Reviews

Hundreds of resources to help you teach yourself

A Beverage History: On the Drink That Changed the World

4 Mandarin, Books

While studying Chinese, I decided to read this tea history, as a window into Chinese culture. Five thousand years of culture is a little overwhelming, and I thought picking a small corner might be more manageable. Thus, a tea book,…

Read & Speak Korean for Beginners

2-5 Korean, Books, Multimedia

I barely used Read & Speak Korean for Beginners by Sunjeong Shin, but I am not a fan of this series, which offers similar books for multiple languages. Right on the cover of this Korean edition, it promises…

ChinaFile, for the Latest News on China

Mandarin, News, Websites

This publication is in English, but it has a lot to say about China! Cultural context always helps with language learning. According to its Facebook page, ChinaFile is “an online magazine of original and carefully curated reporting in words, pictures…

FlashcardExchange.com: Find Flashcards for Your Target Language

4 Arabic, Dutch, English, French, General, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Yiddish, Apps, Flashcards, Vocabulary, Websites, Kids

FlashcardExchange.com claims to be the “world’s largest flashcard library.” It was founded in 2001 by a guy named Culley Harrelson, who was studying for an exam using a giant stack of paper flashcards. Apparently he didn’t find…

Your First 100 Words in Greek: Kind of Fun, But Not Very Effective

3 Greek, Books, Flashcards, Vocabulary

Your First 100 Words in Greek by Ioanna Psalti helps you develop basic vocabulary and a familiarity with Greek script. The vocabulary is divided into various thematic categories, such as animals, clothing, household items, etc.—helpful stuff…

For Verb Practice

3 French, Books

Practice Makes Perfect: French Verb Tenses by Trudie Maria Booth is appropriate for advanced beginners, intermediate, and advanced students. I am in general partial to books on verbs, because verbs are so central to language and communication.…

Read & Speak Greek for Beginners: Kind of Cute

3 Greek, Books, Multimedia

On the title page, this Read & Speak Greek for Beginners book/CD combo annoyingly promises to be “the easiest way to learn to communicate right away!” Ridiculous. But it’s cute for what it is. There are…

Schaum’s Outline of Italian Vocabulary: This Was Not Very Exciting

2 Italian, Books, Vocabulary

Finally! An Italian book that gives you syllable-stress information (most don’t). I find that very helpful. But that’s really about all I liked about Schaum’s Outline of Italian Vocabulary. I didn’t like it aesthetically—…

Me, About to Take My Spanish Test from Alta Language Services

4-5 Arabic, Dutch, English, French, General, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Tests

I do not profess to be an expert in testing services. After a Google search, I chose Alta Language Services for my own testing needs because it is efficient and inexpensive. Alta Language Services, according to its website, is “a…

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