Learn Albanian

A Hidden Gem for Language Lovers and Learners

This article presents a unique approach for intermediate to advanced (and beyond) learners of many languages to gain exposure to interesting material in their target language(s). It has to do with a very popular website that features short (usually less than ten minutes) presentations by some of the world's greatest and most famous minds (not always both ;) on their specific areas of expertise. It's called, simply, TED, and the presentations are called "TED Talks".

The TED website itself is not geared towards language learners or educators yet is useful for both. It is especially useful for English learners, as all the talks are in English. But it's also useful for anyone learning most of the world's most-spoken languages (as well as numerous lesser-spoken ones) who want to simultaneously watch inspiring, funny, courageous, fascinating, informative, persuasive, ingenious and often jaw-dropping presentations about technology, science, entertainment, design, business and global issues - all while gaining exposure to their target language. Here's how and why...

Language Learning Tips on Using Free Wikimedia Resources

This article points out six useful ways to use Wikimedia content from Wikipedia, Wikibooks, Wikiversity, Wikinews, Wiktionary and Wikiquotes for learning languages free.

What's highlighted here is also great for teachers because it is licensed via Creative Commons and available to use for free.

Spanish is used as an example here, but the same ideas are applicable to all languages for which content is available.

1) Know General Info about Your Target Language

Find out general information about a language by viewing that language's Wikipedia entry. For example, here's the Spanish language entry on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_language

It contains loads of general information, as well as specifics about grammar, alphabet, pronunciation, etc.

2) Use Wikibooks and Wikiversity Courses to Get Started

Free Audio Books for 40 Languages

book2 is an outstanding resource for learning the basics of many languages.

This project sticks out by offering around 1600 combinations of languages, such as Japanese to English, Chinese to Arabic, etc, to use for exposure.

The method involves learning a series of short audio sequences to become comfortable in specific situations (introductions, meeting people, getting around, etc) common in daily life.

It's interesting that this specific book will become familiar to you in itself, so recalling the same material in new languages might be accelerated. Once you've memorized the whole audio sequence in one language, why not move on to another?

Learn Survival Albanian

Wikitravel users have collectively created a free Albanian phrasebook with the goal of making it possible for travelers to "get by" while traveling in areas where Albanian is spoken.

Wikitravel phrasebooks are available in many languages and each one varies in depth and detail. Most of the phrasebooks include a pronunciation guide, a general phrase list, information about dates and numbers, a color list, transportation-related phrases, vocabulary for shopping and phrases for eating and drinking. Some are even more in depth, and all are free!

From Website

Essential Albanian Phrasebook

A collection of the most useful phrases in Albanian for travelers by BBC Languages Quick Fix.

Not to be considered an Albanian course, these simple phrases cover the most essential core necessities and "niceties" travelers ought to know ("Hello", "Goodbye", "Thank you", etc) to show cultural appreciation by speaking Albanian!

Includes an online player to view the phrases as they are written in Albanian and listen as a native speaker says them.

You can also download them to your MP3 player or print out a sheet and take it with you on your trip!