Reviews

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Dirty Portuguese: For Explicit-Language-Friendly People

3 Portuguese, Books

Okay, I will be honest: I didn’t do much with this irreverent little book except giggle over it. Dirty Portuguese is what I consider to be more of a gag gift, like for a college student…

The Keys to French?

4 French, Books

This book by Annie Heminway contains lots of grammar drills, offering excellent opportunities for practice to people seeking to refine their skills. I’ve used Practice Makes Perfect: Complete French Grammar twice. Right after I went through it…

This Is Before I Totally Beat It Up

4 Polish, Books

This Basic Polish book from Routledge says at the outset that it assumes no previous knowledge of Polish. Unlike many other language books, it sticks to that commitment. It begins at the beginning. I’m not going to…

I Like This Book

4-5 Japanese, Books, Kids

This book is a lot of fun. It teaches you to write all the characters in the two Japanese syllabaries, hiragana and katakana, which are collectively referred to as kana. The kana, 92 of them in total, are basic elements…

Advance Your Spanish Skills

3-5 Spanish, Books

This diminutive book by Rogelio Alonso Vallecillos offers instruction in “topics that often cause trouble to foreign students, especially to English-speaking ones: topics like the correct use of object pronouns, when to leave out subject pronouns, how to generate sentences…

This Book Is Pretty Heavy

5 Spanish, Books

This book, by John Butt and Carmen Benjamin, is for people who take their Spanish grammar very seriously. It is a comprehensive reference guide that goes into gory detail on all things grammatical in Spanish.  To give…

Perfect Your Spanish Verb Tenses

4 Spanish, Books

This book can be your companion for a review of the present tense, reflexive verbs, irregular verbs, present progressive, preterite, imperfect, future, conditional, present perfect, past perfect, imperative, subjunctive, and more. You can be a beginner and use it, but…

Italian Now! Do Not Delay!

4 Italian, Books

This book by Marcel Danesi was the most basic Italian text I used. It is a book you can truly use from a starting point of zero Italian knowledge; other beginners’ books that claim you can start from nothing often…

Practice Makes Perfect: Complete Spanish Grammar

3-5 Spanish, Books

Like other books in the sprawling Practice Makes Perfect series from McGraw-Hill, this one, written by Gilda Nissenberg, is packed with exercises. Some are good, but some could be better. I ended up skipping many of them. …

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