fluent in 20 minutes
Neapolitan in 20 Minutes: Learn Just Enough for Any Conversation in Southern Italy
If you want to joke, flirt, and make a proper toast in the south of Italy, you could certainly speak Italian. Or English — or Galician or Russian, for that matter, as Italians are generally only too delighted to carry on a conversation without the slightest comprehension. But if you really want a truly local adventure, you must speak at least …
Minchia ch’è beddu! 20 Minutes to Feigning Fluent-ish Sicilian
If you want to joke, flirt, and gripe with the locals in Sicily, you could do so in Italian. But if you manage to do so in Sicilian you’re going to have way more fun. Sicilian is the language of the island of Sicily. Some refer to it as a “dialect” — but, prior to …
Fluent Serbian in 20 Minutes — Fake Your Way Through Any Rakija-Soaked Conversation
Effortless, fluent, minimally communicative Serbian with the Tipsy Pilgrim Language Method
The Outstanding Russian Gestures that Should Be Adopted by Everyone
Your buddy is tipsy. Would you rather express this with a gesture referencing an 18th-century alcoholic carpenter’s tzar-given neck tattoo, or just mime tipping a bottle to your lips? Almost invariably, Russian gestures are more interesting and/or emphatic than their international counterparts. We suggest that the following be immediately adopted into everyone’s physical vocabularies, whether …
Make Sweet Ljubav in Serbian: Slang for Love Piles, Sex, Consent, and Gossiping About it All
The Serbian, Bosnian, and Croatian language skills that you learn in lessons and grammar books are decidedly not the most useful. These often overlook the key body parts, as well as the things you should exclaim when they smash. Plus the lack ways to express affections, dirty and sweet, for your south-Slav love muffins. Hence …
On Learning Just Enough Bosnian Slang to Toast, Gripe, and Propose Marriage
Bosnian is uniquely rich among its Slavic brethren in shortened informal expressions. Here’s a quick guide; master these few words and you’ll sound like a local.
For Gringões: 20 Minutes to Feigning Fluent Brazilian Portuguese
As part of the our Fluent in 20 Minutes, this post provides EVERYTHING you need to participate in conversations with Brazilians, whether or not you have any idea what anyone is saying. Why learn (a bit of) Portuguese? Well, there’s good evidence that this language has the best music, and then there are other aspects of Brazilians …
What are the tackiest French pick-up lines?
Using a pickup line in your native tongue is a dubious move. But in a foreign language the mispronounced equivalent of “Do you come here often?” can be funny, even endearing. The following are very clichéd classics; say them earnestly, falteringly, and for once your bewildered foreigner status may work in your favor. T’as des …
Brazilians even have their own finger snap
The Brazilian finger snap is just one of the countless gestures integral to communication in Brazil, and never taught in any Portuguese class. The estalo brasileiro, or Brazilian snap, is used to indicate speed; sometimes it’s used to (rather rudely) tell someone to pick up the pace. On a drunken night on a break from …
Pickup lines to score you hot Catalan girls
The world’s sexiest women are Catalan. They’re gorgeous, laid back, kinda grungy, and infinitely sweet.* So what do you gotta do to bang, smooch, or marry one? Former dictator Francisco Franco has inadvertently given us a leg up, with the collective mindfuck he caused by banning the region’s language. Today’s Catalans get very excited about …