You might remember that I was reminiscing about the forgotten Made Simple series the other week. It led me to recall another language learning series of old, and one I often mix up with Made Simple, I must admit. It’s Macmillan’s Mastering … series, another once much more familiar name in the self-paced and further ed market.

It’s not surprising that they sometimes merge into Made Simple in my language book memory. The book format itself was similar – a somewhat taller paperback, with that thick, off-white paper that feels really satisfying to turn (and crease, for fellow page corner turner-downers like me). Even the covers features that black, yellow and red of their Made Simple cousins. Like those books, these feel like grown-up courses, and, were likewise staples at night classes in the 80s and 90s.

The Mastering library overlapped with Made Simple in topics, but with a couple of important differences. For one thing, the series contained an intermediate stage for the mainstream languages; Mastering German 2, for example, is a very decent second-tier course that picks up where the first leaves off.

Mastering … take a slightly broader path with its titles, too. Mastering Arabic, for example, is one of the few really accessible, off-the-shelf courses in the language from the time. Perhaps that’s the reason it’s one of the titles that’s still very much with us; now acquired by Bloomsbury, Mastering Arabic continues as a respected and well-used course book today.

That’s not to say the old ones aren’t worth a look, too. And you can often pick them up on eBay for just a couple of pounds – you know we like a bargain at Polyglossic!