There are many Spanish phrase books, and if you have a specific travel destination, choose a phrase book that is specific to the area in which you wish to travel. For general language learning use, I recommend The Everything Spanish Phrase Book: A Quick Reference for Any Situation. It will get you through your most wonderful fantasy travels as you make your way to the top in the country of your choice with Spanish or Latin American lovers on the side. Or you know, whatever your fantasies may be.

Other phrase books I’ve come across with good reviews can be found on the Spanish Resources page, and be sure to check out the complete list of recommended Spanish resources available on the Spanish Language page.

Getting Real is the business, design, programming, and marketing philosophies of 37signals — a developer of web-based software used by over 1 million people and businesses in 70 countries.

37signals used the unconventional Getting Real process to launch five successful web-based applications (Basecamp, Campfire, Backpack, Writeboard, Ta-da List), and Ruby on Rails, an open-source web application framework, in just two years with no funding, no debt, and only 7 people.

If you happen to be a software developer and are learning a language in which the book has already been translated, you’re in luck! What you came here for: Getting Real: Translations.

The wonderful thing about these language learning tools is that they can be had for free. There are plenty of online Spanish language newspapers and magazines available online for the mere cost of an internet connection (or free one at libraries and hotspots). Dictionaries are also available online, but I recommend using a paper copy for daily use (until I find an online version that is worthwhile anyway).

But what you really came here for is the content. That I’m going to link to — there’s just not much of a point to maintaining separate lists for every language when other sites have the information you’re looking for. That’s part of the greatness that is the internet. The great university of MIT has a well-maintained resource, ad-free: MIT Libraries: Spanish Language News and Magazines.

As always, be sure to check out the Spanish Language section of LanguageJot for a complete list of resources that will give you the ability to read, write, and speak Spanish like a native.

Since you’re reading this in English I presume you must have a Spanish lover on the side and are desperately wanting to know what they are whispering in your ear. Luckily for you, I spent a few hours browsing Spanish-English bilingual dictionaries online in a quest for the best. Then I went to the store to check out things in person. I finally came home with the Collins Spanish Concise Dictionary, 4e bilingual dictionary. It’s feature packed, up-to-date, a handy size, well printed, etc. Basically, it’s perfect for the self-learner of the Spanish language. Get it and you can look up a few words while you’re in the moment with your Spanish or Latin lover.

For a list of other dictionaries I recommend, check out the Spanish Resources page. And for a list of recommended products in all categories, check out the Spanish Language page.

Alright, so Spanish grammar isn’t the most fun thing in the world. But grammar, unfortunately for those of us who are bored to tears even at the thought of learning it, is a necessary skill for to write and speak the Spanish language properly. Luckily there are books available that teach grammar much more efficiently than most textbooks you might have used in highschool or college.

The book that I will be using to learn Spanish grammar is The Ultimate Spanish Review and Practice, by Ronni L. Gordon and David M. Stillman. For the LanguageJot method of learning, correct grammar lessons (meaning, NOT incorrect) are all that are really needed. As long as the book doesn’t have blatant errors throughout, it’s good enough. With that in mind, I’ve included a list of other grammar books available that have received good reviews on the Spanish Resources page.

From Wikipedia:

I’m sure you see the disputes in the number of speakers for each language between Ethnologue and Encarta. There are a number of factors that come into play when building a list such as this, none of which I will discuss here — they are far too boring.

There are certainly other lists available for different purposes. If you want the most useful languages to learn RIGHT NOW, this is certainly not the list. You may have entirely different reasons for learning another language, or multiples. Whatever your reason, that’s the most important one. Now, get to learning your next language!

Please see the Wikipedia source for more and the most up-to-date information on the matter.

There are several reputable phrase book publishers that I have found thus far:

• Berlitz
• Collins
• Dover
• Langenscheidt
• Larousse
• Lonely Planet
• Rick Steves’

Each publisher has their own idea of what is best to include in a phrase book. For the Italian language learner, it doesn’t really matter. As long as the book has enough phrases to warrant the price, the book is worthy. The whole purpose of having a phrase book is to grab nuggets of real-life communication.

To meet language learning needs for Italian, there are several phrase books available. For the ultra cheap, choose Dover’s Easy Italian Phrase Book. The most expensive in my selected list is the Berlitz Italian Phrase Book and Dictionary (~$9). Berlitz offers a package that includes a CD for just a few dollars more, a good choice for learning the pronunciation from a native speaker.

Of course Lonely Planet and Larousse also have good phrase books for Italian. If you plan to purchase the phrase book at your local bookstore, any on the Italian language resource page will do. However, if you plan to purchase online, I would choose the Berlitz Italian Phrase Book and Dictionary with CD.

Concise dictionaries are generally a good selection for the language learning beginner. They offer a decent word-count, many extra features useful for the language learner, and are usually printed well and on good paper. Concise dictionaries also have the benefit of being fairly inexpensive. For those reasons, the Collins Italian Concise Dictionary, 4e is my recommended pick for an Italian dictionary. To solve all major needs, I have listed other dictionaries as well.

For Italian dictionaries, I have found three excellent concise dictionaries. They are Webster’s New World Italian Dictionary, Collins Italian Concise Dictionary, 4e, and the Concise Oxford-Paravia Italian Dictionary. I chose the Collins for two major reasons. The Collins has a recent publication date and is half the price of the Oxford.

Webster’s New World Italian Dictionary is has been considered the best Italian concise dictionary for some time. It is a fine dictionary and is said to be more detailed than the Collins. The problem with the Webster’s is its publication date: 1985. The world has certainly changed since 1985 — many new words have been formed. For this reason, I have chosen Collins over Webster’s.

The Concise Oxford-Paravia Italian Dictionary is sometimes considered a slightly better dictionary than the Collins, but as a hardcover, it’s much heavier, making it more difficult to transport. If price, size, and weight aren’t an issue for you, go with the Oxford. Otherwise, the Collins is a fine choice.

Regarding desk reference dictionaries, there is one in particular that is worth a look. The Oxford-Paravia Italian Dictionary, a 2800-page hardcover that is worthy of your desk space for the intense Italian language learner, or maybe future translator? This one should solve just about every need you have, and then I would recommend a monolingual Italian dictionary.

Mini dictionaries can also be useful. These are the dictionaries that you can actually keep in your pocket. Unless you have a large jacket with room to spare, you’re not going to be able to fit the so-called “pocket” dictionaries (at least by most publisher’s standards) into your pocket, and don’t even consider the concise dictionaries for this purpose. The mini dictionaries published by Larousse or the gem dictionaries by Collins will fit snugly in your jeans pocket. For these, check out the Larousse Mini Dictionary Italian or the Collins Gem Italian, 6th Edition.

And this concludes 5-6 hours of Italian dictionaries research. Expect more in the future when I can get my hands on a good selection of each to provide full reviews. Until then, happy Italian language learning.

• North America
• South America
• Central America
• Asia
• Asia Pacific
• South East Asia
• South Pacific
• Middle East
• Africa
• West Indies

Each drop-down list contains countries that exist within the area. Once you select a country, a list of newspapers from the country is presented.

Not only is this an excellent language learning resource, it’s also great for learning about other countries and cultures as well.

Libraries are incredibly useful for previewing material. Preview it at the library or bring it home for a few days or weeks to give things a thorough look. If you like it enough, buy it online or at your local bookstore.

The only thing bad about libraries is going there to find something — waiting for a free computer, or even worse, browsing through the card catalogue. Not anymore — WorldCat to the rescue.

WorldCat makes finding material at your local libraries easy. “Search for an item in libraries near you.” Try it out — it’s free!