This site is to inspire people to learn foreign languages (with music & media) and to travel the world. Susanna speaks 7 languages and has traveled to over 50 countries.

Sensual Brazilian music —> Learn Portuguese

by admin on January 17, 2012

Luciana Lage of Street Smart Brazil and I have a video series on how to learn Portuguese via Brazilian songs. Here is the introductory video where we explain the connection between listening, music and learning a new language. The next video is our first using the song Você Não me Ensinou a Te Esquecer by [...]

Share and Enjoy:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • email
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon

{ 0 comments }

Susanna Zaraysky habla con Mercedes Soler en el program de NotiMujer en la CNN en Español sobre el idioma ladino (el antiguo español de los judíos explusados de España durante la Inquisición católica en 1492), de dónde viene, como se mantuvó y porque es importante para los sefardíes (judíos españoles) de no perder su lengua [...]

Share and Enjoy:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • email
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon

{ 0 comments }

Video: How music can save a language like Ladino

by admin on December 27, 2011

Susanna Zaraysky, autora del libro, El Idioma es Música, habla con Fabiola Kramsky del idioma ladino (de los judíos sefardíes expulsados de España durante la Inquisición) y cómo se conserva hoy en día con la música. Kat Parra canta “En la Mar”, una canción ladina. Al Despertar, Telefutura 66, San Francisco CA. Susanna Zaraysky speaks [...]

Share and Enjoy:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • email
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon

{ 1 comments }

English subtitles available by pressing the “CC” button in the lower right side of the screen or the Interactive Transcript button to the right of the flag button below the screen. Susanna Zaraysky, autora del libro, El Idioma es Música, habla con Fabiola Kramsky del idioma ladino (de los judíos sefardíes expulsados de España durante [...]

Share and Enjoy:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • email
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon

{ 1 comments }

Turkish delights: Food in Istanbul

December 16, 2011

Instead of just writing about my wonderful four days in Istanbul, I’ve decided to make a small picture gallery of food and cafes in the city.   I am not waiting 11 years, like last time, to return to this great city!   Share and Enjoy:

Share and Enjoy:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • email
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon
Read the full article →

Wearing Kyrgyz national dress and kalpak hat

December 12, 2011
Thumbnail image for Wearing Kyrgyz national dress and kalpak hat

Going Kyrgyz in a Kyrgyz dance costume at a costume ball in Alameda, California.     Wearing the Kyrgyz kaplak hat. The Kalpak is a hat usually made from four panels of white felt with traditional patterns stitched into them as decoration. It is worn by males of all ages especially in rural Kyrgyzstan, and [...]

Share and Enjoy:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • email
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon
Read the full article →

(Linguistic) ignorance is bliss, sometimes

December 10, 2011
Thumbnail image for (Linguistic) ignorance is bliss, sometimes

Yes, I do enjoy linguistic ignorance from time to time. I met with a Turkish Couchsurfer when I was in Istanbul who generously spent two days showing me the city via the Bosphorous ferry and a drive along the Golden Horn. He wanted to give me a crash course in the Turkish language and I [...]

Share and Enjoy:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • email
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon
Read the full article →

Alphabet politics: Change your alphabet, alienate people

December 8, 2011
Thumbnail image for Alphabet politics: Change your alphabet, alienate people

Last year, I reported on how the problems resulting from the Azeri language of Azerbaijan being written in Latin script instead of Cyrillic letters. In Azerbaijan, the elderly who haven’t caught on to the new alphabet, can’t read official documents or the election ballots, so they don’t vote. On my recent trip to Central Asia, [...]

Share and Enjoy:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • email
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon
Read the full article →

Ladino: The “other” Spanish, is dying but saved a life

Thumbnail image for Ladino: The “other” Spanish, is dying but saved a life December 5, 2011

Version en español. With over 20 official Spanish speaking countries, few people know of another Spanish language: Ladino. The language is also known as judeo-español, Djudeo-Espanyol, Djudeo-Kasteyano, Judezmo, Djudezmo, Spaniolit, and גודיאו-איספאנייול‎‎. No, it’s not Latino. It’s not Latin. It’s Ladino, the language of the Jews expelled from Spain and Portugal at the time of [...]

Share and Enjoy:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • email
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon
Read the full article →

Ladino, el otro español, una lengua en extinción salvó una vida.

Thumbnail image for Ladino, el otro español, una lengua en extinción salvó una vida. December 5, 2011

For the English version of this article, please click here. Con más de 20 países de habla hispana, pocos conocen el otro idioma español: el ladino. No, no es “latino” ni “latín”. Es el ladino (judeo-español, djudeo-espanyol, djudeo-kasteyano, judezmo, djudezmo o spaniolit), la lengua hablada por los descendientes de los judíos españoles y portugueses (los [...]

Share and Enjoy:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • email
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon
Read the full article →