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Spanish Grammar Drills: Lots of Good Translation Exercises

4 Spanish, Books

“If you’ve picked up this book,” writes Rogelio Alonso Vallecillos (fabulous name!) in Spanish Verb Drills, “you know that to learn a language well—to read and write and to understand others and be understood yourself—at…

Basic Korean Grammar and Workbook: Not Basic Enough

3 Korean, Books

I did not get far at all in Basic Korean: A Grammar and Workbook by Andrew Sangpil Byon. I straggled through to page 21 and stopped. A big question for me was, who exactly is the target audience? …

A Mostly-Picture Book on New York's Chinatowns

3-5 Mandarin, Books

Chinatowns of New York City by Wendy Wan-Yin Tan is principally a book of photographs, and I got a lot out of it. I did, however, get a lot more out of it…

Refine Your Spanish Subjunctive Skills

3-5 Spanish, Books

Within the sprawling Practice Makes Perfect empire at McGraw-Hill are a number of small, highly portable, and thematically focused books on various grammar topics. Practice Makes Perfect: The Spanish Subjunctive Up Close by…

Polish Verbs and Grammar Essentials with Latte

4-5 Polish, Books

This oddly titled book by Oscar E. Swan is thorough, well-written, and smart. I say oddly titled because, despite the appearance of the word “Verbs” in quite large letters on its cover, the book in fact begins with a chapter…

McGraw-Hill's Italian Verb Tenses: Needs Editing, But I Really Like This One

4-5 Italian, Books

You need to bring a little pre-existing knowledge of Italian grammar and vocabulary to Practice Makes Perfect: Italian Verb Tenses by Paola Nanni-Tate, but if you do, you should be fine. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Ms.…

Lightweight and Highly Portable Practice in the Spanish Past Tense

3 Spanish, Books

A slim little volume, Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Past-Tense Verbs Up Close is part of the gargantuan Practice Makes Perfect series from McGraw-Hill. Book weight matters when you are walking around a lot! This…

A History of the Polish Americans: I Like the Cover Photo

Polish, Books

A History of the Polish Americans chronicles the Polish experience in the United States and examines what it means to be a hyphenated American grappling with the dueling forces of assimilation and cultural heritage. In 2005, writes the…

I Love These Oxford Dictionaries

Portuguese, Books, Dictionaries

The Oxford New Portuguese Dictionary is a member of a dictionary series from Oxford that I really like and have used for other languages. The series as a whole is well-designed and lightweight (meaning easily portable through New…

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