Customer Reviews

Street Talk-1: How to Speak and Understand American Slang (v. 1)

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'Street Talk 1' is my favorite book on the topic. Although I have a decent collection of slang dictionaries, I found this one to stand out for several reasons:

First of all, it is full of terms that are ACTUALLY USED in the US today. No big deal, you might say, but most of the other books available on US slang would only be useful if the professors writing them could first convince Americans to learn and use the expressions contained in them ;)

Secondly, the EXERCISES at the end of the chapters are VERY HELPFUL to learn the expressions.

I recommend this book to every foreigner trying to learn how to communicate with Americans.

I have taught with several of David Burke's slang books and I find that this first one is his best (of Street Talk-1, 2 and 3). Some great features are commonly used initials, animals used in slang, body parts used in slang, and food used in slang. Each chapter has a dialogue, which is written in standard English and "realspeak," which is a form of English using reduced sounds (oudda for out of). Some of these dialogues seem a little unnatural, and the exercises are not especially difficult for my students. Nevertheless, I think it's extremely useful for its target audience, English as a second language speakers. It's also a good reference for ESL teachers.

If you are a foreigner in USA who want to communicate more effectively with american people, you should have this book. It teaches you slangs and idioms in an easier and faster way rather than just lists them as a dictionary does. You not only learned the meaning of these weired words in English but also learned how to speak them out with the right accent and under the appropriate condition.

Studying English as a second language for nearly 20 years, I found Street Talk I may be the best reference of it kind I have ever seen. Often times, one copy of this kind of book is just a revised copy of another. However, from this Street Talk I, you can learn someting fresh and not readily available from elsewhere. I particularly appreciate the author gathers "talks" directly from ordinary people, rather than copy some common slang or idioms from other books. That is why this Street Talk I distingushes itself from others. Most non-English-speaking people would agree that this is a must-read reference if they really like to learn to talk just like Americans. I would highly recommend this book to my friends and any one who would like to speak better American English.

***from David Burke, author of the "old" Street Talk series***

Thank you all very much for your interest in my products! Please note that "Street Talk 1" is now out of print, but I now have a NEW updated version called "The Slangman Guide to STREET SPEAK 1," published by SLANGMAN PUBLISHING. Please do an amazon.com search for it and you'll be able to search through the entire book!

Happy reading!

"Slangman" David Burke

Studying English as a second language for nearly 20 years, I found Street Talk I may be the best reference of it kind I have ever seen. Often times, one copy of this kind of book is just a revised copy of another. However, from this Street Talk I, you can learn someting fresh and not readily available from elsewhere. I particularly appreciate the author gathers "talks" directly from ordinary people, rather than copy some common slang or idioms from other books. That is why this Street Talk I distingushes itself from others. Most non-English-speaking people would agree that this is a must-read reference if they really like to learn how to talk just like Americans. I would highly recommend this book to my friends and any one who would like to speak better American English.

surely you can find many interesting slang which are quite different from the former dicionaries that you used to use.
i am a chinese man,as china's entry into the wto,i have to learn english well,and this book helps me to master the true english and how to make boring leaning into a pleasant work.that sounds excellent ,you can have a try!