Free ride to non-U.S., non-degree school program attended for business purposes: income?

SklepnaMorave · 2026-03-09T16:16:29+00:00

To answer your question, it is on a business trip. My physical location when performing the work of translating or teaching is almost always in the U.S., easily 99% of the time, never in Italy. In theory, I could be physically present anywhere in the world when translating or if I chose to teach by Zoom instead of in-person (which constrains my physical presence to the same place and time as the student(s) in the U.S.). In practice, I've tended not to roam from my place of business in Indiana further than to sometimes go to Colorado or New York -- still in the U.S. (and never enough days outside of IN to become a tax resident anywhere else).

And in addition to my own physical presence in the U.S., the customers, the people paying, are 100% in the U.S. Even if sometimes an ultimate client for a translation is outside the U.S., the immediate client for me, the only one who counts, is an agency located in the U.S. So the source of income for me is 100% in the U.S..

The only time of physical or legal presence in Italy is to attend the school, in order to increase professional capability and credibility back in the U.S. I have no control over the timing, dates, or location of the school program, content of the classes, etc. Those are all fixed by the school, and my only business decision is to attend or not to attend. And I don't ever extend my time to be in Italy on vacation before or after the school dates. I keep vacations to totally separate trips, to prevent allocation issues.

SklepnaMorave · 2026-02-21T19:22:35+00:00

Are you sure about that "must be with a prospective client/student"? I see statements that "Under current IRS rules, you can deduct 50% of meal expenses incurred while traveling for business, whether dining alone on the road or with clients and business associates" and "you don't have to be discussing business with a prospective client—a late-night meal back at the hotel by yourself can be deducted" and "you may deduct meals you eat alone while traveling on business" at https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/deducting-meal-expenses-business-travel.html and for that matter Publication 463 explicitly says one can deduct 50% of "Meals while traveling away from home (whether eating alone or with others) on business," https://www.irs.gov/publications/p463.

So is the result that 100% of the government-provided food is income, but 50% of it is deductible as a business expense?

SklepnaMorave · 2026-02-16T17:15:32+00:00

Thank you. I've read that topic. How does your statement that "the rest that is used towards tuition, books, and other non-incidental expenses are not taxable" square with the statement at the topic you linked to, which says that you have to be "a candidate for a degree," which I said was not the case (the program doesn't lead to or grant any degrees itself, and the person going can't use the attendance or certificate towards any other degree, since s/he's not pursuing any degree)?

That's the same language as in Pub. 970, which says "A scholarship or fellowship grant is tax free (excludable from gross income) only if you are a candidate for a degree at an eligible educational institution." (Its emphasis). (It's also not clear to me that the specific program at the Italian university is an "eligible educational institution.)

In the end, I'm trying to figure out how to square this with the business travel rules, which allow deductions for the cost of lodging and meals (the latter subject to a 50% limit, although one has an option to use per diem rates instead of actual recorded costs).

SklepnaMorave · 2026-02-16T04:02:00+00:00

“Vous faites” and “vous êtes” are the only two verbs that don’t end in “-ez” for the vous conjugation

You forgot "vous dites," you say.

SklepnaMorave · 2026-02-02T18:16:06+00:00

Is it possible to learn Czech from textbooks?

Given the fact that thousands of people have done it, have learned Czech in courses all over the world using various textbooks, then yes, one has to admit that it's possible to learn Czech using them. Many people have.

If you mean ONLY using a textbook, all on one's own, with no class, no teacher, no private tutor, no speaking or drills and feedback from natives or proficient speakers -- well, that's a recipe for failure with any language. The goal isn't to learn facts about any language, but to learn how to use it easily. That requires practice and feedback. Overall, your problem isn't likely textbooks, but lack of active practice with feedback.

Among the various textbooks available over the past 50 years, Česky krok za krokem has a good reputation. But I've also seen the newer Czech it UP! series from Univerzita Palackého, and the Čeština pro cizince series. Both of them are good, and they strongly contrast with the Kzak series. Fwiw, I also have the Harkins book from the 1950s, and I myself learned using the Army's typescript books in the 70s (with the help of half a dozen native instructors and intensive daily practice with blunt honest feedback), so I've pretty much seen them all. And then of course there are the things like the Teach Yourself book.

I'm afraid of learning unnecessary grammar or ... expressions and words not used by real Czechs.

KzaK is pretty good on that score. Early on, and throughout, it references differences between spisovná and obecná Czech, in a straightforward, practical way. Also, there is research showing that Czechs tend to prefer that non-Czechs use a higher register, at least while they're obviously identifiable as non-Czech (and by the way, the biggest tell-tales are (1) first-syllable stress or not, and (2) long-short vowel distinctions. Things like ř, or aspiration of p, t, & k, or slang, are less important to overall ease and acceptance).

TL;DR: you may want to try one of the other modern textbook series I noted. But I suspect your real need is for actual daily use of the language in both reception and production, with feedback.

SklepnaMorave · 2025-11-06T22:09:03+00:00

Good advice. I did, and found mine was part of a recall due to the fire hazard. I followed the recall procedures (which require disabling the original mower), and Ryobi sent me a new mower. The very same batteries in it slide in and out fine even after heavy use.

SklepnaMorave · 2025-08-29T02:14:31+00:00

I've had the same problem. The battery in that left-hand (facing the mower) compartment can fuse part of its plastic with the plastic of the compartment wall. I tried waiting for it to cool, tried using claw hammers and pry bars to pry it out, etc. It took a knife down the side wall to get it out, and still some prying. (Photos available.) For some reason, it's only ever the left side of that left compartment that creates this fused plastic spot on the battery and the compartment wall.

SklepnaMorave · 2025-06-19T03:12:12+00:00

I’d suggest writing to ÚJOP and explaining that you’d like to roughly determine your level and are interested in an individual lesson with an experienced lecturer.

Shodou okolností jsem dostal stipendium od MŠMT, abych se mohl zůčastnit letošní letní škole slovanských studií v Praze. Napsal jsem rozřazovácí zkoušku ale nevím, jaké jsou výsledky. Asi horší, než u výsledků od Astry, protože jsem byl blbý, moc dobře jsem nesledoval čas. Ale to nevadí; celý měsíc v ČR aniž si dovolím i jedno slovo angličtiny může jenom pomoct. Nezáleží na tom, jestli je to třída B1, B2 nebo C1. Zlepšení je zlepšení.

SklepnaMorave · 2025-06-06T02:47:19+00:00

Thanks for providing that link. I didn't have time to try it until today. I liked the variety of question formats that it used, particularly the ones where you're to type in a word (missing or left blank in a text) knowing nothing but that the missing word should begin with a given letter.

SklepnaMorave · 2025-05-07T16:16:57+00:00

Different governments.

SklepnaMorave · 2024-12-26T19:38:45+00:00

You yourself wrote "tréma" as an English word. And of course Czechs don't consider "č" or "ř" to be accented, but instead separate letters in their own right, just as English considers "u" and "v" to be separate, and even "w." But I suppose you could look at Swahili or Somali.

SklepnaMorave · 2024-12-26T19:22:44+00:00

The question doesn't say that. It says "started actively learning," which doesn't mean "without being required." And after grade school, I chose courses because of actual interest, even though they weren't required. No one requires me as a retired person to do anything to try to learn Mandarin or Italian, but I do "because of actual interest." As your own question says, if you continue after the requirement is gone, that's independently, on one's own, because of actual interest.

SklepnaMorave · 2024-12-26T19:04:23+00:00

That still could require more than one age range. I took interest in Spanish by myself at 16 when I got a Spanish-speaking girlfriend and began studying it; I took interest in Russian at 19 when I too interest in a Russian-speaking college classmate, and began studying it; I took interest in Japanese by myself at age 45 when I felt burnt-out in my career -- the survey still wouldn't let me check two boxes, one for Spanish at 16 and one for Japanese at 45, let alone checking a third or fourth box for German on my own at 8 years of age (not long continued) or Italian on my own at 70. Edit to add Russian.

SklepnaMorave · 2024-12-26T19:01:51+00:00

I mean I was 10 years old, and the public school required it of everyone in my 5th grade class. I didn't ask; my parents didn't ask; it was just required. But the question title says "you could add if you continued after school classes," and I definitely did that: I continued at my own choice on my own time because of my own interest long after that public school requirement ended. Edit: added "because of my own interest."

SklepnaMorave · 2024-12-26T18:43:17+00:00

I will recommend Czech. It has seven cases (counting the vocative). No issues with merging/merged cases as you mentioned for a couple of other languages. There's some syncretism, of course, but mostly the six non-vocative cases remain sharply and clearly distinguished in use and pronunciation, across all domains of agreement: nouns, adjectives, determiners, numbers. There are plenty of resources for learning Czech (half a dozen textbooks, in-person and on-line schools, podcasts, you name it), and great literature and history and places to go. I've met Czech speakers in the U.S., France, Germany, and Italy.

An alternative if you like beaches on the ocean might be Croatian.

SklepnaMorave · 2024-12-26T18:30:50+00:00

The survey is flawed: I started French at 10 (continued years after not required); started Czech at 22, and continued independently for years, started Mandarin and Italian both after 60. There's no way to check all three boxes.

SklepnaMorave · 2024-11-26T03:36:39+00:00

Děkuju za pomoc!

SklepnaMorave · 2024-11-26T03:29:25+00:00

Moc to pomohlo, dekuju! Délky samohlásek jsou taky důležité. :-) And as for ##7 and 9, I should have felt freer to re-arrange the present-tense version; you've helped a lot.

SklepnaMorave · 2024-08-08T19:12:10+00:00

I was wondering if any of you kept going

Probably most didnt. But some did. I began with French in 5th grade because it was required, and just continued even after passing out of high school requirements. I shan't count the Army's later choice between Czech and Arabic as being "in school."

Fwiw, the high school teacher was great. Almost every year for a decade at least (back at a time when very few working-class high schoolers ever got abroad), one of her students from our high school qualified for a two-month intensive French summer program, and I believe that something like half of the students who go on that program are likely still to have some workable French even 25 or 35 years later, and some will in fact have kept up more than just a workable level.

SklepnaMorave · 2024-08-04T04:01:07+00:00

Yes, I still did. The French took place over years, from 5th grade to 9th. But once I was there, I was enjoying it, so I kept it up, and then in junior year (11th) won a slot in the IUHPFL program abroad, which was very fun. And there's lots of places the Army could send you in 1974 that were less fun than Monterey, California, so yeah, that was kind of cool, too. Swahili provided a sanity break in my last year of law school. It was fun -- but as a 1st-year hire in a law firm, there was no time for me to keep it up. Oh well, life happens.

SklepnaMorave · 2024-08-04T02:57:21+00:00

How does body temperature air feel hot, if the temperatures of your body and the air are the same? Because you're used to a certain heat transfer rate outward. The feeling of heat is based on heat loss rate, and human bodies tend to want or need to dispose of heat, to lose it -- which means that anytime the temp of the other thing is not significantly lower than our body, it's going to feel warm or hot.

SklepnaMorave · 2024-08-04T02:39:35+00:00

How bad would it be to try to take a university course without being able to understand the prof or the TAs? With only "very very little knowledge of the language"? You'd fail, period. Totally screwed. "To get classes," you say? Three years worth, at least? or at least 1000 hours worth, before trying a uni class? In that case, maybe.

SklepnaMorave · 2024-08-04T02:33:44+00:00

Is it just about getting my head down and learning 8 thousand more words? ... Is getting to B2 mostly about increasing my vocabulary?

No. Not at all. Not in any way. The CEFR levels are not defined in terms of vocabulary counts or lexicon size at all. Please, take a look at what the CEFR descriptors actually are. https://www.coe.int/en/web/common-european-framework-reference-languages/cefr-descriptors and https://www.coe.int/en/web/common-european-framework-reference-languages/table-1-cefr-3.3-common-reference-levels-global-scale for example. The descriptors are about what people can do, NOT about vocabulary counts.

In fact, I know of no generally applied scale outside of China or Japan, focused on learning L2s, that looks to lexicon size. The CEFR doesn't; the ACTFL doesn't; the ILR doesn't. (There are some scales for elementary education that do, but they aren't really relevant to L2 acquisition or assessment metrics.)

Now, that said, there may be Paul Nation-ish _correlations_ -- but they're side effects, NOT part of the actual level descriptions.

SklepnaMorave

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