Notebooks. Your calendar. Pencils. Pens. Typing paper? A pocket recorder? Highlighters? Markers? Old textbooks?

Today is the beginning of a new relationship.  It’s kind of like a first date… except in a much more professional sense. At long last, I’ve finally called and made an appointment with my wife’s language instructor, who apparently is the best thing since sliced bread.

Those American readers would recognize that “best thing since since sliced bread” is a common English figure of speech use to mean “best thing in a very long time”.  But to a Bosnian, it probably just sounds weird.  I hope my new instructor doesn’t read this.   » Read the rest of this entry «

I am the biggest advocate of finding a good textbook or making a connection with a qualified instructor when you want to learn a language.  Or anything, for that matter.  If you have to learn it, you probably shouldn’t rely on yourself to be the teacher, coach, and tutor.  And relying on others usually takes some kind of money.  So, you pay your tutor, instructor, buy your expensive textbook, and work on exercises until you think you know something about this language you want to learn.  And then, one day, long, long, after you started… you finish the book.

Then what? » Read the rest of this entry «