Smashbomb

Search

Search results

All (3195)

Content

Univision Deportes

Sports and Entertainment

(0 Ratings) Rate It

App

The Univision Deportes App offers you LIVE broadcast of soccer matches (MX League, MLS, CONCACAF and...

Midnight in Europe

Alan Furst

(0 Ratings) Rate It

Book

Paris, 1938. As the shadow of war darkens Europe, democratic forces on the Continent struggle...

An Echo of Ashes

Ron Allen Ames

(0 Ratings) Rate It

Book

An Echo of Ashes is a story lost to time, then found again in century-old letters that lay in a...

Historical World War I

tanuki (2 KP) rated Duolingo in Apps

Feb 24, 2019

Duolingo

Education, Social Networking

8.4

(61 Ratings)

App Rating

I preferred the old way

Duolingo's core system is still one of the best out there. It gets users conjugating and constructing sentences, often quite silly ones, to ensure they're truly understand how the language works rather than just parroting stock phrases. You won't escape your grammar lessons here. However last year they altered the progression from simple 'levels' to a kind of open-ended system of simply ranking up in the same skill over and over again. I had already completed the Spanish tree (and had honestly moved on from Duolingo, attending conversation classes and meetups), so perhaps I was just unable to readjust backwards to the new system. New users may enjoy it.

It is still by far the best, simplest and cheapest (ie: free) way to try a new language and start getting to grips with the basics.

Kudos

David McK (3562 KP) rated Armada in Books

Jan 30, 2019

Armada

John Stack | 2012

6.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

John Stack seems to have a knack for choosing unusual settings.

His previous novels - Ship of Rome, Captain of Rome and Masters of Rome all concerned the Roman navy during the first Punic war against Carthage. While this novel is not part of that series, it also has another unusual setting: this time, that of the Spanish Armada.

While it does have an unusual setting, it also shares some similarites with those other books: again, the main protaganist of the novel is an outsider, this time a loyal Recusant (or practising, secret, Catholic) in the English navy compared to the Greek captain in the Roman navy of the Masters of the Sea series. Again, a large chunk of it takes place on sea, rather than on land. Again, it is an enjoyable read.