Blog

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…

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…

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 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 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,…

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. …

January 10, 2014 | Review Period

The World’s Most Multilingual Book?

A good gift for the polyglot in your life.

For Christmas this past December I received a book. This is not an unusual occurrence in my family. Many books have exchanged hands between relatives over the years, something that has long been a source of pleasure in my life.…

January 14, 2014 | Review Period

Study Aspirations for 2014

An array of language temptations derail well-laid plans.

According to the 2014 schedule I put up on this website a few months back, I am supposed to be taking a closer look at English right now. The plan was to review a bunch of ESL/EFL materials for non-native…

January 17, 2014 | Review Period

At Barnes & Noble, Union Square

I can't pass a bookstore without checking out its language shelves.

Whenever I pass a bookstore and have a couple of minutes to spare, I go inside and see what they have in their language section. It’s one of the best ways to find products that might not have turned…

January 28, 2014 | Review Period

Lumosity Aversion

I don't want my brain trained!

When I am online, I am constantly greeted by ads for a website called Lumosity. It’s annoying. Lumosity supposedly trains your brain so you can function better. Brain Training? Ow. This is from their website: “At Lumos Labs,…