Reviews

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On Bionic Language Learners

5 General, Books

This book chronicles the superhuman feats of hyperpolyglots, the Steve Austins and Jaime Sommerses of language learners. It is a great read, though you have to be careful not to let yourself be intimidated by these mindblowing language super-learners. Despite…

Intermediate Polish: I Like the Book Design

Polish, Books

I confess I did not get far at all in Intermediate Polish: A Grammar and Workbook (my Polish unit ended before I got past page 10), but I was enjoying it in any case and found it similar in…

Modern Brazilian Portuguese Grammar Workbook: Get the Accompanying Practical Guide, Too!

4 Portuguese, Books

If you buy Modern Brazilian Portuguese Grammar Workbook by John Whitlam, I recommend you also buy the companion text, Modern Brazilian Portuguese Grammar: A Practical Guide. They go together! The workbook comes with an answer…

Portuguese Reference Manual: This Book Is No Joke!

4 Portuguese, Books

This is, as the title indicates, principally a reference book and not something one would normally use to learn a language. If you are brave, however, and unafraid of grammar and piles of language data, Portuguese: A Reference Manual<…

A Cheerful Little Museum

3-5 Italian, Museums/Cultural

The Italian American Museum building, located in Little Italy in Manhattan, used to house Banca Stabile, a bank for Italian immigrants in New York City. When I visited the museum back in 2009, it had an exhibition on the bank that…

The French Subjunctive Up Close: For an Intimate Look at the Subject

4 French, Books

This book begins with the following question: “Are you ‘subjunctophobic’?” The author herself is obviously not. “Verbs conjugated in the subjunctive make up a wonderful and captivating tribe,” writes Annie Heminway, “rich in mysteries, nuances, and conundrums, a wandering tribe…

German Grammar Drills: Not the Most Grammar Fun I've Ever Had

3 German, Books

German Grammar Drills by Ed Swick does indeed provide the drills that its title promises, but the exercises could be better at developing skills and encouraging retention. There is just too much mindless repetition. For example,…

French Pronouns and Prepositions: For Help with Those Short Little Difficult Words

4-5 French, Books

I haven’t consistently liked McGraw-Hill’s Practice Makes Perfect books on pronouns and prepositions (which are offered for multiple languages), but I thoroughly enjoyed this one for French. The exercises were helpful, and the vocabulary used…

Buy the Modern Brazilian Portuguese Grammar Workbook, Too, So You Get to Practice!

4 Portuguese, Books

This book is very thorough. I like when books are thorough, though unfortunately Modern Brazilian Portuguese Grammar: A Practical Guide is thorough enough to be too heavy to tow around comfortably in a purse, especially since all the…

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