Reviews

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Books

Italian Verb Drills: Second and Third Editions, Cuddling on Sofa

4 Italian, Books

I used Italian Verb Drills by Paola Nanni-Tate twice, in two different editions (the second and the third). The book delivers on its commitment to drill the hell out of you on verbs. Which is good, because Italian…

An Encouraging Cover for Beginners

3 Arabic, Books, Flashcards, Vocabulary

This book by Mahmoud Gaafar is one of a series of similarly titled books for various languages. The concept for the series comes from Jane Wightwick (who also wrote the Easy Arabic Grammar reviewed in this directory).

Verb Tables!

4 Italian, Books

Teach Yourself Italian Verbs is a compact reference book consisting of verb tables: 200 different pages with 200 different verbs. Each page displays all the forms for a given verb, provides helpful examples of Italian usage, and lists various…

There Are More American Chinatowns Than Most People Realize

5 Mandarin, Books

In American Chinatown, author Bonnie Tsui examines the five most famous American Chinatowns—in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Honolulu, and Las Vegas. Discussions of demographic trends are complemented by personal stories of people who live…

The Web That Has No Weaver: Good Bedtime Reading

3-5 Mandarin, Books, Sports/Fitness

The Web That Has No Weaver: Understanding Chinese Medicine by Ted Kaptchuk will not teach you Chinese, but it has Chinese words in it! I read it as part of my foray into Chinese culture. I am…

The Oxford New Greek Dictionary: A Highly Portable Word Collection

Greek, Books, Dictionaries

In general I have loved the Oxford dictionaries I have used for other languages in this series. They are small and lightweight, and they have a great layout with generous interior margins, which means you don’t have to battle…

Relevant Only If You Have the Second Edition of Alif Baa

3 Arabic, Books

This is the answer key to the second edition of Alif Baa with Multimedia, also reviewed in this directory. If you are using the newer, third edition of Alif Baa—which appeared in 2010, after I…

On the Forgotten Colony...

5 Dutch, Books

This book’s subtitle is “The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan & the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America.”  The author starts out talking about the New Netherland Project and its director, Charles Gehring, a scholar who “received…

Alif Baa, Second Edition, with Accompanying DVD

3 Arabic, Books, Multimedia, Websites

Alif Baa with Multimedia, which consists of a book and an accompanying DVD, is designed to help you learn the sounds and writing system of Arabic. Methods include print-based, audio, and video instruction. Before you read further:…

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