Speak American: A Survival Guide to the Language and Culture of the U.S.A.

List Price: $7.95 Discount Price: $3.87

Customer Reviews:

Lern about USA [Posted on 2006-03-20]
This book is different from that I expected. I thought about a classical Idioms Dictionary. Althought it's a good book that introduce not only American idioms but American way of life too.
You can also lern idioms but are greater the advices ( Thanks to teach me to give tips!!!!!)

An invaluable toolkit to understand the culture and language better and faster [Posted on 2006-11-17]
I got this book from our ISS (International Student Service) office and at first, I only treat it as some reading materials while I am waiting for my laundry.
However, after I really went into the book, I realized it was the book I have been long seeking for: brief, clear and ultimately helpful. Yes, it is short, but since I have no intention to be a sociologist about American society, the simple and everyday facts and words are what I need to know.
The book covers many categories of American society like food, sports, education, transportation, etc., very comprehensively. The best of all is there is a list of frequently encountered words and phrases within this category at the end of each chapter.
After reading the book, I can now fully understand what the person said when I called in to order my pancake with eggs. This is the book you can finish in two weeks while still getting to know the essentials, not an enclyclopedia that takes forever. Actually, I finished it in 1 week and I no longer stutter while I am ordering food because I just didn't know which word I should use.
My suggestion to INS: include this nice booklet in your brochure to the new immigrants.

Good Book [Posted on 2007-01-23]
Overall the book is good, it serves as a good introduction to the American Way of life and is very detailed for people new to the USA.
I find the best part to be the basics section, especially the part about "what americans say" and "what americans do not say", it is a little short but helps a lot. So if you are new to the country and want to find out about the culture, this is a good book for you.

sometimes good, sometimes not... [Posted on 2008-05-04]
I recently purchased this book for an english resource center at a secondary school in Ukraine. While the book brings up many good points, I found misleading information when reading through it. I think perhaps part of the problem is that I was raised in a southern state, where as all know, the usage of English can be rather different from other parts of the country! Of course ouraccent is different, but the word usage and phrases are also often a bit different, and our dialects are known to be closer to British English than those of most other regions of the U.S. There at least should be a disclaimer mentioning that if they are planning on spending time in certain areas of the country, many of the "Americans don't say..." sections are not simply not correct.

Entertaining! [Posted on 2008-11-23]
This book is very entertaining and an easy read. It made me laugh several times, but also taught me a lot about the American society, even though maybe not all of it should be taken too seriously. I would recommend this book to anyone planning a trip to the U.S. It will not only give you a good time reading it before going, but also give you some useful hints on how to interact with the people of the country

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