Reviews

Hundreds of resources to help you teach yourself

For Culture and Networking

Portuguese, Museums/Cultural, Organizations, Social

The Portuguese Circle, according to its website, “is a group of Portuguese living in New York City, whose objective is to promote Portugal and its culture.” Since 2007 they have been organizing cultural, social, and gastronomic events. The group’s biggest…

Live Lingua: Keeping the Free FSI Language Courses Alive

Arabic, Dutch, French, General, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Audio Lessons, Websites

These Foreign Service Institute language courses were recommended by a reader. I haven’t tried them, but the holdings are extensive and consist of older courses that are now in the public domain. They are also free, so the main…

Visit Their Website for Information on Current Exhibitions

5 General, Museums/Cultural, Kids

Founded in 1923, the Museum of the City of New York “celebrates and interprets the city, educating the public about its distinctive character, especially its heritage of diversity, opportunity, and perpetual transformation.”  It offers exhibits as well as school and…

Robin Cook and Tom Clancy in Polish!

3 Polish, Bookstores/Libraries

This Greenpoint store definitely has books in Polish, but if you are looking for books about Polish, it’s probably not the best destination. At least when I was there (this was in mid-2011), they had…

A Mostly-Picture Book on New York's Chinatowns

3-5 Mandarin, Books

Chinatowns of New York City by Wendy Wan-Yin Tan is principally a book of photographs, and I got a lot out of it. I did, however, get a lot more out of it…

Visit the Website for Dutch Information and Dutch Shopping!

Dutch, Bookstores/Libraries, Organizations

Located in the New York State Library in Albany, the New Netherland Institute is the home of the New Netherland Project, run for decades by scholar Dr. Charles Gehring. The purpose of the New Netherland Project is…

There Are 15 of These!

General, Websites, Organizations, Conferences/Lectures

As of this writing, there are 15 Language Resource Centers (LRCs) across the U.S. at various universities. The first was established by the Department of Education in 1990, according to the website for the centers, “in response to the growing national…

For Bread, Pretzels, Microbrews, Coffee

German, Food and Drink

According to its website, Landbrot is a “bakery bar,” one that celebrates “Germany’s rich culinary traditions and hearty spirit.” This bakery bar offer traditional fresh-baked breads, pastries, pretzels, sausages, German micro-brews, and more. I can’t rate it because…

Central Park West, Post-Marathon

5 Arabic, Dutch, English, French, General, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Sports/Fitness

Yeah, I know, the marathon is supposedly about running 26.2 miles. I am a runner, so I can appreciate that. Still, for me, New York City’s annual marathon spectacular is more about culture and language. Because of the global obsession…