Reviews
Hundreds of resources to help you teach yourself
SparkNotes More Spanish Vocabulary Study Cards
Spanish, Flashcards, Vocabulary
I love this SparkNotes product. It is a well-constructed box of 1,000 well-constructed Spanish vocabulary cards, and is the successor to another box of 1,000 cards, Spanish Vocabulary Study Cards, from the same company. Unfortunately, since using them, I have learned…
Omniglot
Arabic, Dutch, English, French, General, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Yiddish, Websites
This encyclopedia of writing systems and languages is a longtime labor of love of Simon Ager, an Englishman who now lives in Wales. He started the site way back in the Internet dark ages of 1998. Omniglot contains information on…
Learning Spanish Like Crazy
Spanish, Audio Lessons, Multimedia
I haven’t tried Learning Spanish Like Crazy, but one of my readers described it as “right up there with Pimsleur in my opinion, but focus[ing] on more informal Spanish than what’s in Pimsleur’s course.” My impression,…
Little Pim
Arabic, English, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Kids
I know little about Little Pim, other than that it offers language-learning products for kids, that it was founded by Julia Pimsleur Levine, and that the company’s instructional DVDs span multiple language families. Also that Ms. Levine happens…
SparkNotes Spanish Vocabulary Study Cards
Spanish, Flashcards, Vocabulary
I am a huge fan of flashcards, and this box of 1,000 cards is great. You can take a handful in your purse on the subway or to your doctor’s office or wherever, or study while you are waiting in…
Middlebury Language Schools
Arabic, French, General, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Classes/Conversation
I don’t normally include language schools here, but Middlebury is famous for its summer programs. While I have not experienced one myself, I have heard great things about them over many years from people I trust. The typical…
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Hebrew, Polish, Spanish, Neighborhoods
Spanish, Hebrew, and Polish—for starters—can be found in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. There are plenty of other languages floating around, but these three (excluding hipster language) are the ones I personally have seen the most of. I strongly recommend a…
Loisaida, Manhattan
Spanish, Neighborhoods
Loisaida Avenue is an alternative name for Avenue C between 14th Street and Houston. The name “Loisaida” is supposedly Spanglish for Lower East Side, but I haven’t been able to confirm that to my satisfaction. The area is heavily…