Funny Translation Mistakes in a Bilingual Household

by Valeria Veneri

The story of my family has always amazed people: my parents were born in Italy, moved to Michigan with their families when they were teenagers, met, got married and moved back to Italy, and then had me. A lot of benefits for me – I’m bilingual, with dual citizenship and stuff, was able to visit the US way more than any of my Italian friends could ever dream of, and then I finally decided to move to New York City. What I do tell people is – not everything about my family situation has always been great. For example: funny translation mistakes.

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Fluent City’s 12 Favorite Moments of 2012 in Pictures

by Mandy Menaker

It has been a terrific year at Fluent City. During 2012, Fluent City added Japanese, Russian and Hebrew classes. Our 10 Brooklyn classrooms and rented Manhattan classroom spaces were filled to capacity. We secured a convenient and terrific Manhattan space by Times Square. In addition, we raised over $1000 for Sandy relief and the New York Food Bank through our commitment to donate a percentage of signups in the weeks following Sandy. Our Williamsburg space became home to several orphaned organizations in the aftermath of Sandy including the Bellavue Survivors of Torture. We got closer with our regular coworkers, the funny folks over at Hypervocal. We even became a film set used by College Humor, Practical Jokers and Brooklyn Independent Television! Yep, 2012 has been pretty excellent. Here are 12 of our favorite moments of 2012 in pictures:

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5 Reasons Fall is the Best Season to Study a Language

by Mandy Menaker

Fall is filled with all sorts of amazing things: pumpkin bread, apple picking, MLB World Series games, costume hunting, Oktoberfest and hot cider. If you need more incentive to get pumped, try out a language class at Fluent City for the first (second, third, or fourth) time. Here are just a few reasons that fall is the best season to study a foreign language.

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Five Back to School Tips from Fluent City

by Mandy Menaker

It’s that time of year again: Target is lined with Lisa Frank folders, Best Buy is offering gratis printers along with your computer purchase, and clothing stores are claiming the right accessory will help make you look cool. Yep folks, it’s back to school shopping season. If you are ready to relive the excitement of prepping for a grade school class but have advanced past fifth grade History or seventh grade Algebra, sign up for a French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, German, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian or Hebrew class with Fluent City and use these back to school tips to make sure you stand out as the coolest kid in the quad…erm…Williamsburg lobby.

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Make Your Own Flashcards!

http://www.quizlet.com – Create a free account to make your own online flashcards or search for other sets already made. study, play games, practice pronunciation and more! Great for language study outside of your Fluent City classes.

Making the Olympics Multilingual, Part One: The Basics

by Megan Heise

The next 17 days are about to get real, as some of the world’s greatest athletes converge on London to duke it out for international honors and world fame in the Games of the XXX Olympiad. Meanwhile, the rest of us will flock to the houses of our friends with cable, pick teams in all the events the USA isn’t in, and invent epic Olympics-themed drinking games that we’ll inevitably forget by the time Rio 2016 rolls around. And while the official languages of the 2012 Olympic Games are English, French, and, well, English, we polyglots can still show off our language skills and impress our friends with our ability to mute Bob Costas and provide riveting voice-over commentary in a foreign language.

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Cornelius Dishes His Fave Italian Music Videos

Professor Cornelius recommends you check out these Italian music videos:

Rap: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXWnR61tWTk&ob=av2n

Rock (Cover of R.E.M.!): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEndqTWoTsk&ob=av2n

Pop (this one is ridiculous): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYMuL0z2uJk&ob=av2e

Which one is your favorite?

Five Ways To Learn A Language Without Realizing You Are Studying

Ok, so maybe laminating your book report helped you get that A+ in English class, but it takes a little more effort to learn a foreign language and learn it well. At Fluent City, we are convinced that exposing yourself (to a language…get your head out of the gutter) is the easiest and most fun way to study.

1. Food for thought.
New York is the only place in the world where you can experience the best food from around the globe all within walking distance. Did you know that Queens is the most ethnically diverse 115 square miles in the entire country? Step out and check out a restaurant that has fare from the country you are studying! Try to read everything on the menu and guess what everything is before reading the English translation – or better yet go somewhere that doesn’t have any English on the menu and ask for recommendations. The best part is that your waiter will probably speak the language being served. If you go out for enchiladas, ask questions and order in Spanish!

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Exercises Organized by Type of Grammar

This website is packed with quizzes and extra practice for various types of grammatical structures. The activities are broken down by verb tense, noun, etc, so they are ideal for someone struggling with a specific tense who wants extra help. Website is fully in Italian.

Italian Vocab and Grammar Exercises

Check out this vocabulary and grammar page that has several stories and exercises organized by level. Some stories only require reading comprehension while others will ask you to conjugate verbs and fill in blanks. Full website is in Italian.