Reviews

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Basic Italian, by Alessandra Visconti

3-5 Italian, Books, Kids

I did not love Practice Makes Perfect: Basic Italian by Alessandra Visconti, but I found it pleasant. I am in general pretty fond of the ubiquitous Practice Makes Perfect series from McGraw-Hill and have used…

From Dover Publications: 2,001 Useful Spanish Words!

4 Spanish, Books, Vocabulary

This is a great book to keep with that pile of magazines in your bathroom—and I mean that as a compliment!  2,001 Most Useful Spanish Words is not exactly the kind of book the average person would…

501 Essential French Verbs, from Dover

4 French, Books

This nicely designed book from Dover Publications consists primarily of verb tables. It is hard to get overly excited about verb tables, which simply involve listing all possible conjugations for a given verb, and then all the conjugations for another…

Oops! I Forgot to Hide It!

4 French, Books

I’ll be blunt: this French book is a little dirty. Which is fine. Smutty stuff has a place in a French student’s library. Especially a college-age student, but the contents of Hide This French Book<…

Start Portuguese, with the Michel Thomas Method!

3-5 Portuguese, Audio Lessons

At the outset of this one-hour CD, a nice-sounding woman told me, “You are just about to experience a new and different approach to learning, and to language learning, that will give you a practical and functional use of the…

Seymour Resnick's Essential Spanish Grammar, from 1959!

3 Spanish, Books

I really liked Seymour Resnick’s Essential French Grammar, so I was disappointed not to be able to give his Essential Spanish Grammar a similarly glowing review. There is a special place in my heart for…

I Am Looking Forward to Trying This Out

Korean, Audio Lessons, Flashcards, Multimedia, Vocabulary, Websites, Kids

I love Antosch & Lin Languages’ websites. They are smart, robust, and versatile: the super-super-deluxe-fudge-sundae-with-everything-on-it version of a flashcard product. Although I can’t give their Korean one a rating and full review right now—because I…

Learn Italian with Paul Noble, from Collins

4 Italian, Audio Lessons

Paul Noble is an actual person, an English person, and quite young. He has a language school in England, and this Italian offering of his—via the UK publishing company Collins—seeks to replicate the experience of studying at his…

One of Many Options on French-Flashcards.com: Study Words by Topic!

5 French, Audio Lessons, Flashcards, Multimedia, Vocabulary, Websites, Kids

You know a language website is good when you and your husband spend date night (though I confess I have a visceral aversion to that odd expression) playing around on it. French-Flashcards.com is French flashcards on steroids! This is…

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