Lonely Planet Australian Language & Culture (Lonely Planet Language & Culture)

by Lonely Planet, Paul Smitz

Toss another shrimp on the barbie, crack open a tinny or pour yourself a chardy while you traverse Australia's vast expanse of true blue, fair dinkum Aussie lingo - from cosmopolitan communique to surf slang, outback jargon and some of the world's oldest indigenous languages. C'mon avagoyermug!
-Features comprehensive section on Australia's impressive array of indigenous languages.
-Lonely Planet's English Language & Culture series goes behind the scenes of languages you thought you knew.
-Get into the culture and humor behind common - and not so common - English expressions and learn about the local languages that inspired them.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, History

254 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2007

About the author

OUR STORY
A beat-up old car, a few dollars in the pocket and a sense of adventure. In 1972 that’s all Tony and Maureen Wheeler needed for the trip of a lifetime – across Europe and Asia overland to Australia. It took several months, and at the end – broke but inspired – they sat at their kitchen table writing and stapling together their first travel guide, Across Asia on the Cheap. Within a week they’d sold 1500 copies and Lonely Planet was born. One hundred million guidebooks later, Lonely Planet is the world’s leading travel guide publisher with content to almost every destination on the planet.

Reviews

[Enikő · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite an informative little book. Lots of interesting tidbits about Australian culture that I never knew. Plus, it is about language AND well written. I came across a lot of new expressions and even some I was already familiar with, but did not know they were of Australian origin.

Here are a few of my notable quotes:

The Federation of Australian States, which was formed on 1 January 1901, was a watershed in Australian history and separates the former colonial society from the modern nation. (p. 10; I like the use of the word watershed)

At some missions, the so-called dormitory system was enforced, whereby children were housed separately from their parents in dormitories. (p. 178; disturbing parallels across countries and hemispheres)

Most Kunwinjkuan languages have a system of grammatical gender or noun classes, usually four classes: masculine, feminine, pland and inanimate. (p. 193, how cool is that?)

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book up randomly at the library because I thought reading about Australian life from an outside perspective would be interesting.

And it was! I got a chuckle out of some of the language pitfalls and the chapter about Aboriginal languages was very informative. (It's a shame we don't learn about that at most schools in Australia - or at least not when I went.)

A fair dinkum guide to Aussie lingo! 😉

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a Brilliant book if you just want a good read or if you're thinking of travelling down under

[N. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a tiny book (maybe 3" x 4") in size but the print is also quite small and there is a lot of information crammed into its 224 pages. Topics include:

Speaking Australian Language
Living Life the Aussie Way
Eating, Drinking, and Making Merry
Sport and Entertainment
Slang and Misunderstandings

There's also info on regional variations which may be useful to people traveling from one Australian state to another and a pretty large section on indigenous languages, which is very interesting but possibly useless for those who are just visiting briefly. I particularly enjoyed reading about the language/slang (not indigenous). There's some overlap between the two language chapters but that's not a bad thing. Sport and Entertainment will be great to refer back to when my husband talks about Australian Rules Football or cricket to help me figure out what the heck is going on. And, for those who plan to travel, various festivals and events are described. Some sound hilarious.

I looked to see if there's a similar book on American language and culture, out of curiosity, and there's not but there are at least two others on British and Irish language and culture. I am sorely tempted to buy them for the learning experience.

Note: There were a couple minor errors when the author described the comparable American English expression or item (cotton candy, for example, is fairy floss in Australia and the author said the comparable American term is candy floss . . . which is British, I believe). Nothing major, though.

[Jia L · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personally enjoyed the book which is filled with fun titbits of information. Especially the lingo used so I can better understand my bosses and the light hearted moments that they share.

[Kimb · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is worth reading just to learn the amazing(ly halarious) Australian slang

[MirrorMouse · Rating 3 out of 5]

I swear, the war over "togs" vs. "cossies" vs. "swimmers" will someday cause real casualties, it is some Serious Freaking Business to people. Even different members of my own family can't agree. Read this book to help you survive the war, and enjoy some laughs along the way because our slang is ridiculous.