easing the reader into the knowledge it aims to convene. Every English idiom the reader is introduced to is inserted in a French sentence and completed by its French translation. Not only that, but they both are followed by contextual denotation of its everyday use, a dictionary signification, comprehensive exercises, discussion questions, and even small stories to demonstrate use.


Filling in blanks and doing crossword puzzles has never been so fun.


The dedication included at the very beginning of this volume perfectly sums up its praiseworthy intent, which is to decipher language and bring two cultures together, by revealing hidden meanings behind typical words. In this, I believe the authors succeeded.


The 300 idioms displayed in the book are sentences every English user will recognize, and any French user will be delighted to discover and eager to practice. The length of the book, rounding 200 pages, accommodates both theoretical and practical knowledge and the exercises are enough to keep the learning process active and engaging. Furthermore, dividing the idioms by themes ranging from “In the Evening” (“Le soir”) to “Moments in Time” (“Le passage du temps”) allows for French readers to better apply these colloquial phrases in context.


The digital version of this manual is an all-inclusive viewpoint, agreeable to both traditional and digital readers alike. The heavily hyperlinked table of contents makes it easier for the latter group to locate a previous or subsequent idiom. Another thing of note is that it can also be a provocative open door for English speakers to step through and find some knowledge of the French language on the other side, a two-way journey between these two distant cousins.


However, the volume is not without its flaws. First, some of the idioms appear off-place and underexplained, as is the case with “off the hook”, which the book only presents in its telephonic context (a phone off the hook), though it threatens to fall out of use anytime soon (am I the only one who misses twirling handset cords?), and another more updated example could replace it.


Second, regarding the small example stories at the end of each chapter, I believe they should be presented side by side, which would prevent a back-and-forth as well as facilitate understanding for French readers.


Third, the questions at the end of these stories often seem vague and detached, as their responses don’t directly demand the use of the idioms the reader has just been introduced to. Personally speaking, I would have found visual memory games more instructive in this case, such as matching sentences or even multiple choice.


Lastly, the amount of formatting and grammar errors make themselves noticed.


For these reasons alone I have decided to rate this book a 3 out of 4 stars, a rating that acknowledges particular faults but also the inviting turn of its pages and the valor of its objective.

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Idiom Attack Vol. 1 Everyday Living (French Edition)
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[Kaitlyn Canedy]

Not too shabby for a first review! I know that this was a nerve-wracking thing for me when I first started out; it felt like I was in school all over again!

To be honest, I did have to stop reading the review about halfway through. It is not because of the wordiness or any grammatical errors, but because there are too many sentences that stand on their own. If I may suggest this, combining some sentences that portray the same idea into one. This will make it easier for readers, such as myself, to hold their attention on reading your reviews.

I also noticed that I had to look for the rating, which is normally in bold format. I did see that you rated it 3 out of 4 stars, due to the grammatical issues that you had seen. I am sure that this was a simple error that will not occur again in your next review.

I enjoyed the part about the book where there are memory games that help with learning and memorizing the French language. It is almost like the app Duolingo, a free language learning app. While I would not read this book because I am not interested in learning French, readers who want to learn or are currently learning about French should give it a read.