These do exactly as advertised: They are stand-alone day-to-view desk calendars that aim to inform on foreign language and culture. They retail for approximately £10, but aren't especially high-demand products, so can sell for more from re-active retailers such as Amazon. They can be tough to find on the high street (Waterstones are the only place I've seen them), but can be picked up for a bargain as the New Year progresses and stores look to sell off their calendar stocks.
Currently these calendars are available for those learning German, Spanish, Italian and French.
Whether or not this product is right for you and is likely to aid your language learning is, in my opinion, relative to your "working circumstances"...
On one hand the content is all there: useful vocabulary, pronunciation guide*, proper context via useful phrases and occasional cultural morsels. If placed as a prominent vocal point on your workspace, Living Language's desk calendars can be an extremely valuable bolster to your more "hands-on" learning.
* whilst useful, always treat pronunciation guides with caution when delivered as written text. We do all read them in different ways, so you have to have an idea of the language's phonetics to be sure that you're getting the right interpretation.
On the other hand, the calendars are not especially eye-catching, as you can see above. You are paying for substance rather than glamour here, so if your work doesn't allow many moments for reflection then you will almost certainly forget that this is even on your desk. This is not a criticism of the product itself, but it's probably wise to consider how it might fit in to your daily routine: There are no garish colours to remind you that the calendar is there, and the contents of the pages aren't going to jump up and insert themselves into your brain all by themselves. You will still need to take time out to digest the day's content.
Generally speaking I would also advise not using this product in isolation, but that goes for all language learning resources. Living Language do offer additional online content with purchase (accessible from http://www.livinglanguage.com/), though I'm afraid I didn't access this material myself upon purchasing one of these last year, so I can't advise on how good it is. I'd just see it as a bonus on an already good quality product!
To sum up, these calendars can be a useful supplement to learning a language. They can be easily digested on a daily basis and offer a solid vocabulary basis and useful phrases to consolidate the words that you have learned. These phrases can be used in conjunction with research into the language's grammatical systems to offer a rounded view of the language that is suitable for everyday use. I also had a lot of fun learning about important cultural holidays and literary works that I will be sure to research further. I just hope that Living Language look to expand their range in the future, as I'd have loved a Polish calendar for this year!
Generally speaking I would also advise not using this product in isolation, but that goes for all language learning resources. Living Language do offer additional online content with purchase (accessible from http://www.livinglanguage.com/), though I'm afraid I didn't access this material myself upon purchasing one of these last year, so I can't advise on how good it is. I'd just see it as a bonus on an already good quality product!
To sum up, these calendars can be a useful supplement to learning a language. They can be easily digested on a daily basis and offer a solid vocabulary basis and useful phrases to consolidate the words that you have learned. These phrases can be used in conjunction with research into the language's grammatical systems to offer a rounded view of the language that is suitable for everyday use. I also had a lot of fun learning about important cultural holidays and literary works that I will be sure to research further. I just hope that Living Language look to expand their range in the future, as I'd have loved a Polish calendar for this year!
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