Review by Novel525adrake -- Idiom Attack Vol. 1 Everyday...
Posted: 20 Jun 2020, 18:18
[Following is a volunteer review of "Idiom Attack Vol. 1 Everyday Living (Japanese Edition)" by Peter Liptak.]
Idiom Attack Vol. 1 Everyday Living by Peter Liptak is a language instruction book for Japanese speakers to learn idioms in English. He chose the most popular idioms used in North America and split them into 25 categories. The focus is on spoken language and informal communication in English that is seldom taught in traditional language classes. Liptak formats the book with an introductory section, followed by a fill in the blank exercise, a story, and discussion questions. Every five chapters, there is a crossword puzzle that uses sentences taken from the chapters. The introductory section contains an example sentence of the idiom in Japanese then the target language, English, and a definition of said idiom in English then translated in Japanese. Liptak also provides further information with synonyms, antonyms, and contextual information.
I give Idiom Attack Vol. 1 Everyday Living a 4 out of 4 stars. I think this book deserves a perfect score because Liptak presented the material in an easily digestible format. Liptak does especially well choosing idioms and diffusing the stress that comes from learning a foreign language. The book reads like a series of exercises instead of a textbook with the ability to jump around sections without getting confused. The book is well edited with a few minor errors most of which are missing or unnecessary commas.
I personally dislike some of Liptak’s example sentences. A few of his example sentences either do not fit the definitions he gives or are written awkwardly; however, my native dialect may differ from Liptak’s making his sentences sound awkward. These examples are few and far between, but they may confuse the reader.
I like the subject matter of this book most. Colloquialism is often ignored by foreign language teachers. It is uncommon for textbooks to focus on informal and spoken language. I took three years of Japanese and personally only learned colloquialisms by living a community of my target language. Liptak successfully documents informal English, which allows the student to learn this aspect of language without having to live in an English speaking country. This subject matter is especially useful for Japanese speakers because Japanese schools focus on writing and reading English. Listening and speaking are widely ignored, so this textbook gives necessary information that the Japanese school systems lack.
I recommend this to intermediate and advanced students learning English. I hesitate to recommend it to beginners because of the complex sentence structure and vocabulary. I think Liptak could improve his book by including explanations of idioms for more advanced students. Students would remember the idiom and its meaning better if they were provided an explanation. For example, in the old days, people had straw roofs and pets slept in them, so, when it rained heavily, those pets fell through the straw, hence ‘raining cats and dogs.’
******
Idiom Attack Vol. 1 Everyday Living (Japanese Edition)
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Idiom Attack Vol. 1 Everyday Living by Peter Liptak is a language instruction book for Japanese speakers to learn idioms in English. He chose the most popular idioms used in North America and split them into 25 categories. The focus is on spoken language and informal communication in English that is seldom taught in traditional language classes. Liptak formats the book with an introductory section, followed by a fill in the blank exercise, a story, and discussion questions. Every five chapters, there is a crossword puzzle that uses sentences taken from the chapters. The introductory section contains an example sentence of the idiom in Japanese then the target language, English, and a definition of said idiom in English then translated in Japanese. Liptak also provides further information with synonyms, antonyms, and contextual information.
I give Idiom Attack Vol. 1 Everyday Living a 4 out of 4 stars. I think this book deserves a perfect score because Liptak presented the material in an easily digestible format. Liptak does especially well choosing idioms and diffusing the stress that comes from learning a foreign language. The book reads like a series of exercises instead of a textbook with the ability to jump around sections without getting confused. The book is well edited with a few minor errors most of which are missing or unnecessary commas.
I personally dislike some of Liptak’s example sentences. A few of his example sentences either do not fit the definitions he gives or are written awkwardly; however, my native dialect may differ from Liptak’s making his sentences sound awkward. These examples are few and far between, but they may confuse the reader.
I like the subject matter of this book most. Colloquialism is often ignored by foreign language teachers. It is uncommon for textbooks to focus on informal and spoken language. I took three years of Japanese and personally only learned colloquialisms by living a community of my target language. Liptak successfully documents informal English, which allows the student to learn this aspect of language without having to live in an English speaking country. This subject matter is especially useful for Japanese speakers because Japanese schools focus on writing and reading English. Listening and speaking are widely ignored, so this textbook gives necessary information that the Japanese school systems lack.
I recommend this to intermediate and advanced students learning English. I hesitate to recommend it to beginners because of the complex sentence structure and vocabulary. I think Liptak could improve his book by including explanations of idioms for more advanced students. Students would remember the idiom and its meaning better if they were provided an explanation. For example, in the old days, people had straw roofs and pets slept in them, so, when it rained heavily, those pets fell through the straw, hence ‘raining cats and dogs.’
******
Idiom Attack Vol. 1 Everyday Living (Japanese Edition)
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon