He's as independent as a hog on ice!

Where did expressions like this come from anyway?

Now finally we'll know what "letting the cat out of the bag" or "going on a wild-goose chase" refers to. In this fun collection of more than 400 curious expressions and sayings, Dr. Funk explains the meanings that we use in everyday speech without even thinking about it. He has traced them back through the years -- in some cases centuries -- in an effort to determine their sources, to find out what the original allusions were, or at the very least, to give us his expert opinion when facts cannot be traced.

Colloquial Bulgarian: The Complete Course for Beginners has been carefully developed by an experienced teacher to provide a step-by-step course to Bulgarian as it is written and spoken today. Combining a clear, practical and accessible style with a methodical and thorough treatment of the language, it equips learners with the essential skills needed to communicate confidently and effectively in Bulgarian in a broad range of situations. No prior knowledge of the language is required. Colloquial Bulgarian is exceptional; each unit presents a wealth of grammatical points that are reinforced with a wide range of exercises for regular practice. A full answer key, a grammar summary, bilingual glossaries and English translations of dialogues can be found at the back as well as useful vocabulary lists throughout. Key features include: A clear, user-friendly format designed to help learners progressively build up their speaking, listening, reading and writing skills Jargon-free, succinct and clearly structured explanations of grammar An extensive range of focused and dynamic supportive exercises Realistic and entertaining dialogues covering a broad variety of narrative situations Helpful cultural points explaining the customs and features of life in Bulgaria An overview of the sounds and alphabet of Bulgarian Balanced, comprehensive and rewarding, Colloquial Bulgarian is an indispensable resource both for independent learners and students taking courses in Bulgarian. Audio material to accompany the course is available to download freely in MP3 format from www.routledge.com/cw/colloquials. Recorded by native speakers, the audio material features the dialogues and texts from the book and will help develop your listening and pronunciation skills.

Colloquial Hindi: The Complete Course for Beginners has been carefully developed by an experienced teacher to provide a step-by-step course to Hindi as it is written and spoken today. Combining a clear, practical and accessible style with a methodical and thorough treatment of the language, it equips learners with the essential skills needed to communicate confidently and effectively in Hindi in a broad range of situations. No prior knowledge of the language is required. Colloquial Hindi is exceptional; each unit presents a wealth of grammatical points that are reinforced with a wide range of exercises for regular practice. A full answer key, a grammar summary, bilingual glossaries and English translations of dialogues can be found at the back as well as useful vocabulary lists throughout. Key features include: A clear, user-friendly format designed to help learners progressively build up their speaking, listening, reading and writing skills Jargon-free, succinct and clearly structured explanations of grammar An extensive range of focused and dynamic supportive exercises Realistic and entertaining dialogues covering a broad variety of narrative situations Helpful cultural points An overview of the sounds of Hindi Balanced, comprehensive and rewarding, Colloquial Hindi is an indispensable resource both for independent learners and students taking courses in Hindi. Audio material to accompany the course is available to download free in MP3 format from www.routledge.com/cw/colloquials. Recorded by native speakers, the audio material features the dialogues and texts from the book and will help develop your listening and pronunciation skills.

Colloquial Afrikaans provides a step-by-step course in Afrikaans as it is written and spoken in South Africa and Namibia today. Combining a user-friendly approach with a thorough treatment of the language, it equips learners with the essential skills needed to communicate confidently and effectively in Afrikaans in a broad range of situations. No prior knowledge of the language is required.

Key features include:

• progressive coverage of speaking, listening, reading and writing skills

• structured, jargon-free explanations of grammar

• an extensive range of focused and stimulating exercises

• realistic and entertaining dialogues covering a broad variety of scenarios

• useful vocabulary lists throughout the text

• additional resources available at the back of the book, including a full answer key, a grammar summary and bilingual glossaries

Balanced, comprehensive and rewarding, Colloquial Afrikaans will be an indispensable resource both for independent learners and students taking courses in Afrikaans.

Audio material to accompany the course is available to download free in MP3 format from www.routledge.com/cw/colloquials. Recorded by native speakers, the audio material features the dialogues and texts from the book and will help develop your listening and pronunciation skills.

Table of Contents

About this book, Bruce Donaldson; Introduction, Bruce Donaldson; Chapter 1 Meeting and greeting people, Bruce Donaldson; Chapter 2 Shopping, Bruce Donaldson; Chapter 3 Buying a ticket, Bruce Donaldson; Chapter 4 Numbers and money, Bruce Donaldson; Chapter 5 Making a date, Bruce Donaldson; Chapter 6 Likes and dislikes, Bruce Donaldson; Chapter 7 Asking the way, Bruce Donaldson; Chapter 8 Colours, Bruce Donaldson; Chapter 9 Comparing things, Bruce Donaldson; Chapter 10 At play, Bruce Donaldson; Chapter 11 In the process of doing things, Bruce Donaldson; Chapter 12 Expressing time, Bruce Donaldson; Chapter 13 The Weather, Bruce Donaldson; Chapter 14 Exclamations, congratulations and apologies, Bruce Donaldson; Chapter 15 Where? – on, under, behind or in front of?, Bruce Donaldson; Chapter 16 Stellenbosch, a town which everyone loves, Bruce Donaldson; Chapter 17 There’s a school being built here, Bruce Donaldson; Chapter -bm1 List of countries, inhabitants, nationalities, Bruce Donaldson; Chapter -bm2 Answers to the exercises, Bruce Donaldson; Chapter -bm3 Grammar Summary, Bruce Donaldson;

Colloquial Turkish provides a step-by-step course in Turkish as it is written and spoken today. Combining a user-friendly approach with a thorough treatment of the language, it equips learners with the essential skills needed to communicate confidently and effectively in Turkish in a broad range of situations. No prior knowledge of the language is required. Key features include: * progressive coverage of speaking, listening, reading and writing skills * structured, jargon-free explanations of grammar * an extensive range of focused and stimulating exercises * realistic and entertaining dialogues covering a broad variety of scenarios * useful vocabulary lists throughout the text * additional resources available at the back of the book, including a full answer key, a grammar summary and bilingual glossaries Balanced, comprehensive and rewarding, Colloquial Turkish will be an indispensable resource both for independent learners and students taking courses in Turkish. Audio material to accompany the course is available to download free in MP3 format from www.routledge.com/cw/colloquials. Recorded by native speakers, the audio material features the dialogues and texts from the book and will help develop your listening and pronunciation skills.

A Primer of Pastoral Spanish is designed to provide religious and non-religious alike with the linguistic and cultural tools to minister in Spanish. This primer is modeled after Madrigal's Magic Key to Spanish (1953), whose author, Margarita Madrigal, bases her methodology on creating with the language instead of memorizing it. Previous knowledge of Spanish is not necessary, although, as you will discover, you already know thousands of words in Spanish. The vocabulary you know in English is the foundation on which you can build your knowledge of Spanish vocabulary. There are thousands of English words that become Spanish words if you can recognize the slight change that takes place from one language to the other. For example, you will learn how to conjugate a verb in Spanish to the first-person singular of the past tense by dropping a letter from its translation in English and adding an accent. There are 40 units in this primer. If you were to study each unit 20-30 minutes a day throughout Lent, for example, think about how far you could progress. Each unit consists of four sections: Vocabulary, Prayer or Culture, Cornerstones, and Vocabulary Review. There are four units called Check Your Progress. These units consist of Challenges based on the grammar, vocabulary, and culture you learned in the previous units. The answers to the Challenges are at the end of the units.

First published in 1987. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The quick and easy way to learn the basic Japanese kanji! Learning Japanese Kanji Practice Book is intended for beginning students or experienced speakers who need to practice their written Japanese. Kanji are an essential part of the Japanese language and together with kana (hiragana and katakana) comprise written Japanese. This book presents the most commonly used kanji characters. All the kanji and related vocabulary words in this book are those that students are expected to know for Level 5 of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. (JLPT). Characters that appear in the AP Japanese Language and Culture Exam are flagged. Readings, meanings, and common compounds are presented. The correct method of writing each character is indicated and practice boxes with strokes that can be traced are provided, along with empty boxes for freehand writing practice. Lots of exercises are included to give students the opportunity to practice writing sentences containing the Kanji. Indexes at the back allow you to look up the characters by their readings and English meanings. This kanji book includes: Step-by-step stroke order diagrams for each character. Individual boxes with grid lines to practice writing characters. Extra printable practice grids Words and phrases using each kanji. Romanizations (romanji) to help identify and pronounce every word.

This popular approach to learning Hebrew is designed for adults who want to use Hebrew when celebrating Judaism at home and in the synagogue. Students will learn how to pronounce the Hebrew letters and vowels, enabling them to read more than 30 essential Hebrew blessings and prayers. For classroom and individualized instruction.

Extensively field-tested and fine-tuned over many years, and designed specifically for a one-year course, JC McKeown's Classical Latin: An Introductory Course offers a thorough, fascinating, and playful grounding in Latin that combines the traditional grammatical method with the reading approach. In addition to grammar, paradigms, and readings, each chapter includes a variety of extraordinarily well-crafted exercises that reinforce the grammar and morphology while encouraging the joy of linguistic and cultural discovery.

Extensively field-tested and fine-tuned over many years, and designed specifically for a one-year course, JC McKeown's Classical Latin: An Introductory Course offers a thorough, fascinating, and playful grounding in Latin that combines the traditional grammatical method with the reading approach. In addition to grammar, paradigms, and readings, each chapter includes a variety of extraordinarily well-crafted exercises that reinforce the grammar and morphology while encouraging the joy of linguistic and cultural discovery.