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Publisher: Hodder
Author: Kate Fox
420 pages.
price: £8.50
ISBN:0340818867
It's coming to holiday time again, and one of the best ways to give your English a speedy improvement is to spend a few weeks in a country where it is spoken as a first language. However to speak a language well, you need not only to know the language, but also the people who speak it. For example, the fact that the English love irony and often say the opposite of what they mean can be extremely confusing. ( 'It's raining again.' 'Oh, lovely!'). This book is your guide to the natives. Kate Fox is an anthropologist who has spent her life studying the English, and in this book she tells us what she has learned, not in scientific language, but in easy-to-read prose.
The book is divided into two main parts; Conversation codes, and Behaviour codes. If you plan to spend some time in England, either on business or as a student, it is a good idea to read both parts carefully. For example why do the English start so many conversations by talking about the weather? Ms Fox explains that the conversation is not about the weather. Instead, it is a neutral subject that you can talk about while working out what mood the other person is in, and how friendly that person is toward you. How do you call a waiter in a restaurant? How do you order drinks in a pub? What do your clothes tell people about you? If you tread on an Englishman's toe why does he say 'sorry'? And does he mean it? These are just a few of the questions which this fascinating book answers.
Who is this book for? Anyone who spends a lot of time with the English, yet still can't understand them. Many advanced students say that they often understand every word in a sentence, and still do not understand the meaning. Others complain that the English are vague, that they never say what they mean, and are cold and unfriendly. This book helps you to see why English people act the way that they do. (The book is also fun for English people to read - I really wanted to keep this book for longer than the review period, so I purchased it for myself!)
Verdict: Explains the English as well as English
Assessment 10/10