Touche: A Frenchwoman's Take on the English

by Agnes Catherine Poirier

A brilliant and vigorous observer of both French and British societies, which she knows intimately, 32-year-old Agnes Catherine Poirier has spent the last ten years explaining the peculiarities of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0297852345
• ISBN13: 9780297852346
• Release Date: October 2006
• Publisher: Orion Publishing Group
• Length: 164 Pages
• Weight: 0.48 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Francophile and Anglosaxon

This book is amusing and insightful, from a French woman's angle looking into English world in an objective view. Having grown up in a former English dominated country and received 12 years of English education in Science and Mathematics, I got a chance to pursue my University education in France Grande Ecole system. I was touched by the author's candid opinion of both French and English temperament. Yes, they are different - one of the practical 'Fish and Chip' culture and the other the delicate fine 'cuisine'. One lacking of comparison by the author is in the area of Science and Mathematics. Coming from the English world, I had to unlearn many of my English teachings in order to adapt to French's "Cartesian" spirit. French are prone to abstractness à la Bourbaki but disconnected in practicality; English are good in applied but care less on its philosophical origins. They compliment each other. You can't have both good things in life - C'est la vie, n'est-ce pas ?