The How to be British Collection

The How To Be British Collection

by Martyn Ford, Peter Legon

A perennially popular collection of colour cartoon illustrations, with accompanying texts, on the endearing oddities of our British life and character. Drawing on their many years' experience of teaching English as a Foreign Language the authors also offer the wider world a tongue-in-cheek guide on how to get around in English and at the same time make sense of our 'funny ways'. It's a gentle brand of satire, and although there's the occasional barbed arrow for bland food, fashion disasters or dubious standards of hygiene, the tone of The "How To Be British Collection" is more nostalgic than scornful, and the pet-loving, royal-watching, tea drinking characters that populate its pages are viewed with wry affection. Cartoons like "How to be Polite" and "How to Complain" have been reproduced in publications all over the world, perhaps because they put a finger on that peculiar tentativeness that foreigners find so puzzling (and so funny) about us. In order to be British, or at any rate to pass unnoticed in British society, the visitor must learn not to 'make a fuss'. A fuss is something that the true Brit cannot stand. It is nearly as bad as a 'scene', and in the same category as 'drawing attention to yourself'. In the first frame of How To Be Polite, a man -- presumably an uninitiated foreign visitor -- has fallen into a river. He's clearly in trouble and is shouting HELP! -- at the top of his voice, judging by the speech bubble. An English gentleman is walking his dog along the river bank. There's a lifebelt prominently displayed beside them, but the gent and his dog are walking away from the emergency with disapproving expressions. In the next frame, the man in the river has changed his strategy and is calling out: "Excuse me, Sir. I'm terribly sorry to bother you, but I wonder if you would mind helping me a moment, as long as it's no trouble, of course...". And this time, naturally, the English gent is rushing to his aid, throwing the lifebelt into the water. Even the dog is smiling. Much of the material in The "How to be British Collection" is about how cultural differences can prove a minefield for the unwary. To that extent its appeal - in an age where so many of us travel and even set up home overseas - is universal. Every visitor to Britain comes knowing that our favourite conversational gambit is the weather. But how many can successfully do it at 1) Elementary 2) Intermediate and 3) Advanced levels? The book's enduring popularity comes from the recognition factor -- how exposed we can be once we stray away from the comfort zone of our own native language. A hapless visitor, phrase book in hand, stops to ask an old lady in the street for directions. He looks pleased with himself for phrasing the question so nicely, but then is utterly at a loss to understand her long, rambling, minutely detailed reply. We've all been there. To help the poor innocent abroad around these cultural and linguistic booby-traps, the book includes on most pages collectible Expressions to learn and (of course) Expressions to avoid. Thus, under the entry for Real English, which negotiates the difficult area of colloquial speech including "idioms, slang and even the occasional taboo word, as used by flesh and blood native speakers" we find -- Expressions to learn:"'E nicked it off of a lorry and now the coppers 'ave done 'im for it." Expressions to avoid: "That's not correct English, Mrs. Jones -- it says so here in my grammar book".

Genres: Humor, Nonfiction, Travel, Comics, Graphic Novels, British Literature

64 pages, Spiral-bound

First published April 22, 2003

Reviews

[Juan Nalerio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Que valores u otros elementos hacen diferente a la cultura británica?
Este pequeño libro busca con comicidad y situaciones risueñas acercarnos a la respuesta.

Así van desfilando el té, las mascotas, los pubs y el fish & chips.

Recuerdo de viaje que estaba pendiente de lectura.

[K.T. ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute, accurate and humorous little book which fills me with laughter and joy.

[Eustacia Tan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have no idea how accurate this book is, but I found it pretty funny.

Both this book and its sequel purport to explain British culture. The first book is more 'introductory', talking about things like queuing, the phone booth, British beds and stuff like that. Felt quite like things that one may experience on a visit to Britain. Book 2 goes into deeper (and to me more interesting) subjects like Saint George, Scotland, presents and much more.

It's basically one short passage plus one comic (which is the funnier part for me). The comics remind me a bit of a postcard, with a caption at the bottom. Not sure who will like this, but I guess if you're interested in Britain (and British humour), then this might be the book for you. It's really short and easy to read too.

[Jana · Rating 5 out of 5]

lool

[Mark Will Never Cry · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is a product of its time (2003) in the worst case possible and I am not even talking about the story that the British invented tea. This book relies heavily on humour and I did not find it very funny, which made it less enjoyable (there are only so many jokes you can repeat about British people). There is an Asian character, who keeps appearing in the drawn sections, whose eyes are not drawn, which made me feel uncomfortable every time. There was also a lot of focus put into how you are supposed to speak proper English in Britain (there is close to no discussion of the rest of the UK), which felt weird and rather pointed. This book could have been rather funny and great, instead it just leaves a bad mouthfeel.

[Megan (ReadingRover) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Funny little book about how to adapt to British life. Spiral bound comics the size of postcards. Perfect size. Really cute!

[Dy Dy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vừa vui vừa tốt cho việc học tiếng Anh (kiểu dí dỏm của Three man in a boat). Mình thích cái đoạn Pronunciation - How to pronunce Th sound, mỗi lần nhớ lại mắc cười không chịu nổi. Đoạn này có thể dịch lại là: Nếu bạn gặp vấn đề về phát âm, hãy đọc đi đọc lại những câu sau đây (với tốc độ nhanh càng nhanh càng tốt) lúc ở nhà một mình:
- Luộc hột vịt lộn, luộc lộn hột vịt lạc, ăn hột vịt lạc, luộc lại hột vịt lộn lại lộn hột vịt lạc
- Nồi đồng nấu ốc, nồi đất nấu ếch
- Mặt mập mọc một mụt mụn bọc, hai mụt mụn bọc mọc mặt mập
=))))))))))))

[Marko8]

Right. I found this at a shop at Portsmouth and thought I would give it a try.

I think I have very mixed feelings about it, thus no rating. I appreciate it's supposed to be funny and sharing another foreigner's experience on integrating in British culture, but I can't say I was touched much. I have a feeling British people would probably laugh with it.

I will probably be selling or donating this.

[Indy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bought this book when I was in London 3 years ago, as I have a habit of buying books when I travel in different countries. This one comes in handy to let you have a glimpse of British English and culture, as well as their humour and sarcasm. I work with Brits, and somehow I managed to cross check some of the content and had a good laugh.

[FlyingBulgarian Svetli H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

What's hilarious to me is that when I first read this 12+ years ago as a fresh 1st year student in the UK, I barely understood 1/4 of it... Having been married to a Brit for the last 8+ years now, I can safely say none of those come as a surprise anymore and I get it. A true sense of accomplishment. Added bonus that they made me laugh.

A little trip down memory lane in a way

[Huangchi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bought it in British Museum and it didn’t disappoint! I love all the illustrations as they lit up my mood: ) I’ve asked British friends and they found the content of this book accurate and interesting!

[A · Rating 3 out of 5]

Accurate and funny.

[Beth Hughes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this short tongue-in-cheek book while chaperoning a trip to London, and it's a fun blend of comics, lessons, and advice for anyone traveling to the UK. This would make a cute gift! 🇬🇧❤️

[ZS'S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun to read to better understand a Brit.

[Mariagiulia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ironic and nicely irriverent. I absolutly loved the British humor and the cartoons in every section :)

[Lady Kia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good and useful book! 😁

Opravdu dobrá a užitečná knížka! 😁

[Lounge505 · Rating 4 out of 5]

The essential things a foreigner should know about British people lol

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

As an Anglophile (a person who admires England, its people, its culture, and the English language) I adore that book! I keep coming back to read it over and over again! Highly recommended... :)

[暧夜夜 · Rating 4 out of 5]

里面描绘的英国人以及大英文化很好笑

[Antonio · Rating 5 out of 5]

😂😂😂👌! 100% accurate

[Lisa Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

太逗了，笑飞了，可能经常看英语电影吧，笑点基本都能够get到，60来页，一会就看完啦，轻松愉快的一次阅读体验，顺便还更新了自己的词汇库，不过英式和美式有时确实差别还挺大的，能理解，中国大家都说汉语南北方也是挺不一样的。我有个灵感，我觉得我可以收集一下中文网这几年的网络流行语，也整一个这么样的玩意儿出来，哈哈哈哈

[Silv · Rating 1 out of 5]

Full of predictable stereotypes, not very useful or funny.

[Michal M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite funny 😌

[SophieJaneK · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant!!

[Siriann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny and characteristic.

[Joyce LI · Rating 5 out of 5]

笑死我了，那道选择题怎么没有答案啊太遗憾了

[Bridget · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ironic.

[Kaylee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was fun.

[Olga popielas · Rating 3 out of 5]

bardzo zabawna

[sabisteb aka callisto · Rating 5 out of 5]

„How to be British“ ist ein „Klassiker“ von 2003. Ich kannte einige der 32 Vorurteile/Themen, die darin abgehandelt werden schon aus dem Unterricht. Dieses Comic (?) wird gerne mal zum Auflockern von Skripten verwendet.
Hier wird aber kein plattes Briten Bashing betrieben, sondern auf recht britisch zurückhaltende Weise auf die Eigenheiten des kleinen Inselvolkes eingegangen. Einiges stimmt so, anderes unterscheidet sich letztendlich aber nicht wirklich sonderlich von der Art, wie wir Deutsche unser Leben organisieren. Ich denke, deutsche Gastfamilien sind jetzt nicht wirklich so anders von Britischen.
Auf einiges wurde tatsächlich in Unikursen eingegangen, besonders Dress Sense (4). Meine Lektorin für Speaking Englisch wundert sich immer, dass wir Deutschen und so einpacken im Winter und seltsam schauen, wenn andere bei Minusgraden in dünnen Klamotten rumlaufen. Die Chancen sind wirklich gut, dass es Briten sind. Anscheinend ist die Frage „Frierst Du in den Klamotten nicht?“ wirklich typisch Deutsch und ja, teilweise bekam ich das Frösteln wenn ich gesehen habe, wie die zwei Britinnen in meinem Kurs im Winter noch herumliefen.
Auch Politeness (7) ist ein typisches Thema. Different Registers of Speaking… Ein laaaaaaaaaaanges Thema in „Linguistics in the classroom.“
Pronounciation (9): How to Pronounce the th – Ja, den Comic hatte ich in introduction to linguistics im Skipt und das aus gutem Grund.
Body Idioms (12) und Terms of Endearment (13) sind einfach nur nützlich, genau wie The Bathroom (19).

Fazit: Unterhaltsam, lehrreich und nützlich. Hat schon seinen Grund, warum das Buch seit 2003 immer problemlos zu bekommen war.