Grab A Certain Je Ne Sais Quoi: The Ideal Guide To Sounding, Acting And Shrugging Like The French Constructed By Charles Timoney Paperback

love books written by the English about the French, A genius little book, portraying French life and culture from a humorous British perspective, Absolutely loved it! A cliche and yet quite true book which I'd recommend to my foreign friends, If you know French people and/or France you will have a good time reading this book and making fun and them.
The book might be a bit too descriptive and a bit less funny at the end but still interesting, This book contains pedestrian, stereotypical and dated information about French cultural norms, Not a useful or accurate source of information for anyone wanting to learn about French culture, Fun, hilarious little book that made me miss France terribly, I felt the author was almost always on point and despite all being clichés they were pretty accurate ones I am French and can confirm.
Great guide to read before traveling, marrying into a French family or if you are taking the big plunge to move there! C'est bon.
I love reading books with good anecdotes, Good includes good sense of humor, Reaching the last page of this book followed by bonus excerpts from another one, I've come to possess a fair deal of stories and facts that can serve as a decent conversation opener or save a date from a deadend topic.
Given where I am from, it is interesting to finally understand how things I see and use on a daily basis can be traced back to its origin.
Everything has a story behind it indeed, The book gives me a better idea of French people and how they go on about their life though to be sure, I need to do some crosschecking or better yet, experience myself.
And I know that there are more to

see and get dazzled by other than the Eiffel Tower or Mona Lisa.
These kinds of books, written by longterm residents, are always at least a little useful to those who do not live in a country but aim to or often do visit it.
Sometimes the daily grind brings the reflection that the shortterm simply has not had time to get to, In this book, writer Charles Timoney uses breezy humour to lighten the load, while also skewing the perspective very much to British readers, something which occasionally brings it a little unstuck.
All in all, though, this is an enjoyable behavioural guidebook with enough titbits and pieces of earned wisdom to make it useful on the next trip there.


For example, I have to admit that, while I don't tend to translate "well done" when applauding in French something I've seen someone do, I was not aware that "bien fait" in fact means something more like "serves you right".
Or indeed the use of "bof", which I had read and never really been clear on, Or the use of "lézarder" as a verb for lounging

In fact, if the only takeaway from this book is not to order a café au lait in a bar which in truth I wouldn't do anyway, being an express/noir and at most a noisette drinker, but rather a café crème, then it will have served for something.
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,

If you want to fit in with the French you'll have to know how to deal with sardonic waiters why French children hate Charlemagne the etiquette of kissing, joketelling and drinking songs, what to do with a bidet, the correct recipe for a salade nicoise and, of course, how to convey absolute, shattering indifference with a single syllable Bof!.


Charles Timoney, the author of Pardon My French, provides a practical, pleasurable guide to the charms of the Gallic people from their daily routines to their peerless gesticulations, from their comeons to their putdowns.
Read on and put the oh la la back into your French vacances, Your inner gaul will thank you for it, .