Reviews

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Italian Grammar Drills: Language Boot Camp!

4 Italian, Books

I am a big fan of grammar drills. I find them unbelievably helpful. In Italian Grammar Drills by Paola Nanni-Tate, I sometimes just jumped around randomly from section to section, working on whatever I felt my weakness…

A Cheerful Little Museum

3-5 Italian, Museums/Cultural

The Italian American Museum building, located in Little Italy in Manhattan, used to house Banca Stabile, a bank for Italian immigrants in New York City. When I visited the museum back in 2009, it had an exhibition on the bank that…

For Atmosphere, Language, and Coffee

4-5 Italian, Food and Drink

During my Italian studies, on an expedition to Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, I stopped by this establishment for a coffee break, because I thought I might get to speak or at least hear Italian. The place was bustling, extremely…

A View of Arthur Avenue

4-5 Italian, Neighborhoods

Arthur Avenue, the main strip of Little Italy in the Bronx, is beautiful and charming and worth a field trip (or multiple field trips). Take the B or D subway to Fordham Road, walk 10 minutes, and you are in a…

Barron’s Italian Verb Workbook: Some Good Content, But Not My Favorite Exercise Design

3 Italian, Books

Barron’s Italian Verb Workbook by Marcel Danesi is intended to work for true beginners, but I think showing up with a little background would be helpful, since you start right in on present-tense conjugations on the…

Pimsleur Italian Unlimited at the Bookstore, 2012

5 Italian, Audio Lessons, Multimedia

When I first studied Italian back in 2009, I did 90 Pimsleur Italian lessons in less than three weeks. You are supposed to do one a day. I guess that is an indication of how much I loved them. I would absolutely 100…

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…

A Confidently Titled Italian Grammar

3 Italian, Books

I have mixed feelings about Barron’s Mastering Italian Grammar by Beatrice Rovere-Fenati. I find the grammar explanations responsible and thorough, but there are annoying popout bubbles that interrupt the larger grammatical narrative and brightly tell me…

Test Your Grammar Skills

3-5 Italian, Flashcards

Guess what! Since I began writing this review, I have learned that these are now out of print. They are, or were, a box of 600 flashcards focusing on grammar rather than the usual vocabulary. I believe I bought them by…