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Browsing All posts tagged under »spanish«
Reasons to Learn a Language, #926: Indulge Your Other Obsessions
When I switched on my DVR today, I found that something new had recorded: Little Manhattan. I muttered something about how I already have that, you silly machine, but before I deleted it I hovered over it just long enough to notice that it had recorded in Spanish. So I kept it. This is a film […]
“Conquering Babel” gets a new look!
March 15, 2013
The eBook “Conquering Babel” has a new cover – and to celebrate, the Kindle version will be free on Amazon from Friday 15th to Monday 18th March 2013. Enjoy!
If you only buy one resource for learning Spanish…
June 14, 2012
… make it this book. Contrary to what you may believe from the title, there’s actually nothing modern about it – it was first published in 1959. It was published, in fact, in the days before the “communicative approach” with its glossy pictures, survival phrases and grammar-by-osmosis. This book takes the hardcore approach: sit down […]
Reasons to learn a language, #316: avoid being taken for a fool
May 31, 2012
Increasingly (and sensibly), American politicians are campaigning in Spanish as well as English. But that doesn’t mean they are saying the same thing in both languages. Senator Dean Heller of Nevada, for example, omitted to mention his stance on border security and illegal immigration in the Spanish version of his website, choosing instead to emphasise […]
App Review: Scrabble and Angry Words (or how to use word games to increase your vocabulary)
March 15, 2012
Word games are a great way to stretch your linguistic muscles and learn new vocabulary. You can, of course, buy word searches in magazine format, or play a solitaire game of Scrabble on a traditional board. But if you have a smartphone or a tablet, these days there are many other options. I was excited to find […]
Christmas gifts for language learners
October 20, 2011
The nights are drawing in; the leaves are beginning to turn and fall; there’s a chill in the air. This can only mean one thing: the Christmas shopping panic is only weeks away. But fear not, dear reader: if there is a language lover in your life, panic is unnecessary. Instead, you can have a […]
App review: Spanish for dummies
October 6, 2011
If you’re just starting out on your Spanish journey, you could do a lot worse than investing 69p in the Spanish for Dummies iPhone app. There’s a “words/phrases” section, which are handily divided up into categories like work, travel, greetings and small talk, and which you can then test yourself on, using the “flashcards” page. There’s […]
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Conquering Babel 
January 31, 2014
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