Reviews
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Schoenhof’s Foreign Books
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…
Holyland Market
Hebrew, Food and Drink
This East Village store is filled with Israeli products and is apparently very popular with Israelis seeking familiar foods from home. I always like taking pictures of food with foreign languages on it, so I went there to see…
Sefer Israel
Hebrew, Bookstores/Libraries
Sefer Israel is a publishing house and a supplier of Hebrew educational materials to schools. Their offerings include books, periodicals, Israeli music, films, and more. This is a wholesaler, not a street-level retail store, but the owner, Orly Farhi-Haley, …
Aroma Espresso Bar
Hebrew, Food and Drink
This West 72nd Street café is a fabulous language lab—one of the best free local resources I have found for any language I’ve studied so far during this project. I went there a lot
Central Park
Arabic, Dutch, English, French, General, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Yiddish, Parks, Kids
Central Park draws international visitors year round, but if you really want to hear other languages, walk around here during the three non-freezing seasons: spring, summer, and fall. Summer especially is crazy with tourists. You can hear dozens of languages.…
J. Levine Books & Judaica
Hebrew, Bookstores/Libraries
When I visited this store in 2011 looking for Hebrew study materials, two different employees—both pleasant—helped me in my quest. I left with a couple of books, both of which I ended up using. It was not a wholly…
Älskling
Arabic, Dutch, English, French, General, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Shopping, Kids
Älskling, which means “darling” in Swedish, sells baby clothes online in dozens of languages. When I first encountered this product in an Upper West Side shop some years ago, I was fortunate enough to be given a tour by…
Borough Park, Brooklyn
Hebrew, Yiddish, Neighborhoods
The majority of Borough Park’s residents are Orthodox Jews. In fact, this neighborhood is one of the largest Orthodox Jewish communities outside of Israel. In a 2010 New York Times article, Gregory Beyer wrote, “Religious tradition and…
The JCC in Manhattan
Hebrew, Museums/Cultural, Religious, Sports/Fitness, Kids
The Jewish Community Center is very popular in my Upper West Side neighborhood. Since opening in 2002, it has offered a dazzling array of classes: on Hebrew, yoga, Israeli dance, krav maga, and many other subjects. They have a well-stocked, aesthetically…