Perfect for those who want to pick up some new slang and those who want to translate it, Urban Dictionary is a gritty and witty look at our ever-changing language.Urbandictionary.com is a wildly successful site that encourages users to define the world with their own unique terms. In Urban Dictionary, site founder Aaron Peckham culls his more than 170,000 definitions for the funniest, and most provocative phrases that define the modern slang scene.Within urbandictionary.com's lively lexicon are:* business provocative--Attire used to provoke sexual attention in the workplace.* compunicate--To chat with someone in the same room via instant messenging service instead of in person.* dandruff--A person who "flakes out" and ditches their friends. * wingman--A guy who takes one for the team by hooking up with a hot girl's ugly friend so his own friend can hook up with the hot girl.Perfect for those who want to pick up some new slang and those who want to translate it, Urban Dictionary is a gritty and witty look at our ever-changing language.Urban Dictionary covers the language that encompasses the trials and tribulations that anyone under 30 encounters--and leaves everyone over 30 scratching their heads but wanting to know more.

    From the author of the hilarious bestseller Born to Kvetch comes an indispensable guide to the Yiddish language.

    The majority of these stories have been written in the past decade and reflect a rich diversity of styles and themes. Complete with notes, the stories make excellent reading in either language.

    With Chineasy, learning and reading Chinese has never been simpler or more fun. Breaking down the Great Wall of Language, iShaoLan Hsueh draws on her entrepreneurial and cultural background to create a simple system for quickly understanding the basic building blocks of written Chinese. Working with renowned illustrator Noma Bar, she transforms Chinese characters into charming pictograms that are easy to remember.In Chineasy, she teaches the key characters, called radicals, that are the language’s foundation, and then shows how they can be combined to form new words and even phrases. Once you’ve mastered these key characters, you can practice your skills with three stories—a fairy tale, an Asian legend, and a contemporary fable—told using the radicals.With Chineasy, readers of all ages will be able to navigate a Chinese menu, read signs and billboards, and grasp the meaning of most articles in a Chinese newspaper.

    By carefully introducing the letters and vowels of the Hebrew alphabet, the goal is to develop the reader's ability to decode written Hebrew words as well as to ground the learning of Hebrew in the broader sense of its use in Jewish life, ritual, study, and tradition. Each chapter introduces two or three Hebrew letters; through instructional drills and exercises, the reader progressively becomes familiar with key Hebrew vocabulary and its role in Jewish tradition, text, and prayer.

     Example sentences and brief explanatory comments provide a rich context to bring the words to life, and quizzes are provided to encourage reuse and recall of words and to reinforce memory of them. All of these features combine to make this a valuable tool for students preparing for standardized tests or simply seeking to expand their English vocabulary.

    From our metaphors for the Internet (“Virtual Rialto”) to the perils of electronic grammar checkers (“The Software We Deserve”), from traditional grammatical bugaboos (“Sex and the Singular Verb”) to the ways we talk about illicit love (“Affairs of State”), Geoffrey Nunberg shows just how much the language we use from day to day reveals about who we are and who we want to be.

    It's a pleasant way of expanding one’s vocabulary, immersing in the French language and building confidence. There is no need for a dictionnary: key words are listed under each paragraph and translated out of the context. At the end of the book, all new words are summed up in a complete vocabulary section. Simple and easy to read, the short stories use a good mix of grammar constructs, with basic and useful vocabulary. The stories are written in tenses used in normal conversation : present tense, and just a little bit of future tense, passé composé and imparfait. With the MP3, you can practice your pronunciation and your listening (40 minutes/ read by the author). These stories are now available in the past tenses passé composé and imparfait [ASIN: B00PM4SO5M] Beginners : Level A0 - A1 About the author : Sylvie Lainé lives in Normandy where she teaches French to adults and teenagers. Her work with students of various nationalities and different ages allowed her to understand their difficulties and their challenges. Having looked for enjoyable reads to occasionnaly escape grammar and exercise books, but finding nothing simple enough for her beginners, she came up with the idea to write stories herself. She is passionate about writing and now publishes short stories tailored to the needs of English speakers.

    and Japan learn Japanese successfully.Japanese has two basic writing systems, hiragana and katakana, in addition to the one that uses Chinese characters or Kanji. This handy book teaches you a new mnemonics—based method to read and write the basic 92 hiragana and katakana characters.Memorable picture mnemonics help you to learn the characters by associating their shapes and sounds with combinations of images and English words already familiar to you.Clear examples and entertaining exercises offer opportunities to read, write, use and practice all 46 basic hiragana and 46 basic katakana characters, plus the remaining kana that stand for more complex sounds.Polish your knowledge with word searches, crossword puzzles, fill–in–the–blanks, timed recognition quizzes, and other interesting activities.The CD–ROM allows you to print out your own flash cards (featuring the same mnemonic images taught in the book) to help you review and practice, even while you're on the go.

    Your guide, Rebecca Schuman, is a super-smart and very funny person who writes brilliantly about Germany and Germans (who are not what you think) and being young and insane and life in general and… just read it, OK?"-Dave BarryYou know that feeling you get watching a pompous jerk whine into his cell as he’s booted out of a restaurant? When the elevator doors slide shut just before your sadistic boss can step in beside you? There’s a word for this mix of malice and joy, and the Germans (of course) invented it. It’s Schadenfreude, deriving pleasure from others’ misfortune, and with Slate columnist Rebecca Schuman, the Teutons have a stern, self-satisfied blast at her expense.Rebecca is just your average chronically misunderstood 90’s teenager, with a passion for Pearl Jam and Ethan Hawke circa Reality Bites, until two men walk into her high school Civics class: Dylan Gellner, with deep brown eyes and an even deeper soul, and Franz Kafka, hitching a ride in Dylan’s backpack. These two men are the axe to the frozen sea that is Rebecca’s spirit, and what flows forth is a passion for all things German (even though, as everyone is quick to remind her, Kafka wasn’t German at all). Dreamy Dylan might leave the second he gets accepted to a better college than Rebecca does, but Kafka is forever, and in pursuit of this elusive love she will spend two decades stuttering and stumbling through broken German sentences, trying to win over a people who don’t want to be bothered.At once a snapshot of a young woman finding herself, and a country slowly starting to stitch itself back together after nearly a century of war (both hot and cold), Schadenfreude, A Love Story is an exhilarating, hilarious, and yes, maybe even heartfelt memoir proving that sometimes the truest loves play hard to get.

    The perfect companion for tourists and business travelers in Spain and Latin America, it features words, phrases, and sentences that cover everything from asking directions to ordering dinner.Over 700 conveniently organized expressions include terms for modern telecommunications as well as phrases related to transportation, shopping, medical and emergency situations, and other common circumstances. A phonetic pronunciation accompanies each phrase.

    Please allow 10-18 business days to arrive at UK address (10-21 worldwide) due to postal service checks and customs.

    Rarely has a book so packed with accurate and well researched factual information been so widely read and popularly acclaimed. It has played a key role in the spread of general interest in language matters, generating further publications and broadcasting events for an avid audience. Its First Edition appeared in hardback in 1995 and a revised paperback in 1997. There have been numerous subsequent updated reprintings; but this Second Edition now presents an overhaul of the subject for a new generation of language-lovers and of teachers, students and professional English-users concerned with their own linguistic legacy.The book offers a unique experience of the English language, exploring its past, present and future. David Crystal systematically explains the history, structure, variety and range of uses of English worldwide, employing a rich apparatus of text, pictures, tables, maps and graphics.The length of the Second Edition has increased by 16 pages and there are 44 new illustrations, a new chapter, extensive new material on world English and Internet English, and a complete updating of statistics, further reading suggestions and other references throughout the book.

    Written in short, carefully numbered paragraphs of extreme brilliance, it captured the imagination of a generation of philosophers. For Wittgenstein, logic was something we use to conquer a reality which is in itself both elusive and unobtainable. He famously summarized the book in the following words: 'What can be said at all can be said clearly; and what we cannot talk about we must pass over in silence.' David Pears and Brian McGuinness received the highest praise for their meticulous translation. The work is prefaced by Bertrand Russell's original introduction to the first English edition.

    In The Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense you'll learn the skills you need to respond to all types of verbal attack. Specific strategies fro your defense include:* Twelve rules of clear, effective interaction* Recognition of five verbal modes--the Placator, Blamer, Distractor, Computer, and Leveler* Tone of voice--make yours bolder and more assertive* Alternative scripts--better approaches to common confrontation* Body language--how it supports what you say* and in special chapters directed to both men and women, the author explains how women have long been the verbal victims of men and what both sexes can do to break this destructive patternWith numerous examples of verbal confrontations and a journal to help you keep track of your progress, The Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense will give you the perception you need to deal confidently in any interaction.