Summary

This (lengthy) article brings together a pile of Free Software (GNU GPL'd as Public Domain), freeware and shareware for language learning and reference for Mac OS X.

Software descriptions are taken from Apple Downloads. We will be adding more GPL applications soon.

Summary

The now-ubiquitious Wikipedia.org has some multilingual gems tucked away in its folds. This article serves to point out one of the most powerful polyglot culture feaures that Wikipedia offers: the myriad articles in a multitude of languages at a single click away.

For instance, while browsing the topic "Language" on Wikipedia in English, down the left navigation bar you will find entries for the same topic in literally dozens of languages:

Afrikaans, Alemannisch, العربية, Aragonés, Arpetan, Asturianu, Avañe'ẽ, Aymar aru, Azərbaycan, Bamanankan, Bân-lâm-gú, Basa Banyumasan, Башҡорт, Беларуская, Беларуская (тарашкевіца), Boarisch, Brezhoneg, Български, Català, Чăвашла, Cebuano, Česky, Cymraeg, Dansk, Deitsch, Deutsch, Diné bizaad, Eesti, Ελληνικά, Español, Esperanto, Euskara, فارسی, Français, Frysk, Furlan, Gaeilge, Gàidhlig, Galego, ગુજરાતી, 한국어, हिन्दी, Hrvatski, Ido, Ilokano, Bahasa Indonesia, Interlingua, isiXhosa, Íslenska, Italiano, עברית, Basa Jawa, ქართული, Kernewek, Кыргызча, Kiswahili, Коми, Kongo, Kreyòl ayisyen, Kurdî / كوردی, Latina, Latviešu, Lëtzebuergesch, Lietuvių, Limburgs, Lingála, Lojban, Magyar, Македонски, Malagasy, मराठी, مَزِروني, Bahasa Melayu, Nederlands, 日本語, Нохчийн, Norfuk / Pitkern, Norsk (bokmål), Norsk (nynorsk), Nouormand, Occitan, پښتو, Polski, Português, Ripoarisch, Română, Romani, Runa Simi, Русский, Саха тыла, Sámegiella, Sardu, Scots, Seeltersk, Sicilianu, Simple English, Slovenčina, Slovenščina, Српски / Srpski, Suomi, Svenska, Tagalog, தமிழ், Tatarça/Татарча, ไทย, Tiếng Việt, Тоҷикӣ, Türkçe, Türkmen, Українська, Volapük, Võro, Walon, Winaray, ייִדיש, 粵語,Zazaki, Žemaitėška, 中文

This list discludes several languages for which this particular computer does not have fonts installed. Many of you will see font-related issues for some of the languages above. Find out more here if you do.

How to find the links.

This image shows how to find what other languages are available for a given topic on Wikipedia:

These are not translations.

Each entry is an organically-written encyclopedia article on the topic of "Language" in a language. The time and space for language and culture persists!

It's quite intriguing surfing Wikipedia for multilingual goodness. If you'd like to hear more on this topic or have something of value to share, please comment on this article!

Use these to learn!

This feature of Wikipedia can be used to learn and teach languages. Find a topic of interest and study up on the vocabulary in your target language, build a linguistic knowledge of specific interests, get materials for educating, compare entries in different languages to bring out cultural nuances and more. There are many ways to twist and tweak this vast maze of plurilingual content!

From Website

A language is a dynamic set of visual, auditory, or tactile symbols of communication and the elements used to manipulate them. Language can also refer to the use of such systems as a general phenomenon. Strictly speaking, language is considered to be an exclusively human mode of communication. Although other animals make use of quite sophisticated communicative systems, sometimes casually referred to as animal language, none of these are known to make use of all of the properties that linguists use to define language.

In Western Philosophy, language has long been closely associated with reason, which is also a uniquely human way of using symbols. In Ancient Greek philosophical terminology, the same word, logos, was used as a term for both language or speech and reason, and the philosopher Thomas Hobbes used the English word "speech" so that it similarly could refer to reason, as will be discussed below. More commonly though, the English word "language", derived ultimately from lingua, Latin for tongue, typically refers only to expressions of reason which can be understood by other people, most obviously by speaking.

Visit "Language" on Wikipedia in English and look at all the languages on the left navigation bar. Those are the languages for which the article you are viewing has equivalents.

Summary

LQToronto.com is the official website of the Institute of the Language of the Quran in Toronto. The website is not for profit, and offers all of the Madinah Arabic courses for free as downloads of the texts and viewing of the videos.

There is an amazing amount of material available for free on this website. It is enough to allow an individual learner to learn to read, write and speak the Arabic of the Qu'ran without any further materials - truly amazing!

Also on the website is a shop where you can purchase the texts at cost, with no additional fees. Finally, you may want have a look at and participate in the site's nascent forum.

From Website

V. Abdur Rahim was born in the small town of Vaniyambadi in the state of Tamil Nadu, India in 1933. After finishing his secondary school studies, he joined Presidency College, University of Madras where he majored in English Language and Literature. He graduated in 1957. In 1964, he joined al-Azhar University, Cairo, where he did his M.Phil. and Ph.D. in Arabic Philology.

It is to be noted that Abdur Rahim learnt Arabic by himself. The school where he did his secondary school studies offered Arabic, but the lessons it offered consisted of only memorizing the conjugation tables. Abdur Rahim detested this method. He thought that it was the most unnatural way of learning a language. Only dead languages like Latin, Syriac, etc. are taught this way. Living languages teach sentences straightaway. He decided to design a curriculum to teach Arabic to non-native speakers of Arabic.

In 1969, he joined the Islamic University of Madinah to teach Arabic Philology. Here, he was also associated with the Programme of teaching Arabic as a foreign language. The course he designed for this purpose is now known as Durûs al-Lughaħ al-‘Arabiyya ħ li-Ghair al-Nâtiqîna Bihâ. (Now these books are popularly known throughout the world as “MADINA BOOKS”.)

When he was learning Arabic by himself, Abdur Rahim studied the many problems that beset the non-native students of Arabic, and tried to solve them. He discovered that all these problems can easily be solved by applying the principle of taqdîm al- usûl ‘ala al-furû‘, i.e. teaching the primary elements before the secondary elements. The following are some of the manifestations of the application of this principle:

1. Teaching the primary case-endings before the secondary endings, so you teach the masrûf noun before the mamnû‘ min al-sarf, and the al-af‘âl al-arba‘aħ before the al-af‘âl al-khamsaħ.
2. Teaching the sâlim verb before the other categories.
3. Teaching the al-mudâri‘ al-marfû‘ before the al-mudâri‘ al-mansûb or al-mudâri‘ al-majzûm.
4. Teaching the plural of intelligent nouns before that of non-intelligent nouns.

Another principle Abdur Rahim advocates is that rules of waqfshould not be applied during the teaching stage, for in that case the student cannot learn the correct ending of the last word in the sentence as, ma smu-ka and ma smu-ki, for example, are both reduced to ma smu-k.

The following are the books Dr. Abdur Rahim has written in field of teaching Arabic as a foreign language:

1. Durûs al-Lughaħ al-‘Arabiyyaħ (3 parts).
2. Key To Durûs al-Lughaħ al-‘Arabiyyaħ (3 parts).
3. Key To Exercises of Durûs al-Lughaħ al-‘Arabiyyaħ (3 parts).
4. Teachers' Guide To Durûs al-Lughaħ al-‘Arabiyyaħ (3 parts).
5. A Glossary of Words used in Durûs al-Lughaħ al-‘Arabiyyaħ.
6. Ahadith Sahlaħ.
7. Nusûs min al-Hadîth al-Nabawyyi al-Sharîf.
8. Nusûs Islâmiyyaħ.
9. From Esfahan To Madinah.
10. Al-Bâhith ‘an al-Haqq.
11. Innahumâ min Mishkâħ Wahidaħ.
12. Fi Balât Hiraql.
13. Abshir bi-Khayri Yawm.
14. Arba‘ûna Hadîthan.
15. Al-Mus‘if fî Lughati wa I‘râbi Suraħi Yûsuf.

Currently, Dr V. Abdur Rahim is Director, Translation Centre, King Fahd Qur'an Printing Complex, Madinah Munawwarah.

Visit www.lqtoronto.com

Summary

Learn That Language Now! is a truly excellent, highly useful e-book for learners of any language - available for instant download to get you learning better right away. The study approach presented in the book is refreshing, exciting and even intoxicating, because it works so well once you start using it! Having personally learned six languages to varying degrees myself, I was pleasantly surprised to find many new tips and tricks that I'd never come across in over 15 years of studying and practicing foreign languages.

The author offers language learners perspective (earned through years of learning multiple languages) as well as practical methods you can start using right away to improve your language study flow and achieve fluency many times faster than with standardized methods.

This ebook provides essential information that will save you time and energy, helping you reach your goals faster and with more confidence. And with a low price tag of $19.99 USD - and instant delivery to your email - you will have a hard time finding a more valuable investment in your foreign language learning endeavors.

Finally, teachers will also benefit greatly from this book as it will give them insight into creating better study programs and stronger learning tools for their students.

Find out more about "Learn That Language Now!"

From Website

Learn That Language Now

What if I told you that you can become fluent in a foreign language in a matter of months, learn thousands of words without worrying about forgetting them, master grammar and do all of this in an enjoyable, painless manner. Sound too good to be true? Well, prepare to have your language learning experiences turned upside down. Read on to learn more...

What is “Learn That Language Now”?

Learn That Language Now is a comprehensive manual that will teach you the tips, tricks, techniques and method to achieve fluency in a foreign language with the goal of learning as quickly and fluently as possible with the least amount of effort.

Learn That Language Now was written because all other traditional methods of language learning, including classes, textbooks, audio courses and software programs, were slow, costly, inefficient and used language learning philosophies that were out-dated. Most language resources teach language along the same lines as languages were studied hundreds of years ago: endless grammar, syntactical rules and vocabulary lists.

Visit Learn That Language Now.

Summary

Verbix is "an independent non-profit organization that aims to promote and protect linguistic diversity." The tools on their site "contain verb conjugations for hundreds of languages, ranging from national and international languages to regional and even extinct languages."

There are four main things to bring your attention to in this article:

1) WebVerbix, a great free online verb conjugator for over eighty languages.

2) WikiVerb, a wiki site dedicated to languages, verbs, and verb conjugation.

3) FreeVerbix, a freeware version of the Verbix Windows software which bumps the number of available languages to above one hundred.

4) The Verbix website, where all three of the above and more (including the $40 paid version of Verbix 2008 for Windows) are available. Your purchase will support the non-profit group and expand the Verbix non-profit organization and web presence.

Also of import is the list of supported languages for the above-mentioned free and commercial products and online services.

The free Verbix stuff (WebVerbix, FreeVerbix and WikiVerb) provides plenty to work with for language learners and educators alike. The free online version works great for conjugating an enormous amount of verbs instantly.

From Website

UNESCO, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Verbix is an independent non-profit organization that aims to promote and protect linguistic diversity [UNESCO Observatory: Multilingualism]. This site contains verb conjugations for hundreds of languages, ranging from national and international languages to regional and even extinct languages.

FreeVerbix 7.3 is a universal Verb Conjugator that shows verb inflections in 100+ languages. It is based on Verbix language extension technology, so after installation of Verbix you can easily install any language extension to add more languages in Verbix.

WebVerbix is a free on-line verb conjugator. It contains a subset of Verbix for Windows features.

WikiVerb is a site dedicated to languages, verbs, and verb conjugation. It's not going to be a copy of information available in WikiPedia, but it will focus in verb conjugation. It won't replace www.verbix.com either, but it includes information and languages that are not available there.

Visit Verbix.com

Download Language Freeware

UPDATE: Byki now available for 74 languages! See list below.

Byki is freeware for learning [74] languages, including many less-taught languages for which learning materials are hard to find, such as Georgian, Mongolian and Icelandic. This is a gold mine for folks interested in learning the basics of over [seventy] languages - with no budget!

Along with the freeware, learners have free access to the Byki user community where other users share vocabulary lists for all the languages, instantly providing you with loads of new, free content.

They also offer a commercial upgrade for $49 USD, reasonable, and you get lots of extras with the upgrade.

The free version has been used both by folks at Free Language and friends of those folks. Beginners especially seem to get a lot out of this software.

Have a look!

Current Languages Available

Afrikaans, Albanian, Altai, Arabic, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Bashkir, Belorussian, Bengali, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Buriat, Chechen, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dari, Dutch, Estonian, Farsi, Finnish, French, Georgian, German, Greek, Haitian Creole, Hausa, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Kazakh, Korean, Latin, Latvian, Lithuanian, Luxembourgish, Macedonian, Malay, Mirandese, Mongolian, Norwegian, Pashto, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (European), Romanian, Russian, Scottish, Serbian, Slovak, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog (Filipino), Tajiki, Thai, Turkish, Turkmen, Tuvan, Ukrainian, Urdu, Uzbek, Vietnamese and Zulu.

The folks at Byki are working hard to make more languages available in the near future.

Update from Byki!

As of September 5th, 2008, we’ve launched a whole new version of Byki (the artist formerly known as Before You Know It) with several new languages, and a beautiful new site. Be sure to check out the new ListCentral, with profile avatars). The new Byki has lots of great new stuff including new learning games and the new Byki blog.

Visit www.Byki.com