Learning French
- A Certain Je Ne Sais Quoi - Charles Timoney
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.
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.
- Pardon my French - Charles Timoney
From sugar-cube etiquette to why the Marseillaise is all about slaughtering Austrians and Prussians as bloodily as possible, Charles Timoney lays bare the Gallic mindset alongside their bizarre language.
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.
- Talk to the Snail - Stephen Clarke
Have you been taken to what you've been assured is the perfect house deep in the French countryside, only to find there's no electricity or running water?
Gone to the doctor with a nasty cough, and been diagnosed with a rather more personal complaint?
Stephen Clarke lives in Paris, where he divides his time between writing and not writing. His first novel, A Year in the Merde, originally became a word-of-mouth hit in 2004, and is now published all over the world. Since then he has published three more bestselling Merde novels, as well as Talk to the Snail, an indispensable guide to understanding the French.
For a full biography, please visit Stephen Clarke - Author Page.
All the best
