Reviews

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Polish Verbs and Grammar Essentials with Latte

4-5 Polish, Books

This oddly titled book by Oscar E. Swan is thorough, well-written, and smart. I say oddly titled because, despite the appearance of the word “Verbs” in quite large letters on its cover, the book in fact begins with a chapter…

McGraw-Hill's Italian Verb Tenses: Needs Editing, But I Really Like This One

4-5 Italian, Books

You need to bring a little pre-existing knowledge of Italian grammar and vocabulary to Practice Makes Perfect: Italian Verb Tenses by Paola Nanni-Tate, but if you do, you should be fine. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Ms.…

Shoppers at Patel Brothers

5 Hindi, Food and Drink

I love going to stores with food in other languages. This Jackson Heights establishment is full of unfamiliar foodstuffs and packaging, including giant piles of rice, way beyond what I would ever see in my own regular grocery haunts. Even…

Lightweight and Highly Portable Practice in the Spanish Past Tense

3 Spanish, Books

A slim little volume, Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Past-Tense Verbs Up Close is part of the gargantuan Practice Makes Perfect series from McGraw-Hill. Book weight matters when you are walking around a lot! This…

Ellis Island in Disarray, Before It Was Restored

5 General, Museums/Cultural, Kids

The Ellis Island Immigration Museum is a must-visit place for anyone interested in American history. Almost 12 million immigrants came to the United States through Ellis Island, and I have read that nearly half of modern-day Americans are descended from them.…

There May Be a Russian Meetup in Your Area!

Russian, Classes/Conversation, Social

Enter your zip code here to find Meetup groups near you focused on Russian conversation. In case you are unfamiliar with the Meetup phenomenon, there are Meetup groups for all kinds of interests, not just language. I personally am…

A History of the Polish Americans: I Like the Cover Photo

Polish, Books

A History of the Polish Americans chronicles the Polish experience in the United States and examines what it means to be a hyphenated American grappling with the dueling forces of assimilation and cultural heritage. In 2005, writes the…

Facebook Page for Kung Fu Fest 2013

5 Arabic, Dutch, English, French, General, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Yiddish, Websites

If you are a social-media holdout, I am not going to try to convince you that you should dive in now. There are, after all, pros and cons to being on Facebook. If you are already on Facebook,…

Start 'Em Young!

Arabic, Mandarin, Spanish, Classes/Conversation, Kids

This project was founded by Angela Jackson, a business executive whose experiences living and working abroad highlighted for her the advantages multilingualism conferred on children overseas, in terms of both educational and professional opportunities. Bringing together language instructors, researchers, school…

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