In Pimsleur I learned two ways to say “Mandarin.” The main one was Pǔtōnghuà, which I have seen translated variously as “common speech,” “common tongue,” and “common language”—and which is, I have been…
Sonia Gil, my guide through Fluenz Mandarin’s interactive language-learning product, just taught me in lesson 39 that if I order water in China, I should ask for bīng shuĭ. Bīng means “ice,”…
As I go through my Fluenz lessons, over and over I have been getting the word for “one” wrong when I type it in pinyin. Not the letters—which are just y plus i, so…
I admit it: I have the language-learning adult version of senioritis. Just a little bit. It is growing harder to buckle down on Chinese and I am kind of daydreaming about what comes next. These Irish and Yiddish Books Have…
Today in a discussion of time in Beginner’s Chinese by Yong Ho (second edition), I read: When asked to visualize the movement of time from past to present and then to future, most American students would…
I have only a few days left for Mandarin, and I am trying to finish up several Chinese language-learning products by May 1, when I start Irish. It is not looking good for Fluenz, since I still have 19 lessons left of…
In honor of my last day of Chinese (for now), today I visited a Mandarin class for second-graders at P.S. 368, a public elementary school at Amsterdam and 146th Street in Harlem. Approaching P.S. 368 The class is part of…
In recent months, when I have told people I will be studying Irish, I have gotten some confused looks. An Irish Bar in Midtown. I believe the name means ‘Land of Youth.’ “Do you mean Gaelic?” I have been asked.…
Yesterday I read a book by Irish teacher Darerca Ní Chartúir, entitled The Irish Language: An Overview and Guide. (Before I even got into the details of the book, I had to spend a little time…
Today I began reading Essential Irish Grammar, by Éamonn Ó Dónaill, and I am in shock. I am seeing things I have never seen before in my entire life. Everything started out promisingly, when…
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