languages

Instant Immersion 102 Languages
$19.99
As a sometime traveler - whether by airplane or armchair - the most important part of visiting another country is becoming immersed in the local culture. At the heart of culture is language. This software gives the user basics on 102 languages - opening up the entire world for exploration. I've already used the program to learn basic Thai - invaluable for traveling to Bangkok, practicing Spanish and Celtic, and reviewing Hawaiian. The Navajo or Dine was great for a recent museum opening, and I'm starting on the Mandarin Chinese. After that it's a brush-up in Japanese and maybe a start with Korean. Plus it's fun - all games and easy quizzes - with the written language provided as well for more advanced study.

Speak Like a Native: Professional Secrets for Mastering Foreign Languages
$19.00
I bought this book based on several positive reviews. I teach Spanish and am also a student of languages. I am always searching for more help to improve my learning and that of my students. This book started out fine but then the suggestions changed to ways to "get by" in a foreign language rather than actually working to improve mastery. While "getting by" is often necessary especially in a language one does not know well or does not want to master, I was looking for "tips" for moving toward fluency.

The World's Major Languages
$200.00
I got this book for $9.00 plus 3.99 S&H. Amazing price and amazing delivery!! Got it in less than a week!!

The Languages of the World
$55.00
"The Languages of the World" was obviously a labor of love on the part of its author, the late Kenneth Katzner. I first bought the Second Edition several years ago, and was fascinated by the tidbits of information that it offered up. However, the Third Edition (published just a year before Katzner's death) has some shortcomings and outright mistakes in it that I hope some future editor of a Fourth Edition might address. One example of a shorcoming is that Katzner often leaves plenty of blank space after many of his entries--space that could well be used to give a more detailed description of the language in question, such as grammatical structure. And one example of an outright mistake that I caught was that the author writes that the "double-s" (���) in German was abolished in a spelling reform of the year 1998. In fact, this particular letter is still used, but the spelling reform has decreed that it should only be used when the preceding vowel is long. Therefore, it is no longer used in the word "dass" ("that," in the sense of "He said that..."), but it is still used in words like Stra���e (street) and "Au���erdem" ("Besides that,..."). That said, if a future editor does put out a Fourth Edition, he/she could correct some of Katzner's errors and add more detailed information in the individual entries. All in all though, "The Languages of the World" is a wonderful introduction to its eponymous subject for the lay reader; and my biggest regret is that Kenneth Katzner is no longer with us.