This was a fun book to read. I don't know how much I retained when I actually went to France, but I was pretty terrified to say something if I wasn't completely positive I knew exactly what all the connotations were. I was looking for something a little easier to put into practice. ( )

Anyone who has ever studied French will find a lot to laugh at in this book. We have all seen a familiar word and leapt to the conclusion that it means the same in the other language. Who would have thought, for instance, that 'faste' means 'lucky'?
The possible misunderstandings and subsequent embarrassment are endless. This book might rescue you from just such a situation.
I loved the occasional note in brackets, as in (take care with 'baiser' as it goes much further than kissing). Nobody ever told me that before! How many times, I wonder, have I got that wrong?
But for me the most entertaining section was that on colloquial expressions.
How about this one? 'Piquer du nez dans son assiette' - to nod off (during a meal) - NOT, you notice, to pick your nose.
Or 'tomber des nues' - to be taken aback, to be flabbergasted. (Nothing to do with nude ladies falling down).
An incredibly useful addition to any French student's library. ( )

A disappointing book. Little more than lists of words, it is not for the casual acquaintance of French (but lover of languages and their histories and nuances) that I am.

Many books about language(s) are more interesting, quirkier or useful. I'd give this one a miss. ( )

I read book 2 first and loved it. It gave me a brilliant insight into translations between English and French and French and English and how translations that we take for granted can be totally incorrect - some with potentially hilarious consequences! This first book did not disappoint. I cannot wait to try out my new found knowldege on my French friends in the summer. ( )

Like others, I also was not expecting an e-book, but I could have missed the description.

I think this is a nice idea, because false cognates are a prominent foreign language learning problem, but this approach seems piecemeal and cumbersome. In my opinion a book like this with list after list of false cognates is unlikely to be used as frequently as a more standard phrasebook. If you are reading in another language and see what appears to be a cognate, are you really going to take the time to look it up in this book on the chance that it is false? Not unless it makes no sense when put in context. This could be helpful for the already advanced or the diligent, but it's not something that I would use. ( )