At thirty years old, Gabriel Wyner speaks six languages fluently. He didn’t learn them in school. Rather, he learned them in the past few years, working on his own and practicing on the subway, using simple techniques and free online resources—and here he wants to show others what he’s discovered. This is brain hacking at its most exciting, taking what we know about neuroscience and linguistics and using it to create the most efficient and enjoyable way to learn a foreign language in the spare minutes of your day.

With over 6,000 fully illustrated terms arranged by theme, getting to grips with the French language has never been easier. Whether you’re traveling for business or leisure, buying food or train tickets, discussing work or tourism, you’ll gain confidence in your new language skills with a bilingual visual dictionary by your side. Available languages: English, French, German, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin- Chinese, Arabic, Polish, Italian, Russian, Korean, Portugese, Hindi.

Barron’s Learn Italian the Fast and Fun Way covers the basics of reading, writing, understanding, and speaking Italian. The engaging, interactive lessons and exercises can be done in just a few minutes per day. Readers will pick up enough Italian for most everyday situations–from meeting and greeting people to asking directions and handling simple business transactions. Available languages: Italian, Spanish, French, Arabic, German, Russian, Japanese, English, Chinese.

This helpful guide includes an audio CD with pronunciation guides, extensive vocabulary lists, and interactive exercises. Packed with dialogue examples, self-tests, and English-to-Portuguese and Portuguese-to-English dictionaries, The Everything Learning Brazilian Portuguese Book with CD will have you speaking–and understanding–Portuguese in no time. Available languages: Brazilian-Portugese, German, French, Russian, Italian, Spanish.

Eyewitness Travel Phrase Book Chinese is organized by subject, making it is easy to find relevant information including transportation, food, shopping, sports, and health care. Each word has a pronunciation guide to ensure proper communication. From the always useful « What time is it? » question to more complex business vocabulary, this guide has everything you need to communicate in a foreign language. This book also comes with a 2,000-word mini dictionary for quick reference during conversations. Available languages: almost all main world languages covered.

if you were to master the twenty languages discussed in Babel, you could talk with three quarters of the world’s population. But what makes these languages stand out amid the world’s estimated 6,500 tongues? Gaston Dorren delves deep into the linguistic oddities and extraordinary stories of these diverse lingua francas, tracing their origins and their sometimes bloody rise to greatness. Combining linguistics and cultural history, Babel takes us on an intriguing tour of the world.

This brand-new edition of 501 Spanish Verbs provides language learners with fingertip access to a carefully curated selection of the 501 most common Spanish verbs–in all tenses and moods! Each verb is listed alphabetically in chart form—one verb per page along with its English translation. Follow the clear, concise instruction, then take your language fluency to the next level with an all-new online activity center. Available languages: French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Portugese, Hebrew, Japanese, English, Arabic, mandarin-Chinese.