Most of the time, the end goal of language learning is fluency. But sometimes you don’t have the time or need to become fluent. Maybe you scored a deal and are heading off to Dominican Republic. Maybe your job is sending you to Cameroon next month. Or maybe you’ve just always wanted to see Prague but probably won’t ever immerse yourself in Czech literature, at least not in the original. How should you change your learning to match a goal that is somewhere short of fluency?

It’s time to discuss the “Christian seder.” If you are having one this year, or are thinking about doing one next year, here are some helpful tips from Jewish practice: Don’t. Please, we are begging you, don’t do it. I’m not suggesting you not attend a seder if your Jewish friend invites you; take that as a big compliment and be a good guest. Ask questions, learn what you can, and follow their lead. Passover is often observed with very close friends and family (or, as has happened to me on a f

THE last time America failed to qualify for the football World Cup, the tournament still included West Germany and the Soviet Union. But when the sport’s signature event kicks off in Russia next year, the stars and stripes will be conspicuously absent. In much of the world, there is little shame in missing the event: well-regarded teams such as the Netherlands, Ghana and Chile will also be staying home in 2018. Unlike those countries, however, the United States enjoys the great advantage of belo

ON NOVEMBER 13th the New York Cosmos won the North American Soccer League (NASL) title, beating the Indy Eleven on penalty kicks in the final. In every other football-playing country in the world, their triumph would have been cause for outright jubilation: the champions of the second division invariably rise up to the top tier the following season, where they benefit both from the challenge of facing the toughest competition and from the windfall profits associated with higher gate, broadcast a