Reviews

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Little Italy

4 Italian, Neighborhoods

Today’s Little Italy is primarily a tourist attraction, shrunk to Mulberry Street between Broome and Canal streets, with a presence on Grand Street as well. As writer Sam Roberts noted in a 2011 New York Times article…

A Tiny Verb Book, with Pen for Scale

3 Italian, Books

This wee out-of-print book of verb tables was compiled by LEXUS with Andrew Wilkin. If you want a really tiny book with a bunch of verb conjugations to throw in your bag, this might do the job, assuming you…

Wow, 2014 Marks the 129th Convention!

Arabic, Dutch, English, French, General, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Yiddish, Conferences/Lectures

The Modern Language Association holds an annual convention each year in a different city—2013 in Boston, 2014 in Chicago, and 2018 in New York City. You do not need to be a member to attend. I have never gone myself, but when…

On Small and Often Irksome Words: Italian Pronouns and Prepositions

3 Italian, Books

In general, I don’t mind pronouns, but I don’t groove on prepositions. They are among the hardest things for me to learn when I study foreign languages. Indeed, as author Daniela Gobetti herself notes in Practice Makes…

FlashcardExchange.com: Find Flashcards for Your Target Language

4 Arabic, Dutch, English, French, General, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Yiddish, Apps, Flashcards, Vocabulary, Websites, Kids

FlashcardExchange.com claims to be the “world’s largest flashcard library.” It was founded in 2001 by a guy named Culley Harrelson, who was studying for an exam using a giant stack of paper flashcards. Apparently he didn’t find…

Mid-Manhattan Library, at 40th and Fifth

4-5 Arabic, Dutch, English, French, General, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Yiddish, Bookstores/Libraries, Kids

The Mid-Manhattan Library, at 40th Street and Fifth Avenue, is the main language-learning repository of the New York Public Library. I used it a lot in 2009 and 2010, mostly for Pimsleur audio lessons, but also borrowed books and other resources as…

CafePress Sells Hebrew Alphabet Mugs!

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

According to its website, CafePress has “the world’s largest selection of artist-designed t-shirts, clothing, accessories, housewares and gifts.” I have included this company here because they happen to sell numerous foreign-language items, such as mugs, hoodies, posters, clocks, and…

Schaum’s Outline of Italian Vocabulary: This Was Not Very Exciting

2 Italian, Books, Vocabulary

Finally! An Italian book that gives you syllable-stress information (most don’t). I find that very helpful. But that’s really about all I liked about Schaum’s Outline of Italian Vocabulary. I didn’t like it aesthetically—…

Me, About to Take My Spanish Test from Alta Language Services

4-5 Arabic, Dutch, English, French, General, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Tests

I do not profess to be an expert in testing services. After a Google search, I chose Alta Language Services for my own testing needs because it is efficient and inexpensive. Alta Language Services, according to its website, is “a…

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