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January 2, 2014 | Review Period

Language-Learning 2014: A Preview

New releases I am excited about.

I love looking at the websites of publishers and booksellers to see what language products will be coming out in the near future. It definitely gets my heart rate up. Below are some of the 2014 releases that caught my eye. …

December 22, 2013 | Review Period

Memorize with Memrise!

I am probably one of hundreds of people to have come up with that headline for this product, but it is apt.

I have secretly been working on my Arabic. It is not on my official schedule, but I gave an informal talk a few weeks ago about my experiences studying Hebrew and Arabic, and to prepare I did a little studying,…

December 14, 2013 | Review Period

Another Crazy Language Dream

In this one everyone was a linguist.

Last night I had a language dream. I have quite a few language dreams. Sometimes they involve my being able to produce helpful bits of a foreign language to solve a pressing need. Sometimes I am just delighting, in my…

December 7, 2013 | Review Period

I Love Italian Articles

The choices seem endless, and the variety is fun.

Italian offers a nice little assortment of articles: un, un’, una, uno, il, la, lo, l’, i, gli, and

December 2, 2013 | Review Period

More Addiction Troubles

In which a small gift sends me off the deep end.

I have been hanging out on the Facebook Polyglots page way too much lately. That, combined with this adorable little blue Speak Georgian book, which was given to me for my birthday, has been causing me…

November 23, 2013 | Review Period

2013 Holiday Gift Guide: Language-Learning for $13 or Less

I am sick of the endless stream of frivolous holiday gift guides, so I am throwing my own onto the giant pile of presents.

Most things in holiday gift guides do not interest me. They are often too expensive or too useless. I can buy my own Williams-Sonoma strawberry slicer if I really want one. This Year, Give the Gift of Language! This gift…

November 9, 2013 | Review Period

This Year’s Marathon: For Me, a Bit of a Bust

Sort of fun, but also a little demoralizing.

I volunteered for two different events as part of this year’s New York City Marathon, held last weekend. I have done this kind of thing a few times now, largely because I enjoy the language practice that this annual…

November 7, 2013 | Review Period

Paul Noble vs. Michel Thomas

Competing audio products from a pair of polyglots.

In recent weeks I have had my first exposure to products from two different linguists with large reputations. Now posted on this site are reviews for both Learn Italian with Paul Noble and Start Portuguese with the Michel Thomas…

October 29, 2013 | Review Period

A New Play, with Rapping in Chichewa

From a theater company named for the number of languages (167!) spoken in the Queens neighborhood of its founding.

Are you looking for something new in the world of theater? Philosophically opposed to shelling out a hundred bucks to see a mentally unstimulating Broadway show? The Theater of Language Well, a few years ago I mentioned in this blog…

October 26, 2013 | Review Period

Linguistic Acoustics

How you listen to your language matters.

I am far from expert on sound systems and headphones and all that, but I wanted to weigh in with the observation that sound quality really matters when you are trying to learn a language. Fuzziness obscures vowels and consonants…