Reviews

Hundreds of resources to help you teach yourself

The Official Syntaxis Grammar Quiz

5 English, General, Tests, Websites

Okay, so right up front, I will confess, yes, I wrote this Syntaxis grammar quiz, and yes, I am shamelessly putting it in my own language directory of reviews with a five-star rating. I happen to be very fond…

Schoenhof's Website Is a Window to the World

5 Arabic, Dutch, English, French, General, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Yiddish, Websites, Bookstores/Libraries, Kids

Founded in 1856, Schoenhof’s claims to have the “largest collection of foreign books in North America.” As a student at Harvard, I used to shop at their main store in Harvard Square for my language and literature course materials. I…

You Can Speak the Word You Want Translated...

5 Arabic, Dutch, English, French, General, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Yiddish, Apps, Dictionaries

I have a tendency not to get around to downloading iPhone apps onto my iPhone, but fortunately I have a husband who will take my phone and do it for me. I’m very glad he stuck this app on…

Store Entrance

5 English, French, General, Italian, Spanish, Bookstores/Libraries, Kids

This is a truly gorgeous bookstore with a wonderful selection of books—in English, Italian, Spanish, and French. There are not many stores in New York with a meaningful supply of foreign-language books. This is one, and it seems to…

Do You Think There's a Below-Average Number of Grammatical Errors on This Site?

English, Websites, Organizations

I think years ago I might actually have been a member of this organization, but I can’t remember for sure. In any case, they have a lovely mission statement: “The Council promotes the development of literacy, the use…

Dictionary.com Can Tell You the Origins of Words Like Schadenfreude and Aardvark

5 English, General, Dictionaries, Websites

I love this free resource. When I need absolute certainty about what I am looking up, I will go to my beautiful and totally current hardcover American Heritage dictionary, but for a quick check of a word’s…

Central Park West, Post-Marathon

5 Arabic, Dutch, English, French, General, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Sports/Fitness

Yeah, I know, the marathon is supposedly about running 26.2 miles. I am a runner, so I can appreciate that. Still, for me, New York City’s annual marathon spectacular is more about culture and language. Because of the global obsession…

This Is the Work of a Linguaphile

5 English, General, Dictionaries, Websites

The Online Etymology Dictionary is the work of a Pennsylvania-based historian and linguaphile, Douglas Harper, who writes on the home page, “This is a map of the wheel-ruts of modern English. Etymologies are not definitions; they’re explanations of what…

Search for Gujarathi, Yiddish, and More!

5 Arabic, Dutch, English, French, General, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Yiddish, Websites

The Modern Language Association has a spectacular online language map showing the languages of the U.S., as well as a data center with searchable language information. For free!  These tools will be updated soon…

© 2009–2022 Ellen Jovin. All rights reserved.