Reviews

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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…

Live Lingua: Keeping the Free FSI Language Courses Alive

Arabic, Dutch, French, General, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Audio Lessons, Websites

These Foreign Service Institute language courses were recommended by a reader. I haven’t tried them, but the holdings are extensive and consist of older courses that are now in the public domain. They are also free, so the main…

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…

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…

Hispanic Society of America

Portuguese, Spanish, Museums/Cultural

Located on the southern border of Washington Heights in Manhattan, this organization has a free museum and reference library, dedicated to “the study of the arts and cultures of Spain, Portugal, and Latin America.”

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…

Central Park: An Autumn Day

5 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.…

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…

Facebook Page for Kung Fu Fest 2013

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

If you are a social-media holdout, I am not going to try to convince you that you should dive in now. There are, after all, pros and cons to being on Facebook. If you are already on Facebook,…

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