The Free Language Letter
About the Newsletter
Free Language Letter
The Free Language Letter summarizes the site's latest resource additions, rearrangements, upgrades and insights.
Subscribers receive a (more or less) monthly, digestible bite of condensed language goodness.
Submitted by polyglot on Tue, 2007-02-06 07:17.
- 1 comment
- Read more
- 11814 reads
- Email this Newsletter
Tenth Edition of the Free Language Newsletter
Welcome to the tenth edition of the Free Language Letter!
51 new resources for 12 languages are included in this newsletter! There are also many additional resources not specific to any language but useful for all. See below...
What's Inside
- Featured Resource: Byki Free Software for Learning 70+ Foreign Languages
- 51 new resources for 12 languages! (Arabic, Chinese, English, Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Polish, Russian, Silbo Gomero and Spanish)
- Mobile Language Learning with iTunes U (iPod, iPhone)
- New Social Language Learning Resource: Busuu.com
- Multilingual Flashcard Services and Software
- Multilingual Online Instant Messenger
- Online Distance Language Learning
- The Linguists Documentary Film
- Free Multilingual Verb Conjugation Software
- eBook on How to Learn Languages Faster and Better
- Study Abroad Programs and Directories
- Constructed Languages (Conlangs)
- Blog Buzz: edufire.com names Free Language in top 20 language bloggers!
- Language Factoid: Silbo Gomero
Featured Resource
Language Freeware for over 70 Languages
Byki offers a free version of their software for learning the basics of 74 languages, including many less-commonly taught languages. An optional upgrade to the commercial product is available if you choose to continue. The software works on Windows and Mac and is certified friendly and spyware free!
Read the full article on Free Language.
Arabic
ArabicPod.net Podcast with Free Common Colloquial and Standard Arabic Audio Lessons
LQToronto.com Download Free Texts and View Free Video Courses to Learn the Language of the Quran with Full Madinah Arabic Course
Chinese (Mandarin)
ChinesePod.com Celebrates the 1,000 Free Mandarin Chinese Audio Lessons Milestone!
ChinesePod.com Olympics Site with Free Mandarin Lessons, Interactive Map of Beijing, Written and Spoken Country Names
Chinese-Course.com Free Mandarin Course with Flashcards/Sentence Manager and Chinese Character Explanations/Annotations
TheChineseReader.com The Chinese Reader Helps Learn to Read Mandarin with Free Chinese Character Text Annotation
Semanda.com Free Chinese Vocabulary Cards with Downloadable PDFs plus Multiple Choice Quizzes for Children (Kids)
hskflashcards.com Free Download HSK Vocabulary Cards in PDF Format + Print New Practical Chinese Reader Text Flash Cards (NPCR)
RocketLanguages.com Rocket Chinese (Mandarin) Complete Language Audio and Software Course for Total Beginners
English
EnglishPod.com EnglishPod Learn English Podcast for Web-Based and Mobile Learning using iPhone and iPod Touch
China232.com China232 Fun and Business English Lessons via Free Audio Podcast Lessons with Transcripts
AvatarLanguages.com Avatar Languages Learn English in Second Life Virtual World plus Tutors via Skype, Google Docs, Whiteboards
StudyEnglishNews.com Study English News for Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced Levels plus English Proficiency Test and Grammar
Vocabulix.com English, German and Spanish Verb Conjugator, Conjugation Tools, Vocabulary Building, Self-Test Tool, Friend Finder
eurolanguages.com Find and Reserve an English Study Abroad Program or Language School Free Online: London, England, Ireland...
Finnish
Two Resources to Learn the Finnish Language for Free: Online Wikibooks and Byki Freeware
French
French-Flashcards.com Online French Flashcard System, Text Analyzer, Vocabulary List Manager with Audio and Dictionary
french.about.com French Learning+Teaching Resources, French Verb Conjugator, Proficiency Tests, French Grammar Help
RocketLanguages.com Rocket French Language Audio and Software Course from Rocket Languages
eurolanguages.com Find and Reserve a French Study Abroad Program or Language School Free Online: Paris, France, Provence, Nice...
German
German-Flashcards.com Free German Flashcard Course with Dictionary and German Text Annotation
PukkaGerman.com Pukka German Podcast, German Slang, Colloquial German, Idioms, Funny German Sayings for Intermediate to Advanced
Radio Lingua's A Flavour of German Podcast Teaches German Idioms (Idiomatic Expressions) via Audio Lessons
german.about.com German Learning+Teaching Resources, Verb Conjugator, Audio Listening Lab, Grammar, Geneology, Culture, Lessons
Vocabulix.com English, German and Spanish Verb Conjugator, Conjugation Tools, Vocabulary Building, Self-Test Tool, Friend Finder
Hebrew
Omniglot.com Abjad Consonant Alphabet about Hebrew Script with Images, Example Text and Audio
Italian
ItalianPod.com ItalianPod Praxis Italian Lessons Podcast with Free Educational Resources and MP3 Audio
eurolanguages.com Find and Reserve an Italian Study Abroad Program or Language School Free Online: Rome, Italy, Venice, Ski...
Italian-Flashcards.com Online Italian Flashcard System, Text Analyzer, Vocabulary List Manager with Audio and Dictionary
Polish
Polish Wikibook with Basic Polish Language Course
Russian
Silbo Gomero
Learn Silbo Gomero, a Whistled Language from La Isla Gomera in the Canary Islands, on Busuu.com
Spanish
Online-Spanish-Course.com Free Online Spanish Course with Flashcards+Sentence Manager and Spanish Text Annotation
RocketLanguages.com Rocket Spanish Language Audio and Software Course from Rocket Languages
spanish.about.com Spanish Learning+Teaching Resources, Vocabulary, Pronunciation, Grammar Glossary, Culture, Course Lessons
SpanishNewsBites.com Spanish NewsBites Free Audio News Bites with Transcriptions about Spanish and Latin America
Useful Spanish Phrases for Travel with Downloadable Audio Recordings for Total Beginners from the Omniglot Website
Vocabulix.com English, German and Spanish Verb Conjugator, Conjugation Tools, Vocabulary Building, Self-Test Tool, Friend Finder
eurolanguages.com Find and Reserve a Spanish Study Abroad Program or Language School Free Online: Madrid, Spain, Valencia...
BBC Spanish Interactive Mystery Thriller Web Video Course for Total Beginners with Spanish Syllabus and Guide for Teachers+Users
Mobile Language Learning with iTunes U (iPod, iPhone)
Social Language Learning
Multilingual Flashcard Services and Software
Anki Free Flash Card Software for Debian GNU Linux, Mac OS X and Windows Based on Spaced Repetition
Quizlet.com Quizlet Vocabulary Trainer w/Flashcards, Games, Quizzes and Tests w/Multiple Choice, Fill in the Blank, Matching
Multilingual Online Instant Messenger
Online Distance Language Learning
The Linguists Documentary Film
Free Multilingual Verb Conjugation Software
eBook on How to Learn Languages Faster and Better
Study Abroad Programs and Directories
Directory List of International Foreign Language Schools and Language Study Abroad Programs
eurolanguages.com Find and Reserve an English Study Abroad Program or Language School Free Online: London, England, Ireland...
eurolanguages.com Find and Reserve a Spanish Study Abroad Program or Language School Free Online: Madrid, Spain, Valencia...
eurolanguages.com Find and Reserve a French Study Abroad Program or Language School Free Online: Paris, France, Provence, Nice...
eurolanguages.com Find and Reserve an Italian Study Abroad Program or Language School Free Online: Rome, Italy, Venice, Ski...
Constructed Languages (Conlangs)
Blog Buzz
Free Language was written up as one of the top language blogs on the Web!
eduFire.com Blogs about Top 20 Language Bloggers on the Web
Language Factoid: Silbo Gomero
Silbo Gomero is not spoken - it is whistled! (silbar = to whistle in Spanish). This whistled tongue is used by the people of Gomera, one of the Canary Islands off Spain, to communicate between long distances and over rough terrain.
Become a Silbador!
The existence of the whistled language of Silbo Gomero on the beautiful Spanish island of La Gomera has for years fascinated linguists and language enthusiasts alike.
Silbo Gomero was invented in order to facilitate communication between the people of the island across the deep gorges and valleys long before mobile phones were invented. The tradition continues even now with the local government including it in the educational system of the island.
Learn more about Silbo Gomero and watch a video of it being used!
Do widzenia!
Chapman
Free Language
http://freelanguage.org
Submitted by polyglot on Fri, 2008-11-28 18:24.
- Add new comment
- 1190 reads
- Email this Newsletter
Ninth Edition of the Free Language Newsletter
Welcome to the Ninth Edition of The Free Language Letter.
30 new free resources for 14 languages (4 new!) have been added to the site. There are now 343 resources available for 34 languages.
Quick View of What's Inside
- New! English Overview Page
- New Languages! Hebrew, Irish, Luxembourgish and Norwegian
- New resources for Arabic, English, French, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Irish, Luxembourgish, Mandarin Chinese, Norwegian, Polish, Russian and Spanish
- List of new web feeds including news and podcasts
- Online Translation Resources and Mozilla Firefox Addons
- Featured Resource: The New BBC Languages
- Language Factoid
New! English Overview Page
The latest language to get a shiny new overview page is English. An overview page is basically a single spot where all the resources for a given language are brought together for users to quickly navigate.
English is an Indo-European, West Germanic language originating in England, and is the first language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and the Anglophone Caribbean. It is used extensively as a second language and as an official language throughout the world, especially in Commonwealth countries and in many international organizations.
Visit the English Overview Page and continue reading.
New Languages! Hebrew, Irish, Luxembourgish and Norwegian
Since the last newsletter, four new languages have been added to the site: Hebrew, Irish Gaelic, Luxembourgish and Norwegian.
Arabic
Omniglot.com Abjad Consonant Alphabet about Arabic Script with Images, Example Text and Audio
English
Yolango.com Yolango Learn English Watching Web Videos w/Tags, Categories, Scenarios, Play Activites, Transcripts, Tools
Simple English Wikipedia Free and Open Encyclopedia for Learning and Teaching through Topics Written in Basic English
Deutsche Welle Miro Player for Instant Access to DW's Audio and Video Content in German, English and More
Verbbusters.com Verb Busters Free English Irregular Verbs Quizzes/Tests with High Regard for Privacy
JustVocabulary.com Just Vocabulary Podcast with ESL, TOEFL, SAT and GRE English Words Audio for iPod
French
FrenchPod.com FrenchPod Praxis French Lessons Podcast with Free Educational Resources and MP3 Audio
Loquella.com Loquella Listen, Read and Speak French Using a Free Online Language Tool and the FSI Language Method
German
BBC Languages German
Deutsche Welle Miro Player for Instant Access to DW's Audio and Video Content in German, English and More
OneMinuteLanguages.com One Minute Languages German Podcast Introduction to Basic Greetings and Key Travel Phrases
Hebrew
HebrewPocasts.com Learn to Speak Hebrew at your Leisure with Free MP3 Audio Podcast Downloads
LearnHebrewPod.com Learn Hebrew Podcast with Free MP3 Audio Lessons for Conversational, Listening and Written Practice
FSI-Language-Courses.com US Foreign Service Institute Hebrew Free Audio Lessons Downloads
Hindi
Namaste Dosti: The Learn Hindi Podcast for Grammar and Vocabulary for Beginners
FSI-Language-Courses.com US Foreign Service Institute Download Free Hindi Textbook/e-book
Italian
ItalianLingQ.com Italian LingQ Podcast with iTunes MP3 Audio using Linguist Method by Steve Kaufmann
Irish
Luxembourgish
Mandarin Chinese
BBCChinese.com BBC News in Mandarin Chinese
BBC Languages Mandarin Chinese
Loquella.com Loquella Listen, Read and Speak Chinese Using a Free Online Language Tool and the FSI Language Method
ChineseLingQ.com Mandarin Chinese LingQ Podcast with iTunes MP3 Audio using Linguist Method by Steve Kaufmann
Norwegian
Polish
Russian
Spanish
Online Translation
FreeLanguage.com.ua List of Free Online Translators/Translation Websites for Multiple Languages
Mozilla Firefox Web Browser Addons
addons.mozilla.org Experimental and Stable Mozilla Firefox Addons Extensions for Language Support
Commercial Products
earworms MBT Rapid Language line of learn to music audio courses have become a hit!
Recent News and Podcast Feeds
Below are the most recently added web feeds that Free Language syndicates.
BBC News in Chinese
Hebrew Podcasts' Podcast
LearnHebrewPod Podcast
Namaste Dosti Podcast
One Minute German Podcast
One Minute Irish Podcast
One Minute Luxembourgish Podcast
One Minute Norwegian Podcast
One Minute Polish Podcast
One Minute Russian Podcast
Featured Resource
The BBC has recently updated its BBC Languages resources! The new look and features are a considerable upgrade, making it easier to see all the resources available and get learning the languages you want to learn.
BBC Languages has always been a great place to access self-contained beginner courses in Chinese, German, Greek, French, Italian and Portuguese. There are also tidbits and goodies in other languages.
Recently, the BBC has revamped it's entire website for more flexibility, personalization and ease of use. In the languages section, this means it's easier than ever to find online courses, grammar info, learning games, dictionaries, self-assessment tests, resources for tutors, info about going abroad, photos, tips, stories, audio, video, related links, local class finder, cool/slang words and phrases, etc. It's all there and packed with good content!
Continue reading about the new BBC Languages.
Language Factoid
Approximately 375 million people speak English as their first language. English today is probably the third largest language by number of native speakers, after Mandarin Chinese and Spanish. However, when combining native and non-native speakers it is probably the most commonly spoken language in the world.
Factoid thanks to Wikipedia.
Slán agat!
Chapman
Free Language
http://freelanguage.org
Submitted by travelinguist on Wed, 2008-06-04 15:56.
- Add new comment
- 581 reads
- Email this Newsletter
Eighth Edition of the Free Language Newsletter
Welcome to the Eighth Edition of The Free Language Letter.
25 new free resources for 12 languages have been added to the site. There are not as many updates as usual because I have been working behind the scenes on the new overview pages for each language.
Quick View of What's Inside
- New! Afrikaans, Arabic, Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese Overview Pages
- Now Available: 34 Languages :)
- New resources for Catalan, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Swedish
- New Social Language Learning Resources
- New News Feeds in Catalan, French, German, Italian, Polish and Spanish
- Featured Resource: Lingro Public Domain Dictionary and Online Translation Tool (and so much more)
- Language Factoid
New! Afrikaans, Arabic, Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese Overview Pages
As I did for the Spanish language before the last newsletter, I have now completed four more language overview sections. Now you will find new homes on Free Language for Afrikaans, Arabic, Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese.
These overview pages are basically a single spot where all the resources for a given language are brought together for users to quickly view and navigate. I like to think they are quite packed with excellent resources for learning the respective languages. :) Some are more filled than others, and the overview pages do include an overview of the language, a list of resources for learning the language, podcasts, news resources, a tag cloud, InternetTV stations, recommended software, an aggregator link and feed and other such useful info.
Now Available: 34 Languages :)
With some of the major changes I have been working on, I have also slipped in a large number of new languages. Since the last newsletter, this includes Bengali, Catalan, Czech, Dutch, Filipino, Greek, Hausa, Hebrew, Hungarian, Latin, Polish, Swahili, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian and Vietnamese.
Before you get too excited, know that I cheated a bit on most of these and they list mainly resources for learning languages socially, and do not yet list specific resources for those languages. Catalan, Polish and Swedish are the exceptions with one specific resource for each plus the social resources. Specific resources for the rest will come as soon as I can manage!
OK, onto the latest resources added for specific languages and other such goodness.
Catalan
English
Blabbinit.com Blabbinit Learn English with Podcasts, Comics, Karaoke, Blogs, Videos and Chat
EnglishLingQ.com English LingQ Podcast with Free iTunes iPod MP3 Audio using Linguist Method by Steve Kaufmann
ECPod.com ECPod Upload and Share English and Chinese Video Podcasts with a Community and Find Language Exchange Friends
Babbel.com Virtual FlashCard Language Share Site w/English, French, German, Italian, Spanish Tools and Video Game-Like Interface
French
FrenchLingQ.com French LingQ Podcast with Free iTunes iPod MP3 Audio using Linguist Method by Steve Kaufmann
CaféBabel.com Café Babel Local European Political, Economic and Cultural News Magazine in French and 6 Other Languages
FSI-Language-Courses.com US Foreign Service Institute French Free Audio Lessons Downloads
Babbel.com Virtual FlashCard Language Share Site w/English, French, German, Italian, Spanish Tools and Video Game-Like Interface
German
GermanLingQ.com German LingQ Podcast with Free iTunes iPod MP3 Audio using Linguist Method by Steve Kaufmann
CaféBabel.com Café Babel Local European News Magazine in German and 6 Other Languages
FSI-Language-Courses.com US Foreign Service Institute German Free Audio Lessons Downloads
Babbel.com Virtual FlashCard Language Share Site w/English, French, German, Italian, Spanish Tools and Video Game-Like Interface
Italian
CaféBabel.com Café Babel Local European Political, Economic and Cultural News Magazine in Italian and 6 Other Languages
Babbel.com Virtual FlashCard Language Share Site w/English, French, German, Italian, Spanish Tools and Video Game-Like Interface
Japanese
Mandarin Chinese
EnterZon.com Zon MSU Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) for Learning Mandarin Chinese Interactively
ECPod.com ECPod Upload and Share English and Chinese Video Podcasts with a Community and Find Language Exchange Friends
Polish
Portuguese
PortugueseLingQ.com Portuguese LingQ Podcast with iTunes MP3 Audio using Linguist Method by Steve Kaufmann
FSI-Language-Courses.com US Foreign Service Institute Portuguese Free Audio Lessons Downloads
Russian
Spanish
SpanishLingQ.com Spanish LingQ Podcast with Free iTunes MP3 Audio using Linguist Method by Steve Kaufmann
CaféBabel.com Café Babel European Political, Economic and Cultural News Magazine in Spanish and 6 Other Languages
FSI-Language-Courses.com US Foreign Service Institute Spanish Free Audio Lessons Downloads
Babbel.com Virtual FlashCard Language Share Site w/English, French, German, Italian, Spanish Tools and Video Game-Like Interface
Swedish
Social Language Learning
Below are the latest additions to the social language learning section.
Babbel.com Virtual FlashCard Language Share Site w/English, French, German, Italian, Spanish Tools and Video Game-Like Interface
Palabea.net Palabea the Speaking World Social Language Exchange Network with Videolectures, Podcasts, Images, Docs
Worldia.net Worldia International Community for Making Friends to Learn and Teach Foreign Languages via Skype
News Feeds
Below are the most recently added news feeds that Free Language syndicates.
CaféBabel.com Café Babel Local European Political, Economic and Cultural News Magazine in Catalan and 6 Other Languages
CaféBabel.com Café Babel Local European Political, Economic and Cultural News Magazine in French and 6 Other Languages
CaféBabel.com Café Babel Local European News Magazine in German and 6 Other Languages
CaféBabel.com Café Babel Local European Political, Economic and Cultural News Magazine in Italian and 6 Other Languages
CaféBabel.com Café Babel European Political, Economic and Cultural News Magazine in Polish and 6 Other Languages
CaféBabel.com Café Babel European Political, Economic and Cultural News Magazine in Spanish and 6 Other Languages
Featured Resource
Lingro is a truly useful site with a decidedly free and open approach to multi-lingual dictionaries and online web translation. It provides users with quick and powerful online translation dictionaries and study tools, vocabulary lists and games. The site is "committed to building the Web's largest collection of open dictionaries."
I was struck by the straight-forward, no nonsense approach to open content. The site content is empowered and protected by the Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0 License. In short, this means the multilingual dictionaries can be copied, adapted and distributed with proper attribution. Equally, content editors must allow their additions to continue to be worked with under the same license. Thus, in an open and free way, lingro appeals to the users for help in creating "relevant translations and definitions" for the these language translation dictionaries.
Since I published the original article, several new changes have been in the works at the Lingro headquarters. Here's a list on their blog of some of the major improvements. There is also a great sections for webmasters that explains how to integrate Lingro into your website. Also added is a new feature for showing each user's personalized reading/vocabulary profile.
They are really cranking it out over there and I send lots of good vibes to this crew that is working to improve Public Domain tools for language learning. :)
Continue reading about Lingro.
Language Factoid
Mandarin Chinese is a category of related Chinese dialects spoken across most of northern and south-western China. When taken as a separate language, as is often done in academic literature, the Mandarin dialects have more speakers than any other language.
Factoid thanks to Wikipedia.
看你下一次!
Chapman
Free Language
http://freelanguage.org
Submitted by travelinguist on Sun, 2008-03-30 17:09.
- Add new comment
- 590 reads
- Email this Newsletter
Seventh Edition of the Free Language Newsletter
Welcome to the Seventh Edition of The Free Language Letter. Lots has happened since the Sixth Edition.
45 new free resources for 19 languages have been added to the site. See below for language-learning videos, multilingual podcasting, free software downloads, tools, browser extensions, OpenCourseWare, online communities and more.
New! Social Language-Learning Resource Section
Social language learning has become incredibly popular on the web as it has transcended language barriers in previously impossible ways.
For example, right now someone in Russia could be waiting to teach you Russian in exchange for your English skills. Or maybe your native language is Spanish and you want to learn Mandarin Chinese - there's someone out there for that as well! In fact, chances are there are hundreds or even thousands of potential language partners with whom you can achieve your collective language learning goals in a symbiotic fashion...
Visit the Social Foreign Language Learning Resource Section.
Below you will find the most recent additions to the social learning section.
LiveMocha.com Live Mocha Social Language Learning Course and Networking Website
MyHappyPlanet.com My Happy Planet Private Social Language-Learning Community
italki.com Free Skype VoIP and IM Language Partner Community
Dickinson College's Language-Exchanges.org Mixxer Free Skype Language Exchange Community
Lingopass.com Free Global Language Exchange Community
VoxSwap.com VoxSwap Online Instant Message and Voice Social Foreign Language Exchange with Forums and Groups
Spanish Leads the Way
As a new phase of information architecture unfolds at Free Language, Spanish is the first language to have an overview homepage. This is where you'll find a taste of the different Spanish language learning resources on the site in a nutshell.
Visit the Spanish homepage on Free Language.
The other 15 languages currently available on the site will follow shortly.
New Free Resources
Afrikaans
DigitalDialects.com Afrikaans Language-Learning Games and Activities
Arabic
Arabic Language Course for Arabic Learners Familiar with Arabic Script
DigitalDialects.com Arabic Language-Learning Games and Activities
FSI-Language-Courses.com US Foreign Service Institute Arabic Free Audio Lessons Downloads
SurvivalPhrases.com Survival Phrases in Chinese, Korean, Japanese, French, Swedish, Arabic, Spanish and Vietnamese
Cantonese
FSI-Language-Courses.com US Foreign Service Institute Cantonese Free Audio Lessons Downloads
English
English Language Learning and Teaching Article on Wikipedia
LanguageGuide.org English Language Guide with Images and Audio Recordings for Learners
lingro.com lingro Free and Open Multilingual Dictionary, Online Translation, Vocabulary Lists and Games
French
DigitalDialects.com French Language-Learning Games and Activities
BitesizedLanguages.com Bitesized Languages Improve Your French, Spanish or Portuguese Skills with Daily Emails
SurvivalPhrases.com Survival Phrases in Chinese, Korean, Japanese, French, Swedish, Arabic, Spanish and Vietnamese
lingro.com lingro Free and Open Multilingual Dictionary, Online Translation, Vocabulary Lists and Games
German
OneMinuteLanguages.com One Minute Language Lessons for Polish, Irish, German and Russian
lingro.com lingro Free and Open Multilingual Dictionary, Online Translation, Vocabulary Lists and Games
Hindi
ISpeakHindi.com I Speak Hindi Website, Podcasts, Dictionary and Resources
Indonesian
LearningIndonesian.com Podcast is a Fun and Easy Way to Learn Indonesian Online
Irish
OneMinuteLanguages.com One Minute Language Lessons for Polish, Irish, German and Russian
Italian
Japanese
JaplishPodcast.com Japlish Podcast of Funny Phrases in English and Japanese Languages
SurvivalPhrases.com Survival Phrases in Chinese, Korean, Japanese, French, Swedish, Arabic, Spanish and Vietnamese
Korean
Mandarin Chinese
A Torrent File for 500 Free Mandarin Chinese Audio Podcast Lessons from ChinesePod.com
nciku.com nciku Free Online Mandarin Chinese Handwriting Recognition, Conversations, Radical Dictionary
A Pinyin.info Article on Most Difficult and Challenging Aspects of Learning Mandarin Chinese
Learn Mandarin Chinese Videos on YouTube AskBenny Channel
Learn Chinese on YouTube with Mandarin Videos from ActiveChinese
FSI-Language-Courses.com US Foreign Service Institute Mandarin Chinese Free Audio Lessons Downloads
SurvivalPhrases.com Survival Phrases in Chinese, Korean, Japanese, French, Swedish, Arabic, Spanish and Vietnamese
BitesizedLanguages.com Bitesized Languages Improve Your French, Spanish or Portuguese Skills with Daily Emails
Polish
OneMinuteLanguages.com One Minute Language Lessons for Polish, Irish, German and Russian
lingro.com lingro Free and Open Multilingual Dictionary, Online Translation, Vocabulary Lists and Games
Portuguese
Russian
DigitalDialects.com Russian Language-Learning Games and Activities
OneMinuteLanguages.com One Minute Language Lessons for Polish, Irish, German and Russian
Spanish
BitesizedLanguages.com Bitesized Languages Improve Your French, Spanish or Portuguese Skills with Daily Emails
Spanish-Podcast.com Voices en Español Conversational Spanish Podcast
Spanish-Podcast.com Voices en Español Bilingual Blog
SurvivalPhrases.com Survival Phrases in Chinese, Korean, Japanese, French, Swedish, Arabic, Spanish and Vietnamese
Swedish
Vietnamese
Teach English
Our Teach English Section is growing with two new resources added recently.
English Language Learning and Teaching Article on Wikipedia
LanguageGuide.org English Language Guide with Images and Audio Recordings for Learners
Cool Free Tools and Multilingual Resources
We added some cool tools and multilingual resource links, including Firefox browser extensions for improving your productivity in foreign languages online!
Quick Translation Firefox Extension to Translate Single Words in 17+ Languages
Foreign Language Translation Extensions/Tools/Plugins/Add-Ons for the Firefox Web Browser
Langmaker.com Language Maker Website on Auxiliary and Constructed Languages
Word2Word.com Website
The Alternative Dictionary: Slang, Profanities, Insults and Vulgarisms from all the World
Instructional Foreign Language Videos
ExpertVillage.com Instructional Videos on Learning Foreign Languages
YouTube Video Language Lessons at LanguageTube.org
Multilingual Podcasting Resources
SurvivalPhrases.com Survival Phrases in Chinese, Korean, Japanese, French, Swedish, Arabic, Spanish and Vietnamese
OneMinuteLanguages.com One Minute Language Lessons for Polish, Irish, German and Russian
Language News
United Nations Declares 2008 the International Year of Languages
To see the news in many different languages, check out our syndicated multilingual news section.
OpenCourseWare, Open University and Distance Language Learning
Download Free Open University Courses from MIT OpenCourseWare Foreign Languages and Literatures Department
About.com Distance Learning Free Online Language Courses
open.ac.uk OpenLearn LearningSpace Open University with Free Courses in Modern Languages
Free Language Education Software
BYKI.com Download Free Language Software for Learning 42 Languages!
Featured Resource
Mango Languages is fantastic! Truly one of the top language-learning resources available online. Indeed, it may well be the most user-friendly, feature-rich, well-organized and free resource for learning languages online.
Mango Languages offers an amazing amount of totally free lessons and courses for learning a growing number of languages. At the time this article is going to press, these include Brazilian Portuguese, English for Polish speakers, English for Spanish speakers, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Pig Latin!, Russian and Spanish.
Current Research
I am researching and drafting articles regarding foreign language study in Second Life. This metaverse approach to teaching and learning has amazing potential. Subscribe to Free Language's RSS feed to be sure you get new articles as they're hot off the press.
Language Factoid
Russian (русский) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia and the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages.
Factoid thanks to Wikipedia.
Пока!
Chapman
Free Language
http://freelanguage.org
Submitted by travelinguist on Mon, 2008-02-18 20:33.
- Add new comment
- 820 reads
- Email this Newsletter
The Free Language Letter - August 23, 2007
Sixth Edition
Welcome to the sixth edition of The Free Language Letter.
Persian/Farsi Language Resource Section Added
We are happy to announce a new resource section for the Persian or Farsi language!
There is now a total of 16 language sections available on the site.
New Free Resources
71 new free resources for 18 languages have been added to the site.
Afrikaans
Learn Afrikaans Wikibook in English
Arabic
Syrian Arabic Free Illustrated Textbook with Audio Download
Learning Arabic Language from Didactiques Langues Publications
Dutch
Valley Trail Free Online Dutch Courses and Lessons for Beginner and Advanced Students
English
TheEnglishLanguage.org Directory of Websites about the English Language
EnglishClub.com Free ESL Learn and Teach English Lessons, Games, Forums, Quizzes, Chat
Effortless English Podcast Gives Automatic English for the People
Listen to English-Learn English Podcast
English1010.com Free Audio and Written English Lessons Online
BetteratEnglish.com Better at English ESL/EFL Podcast for Real People
Learn about the English Language at Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
itcansay.com Huge Database of Audio Samples for English Pronunciation Practice, Dictionary, Online Text Reader
Englishmate.com.cn English Mate Podcast for Learning English Online with Real Teachers
Esperanto
Esperanto.info Website about the Constructed Language Esperanto
French
Fancy French: Learn to Speak, Read and Write French Online in Total Immersion with Free Podcast Downloads
Learn about the French Language at Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
German
Download Free FSI German Language Audio Courses
Learn about the German Language at Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
Hindi
Learn about the Hindi Language at Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
Indonesian
Learn about the Indonesian Language (Bahasa Indonesia) at Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
Italian
Let's Speak Italian Podcast: Learn in Minutes a Day
Japanese
Kanji-a-Day.com Learn Japanese Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana Daily Study Aid Website
KanjiQuizzer.com Free Sura Sura Kanji Quiz Web Software Interface
Korean
KoreanPod Learn Korean Podcast on Podomatic
LetsLearnKorean.com Let's Learn Korean Group Blog Website
Learn about the Korean Language at Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
Latin
Latinum - The Latin Language Learning Podcast from London
Mandarin Chinese
CSLPod.com Chinese as a Second Language Podcast
learningmandarinpod Learning Mandarin Chinese Podcast and Video Podcasts
Learn Chinese Through Music: Mandarin Language Study through Pop Music
Persian
Persian Grammar Book for Farsi Study on Google Books
Farsi/Persian Language Lessons, Reading and Dialogues for Study Materials
Free Learn Persian Flashcards in Sets from Flashcard Exchange
Free and Easy Persian/Farsi Lessons from EasyPersian.com
The Iran Podcast
BBCPersian.com BBC Persian News in Farsi
Learn about the Persian/Farsi Language at Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
Portuguese
Easy Portuguese Website for Beginner and Intermediate Brazilian Portuguese Learners
Learn Portuguese Wikibook for Beginner and Intermediate Learners/Students
Tá Falado Free Brazilian Portuguese Podcast for Spanish Speakers
Loads of Podcasts in Spanish and Portuguese Languages
Russian
Learn Russian Wikibook for English Speakers Learning the Russian Language
langintro.com An Introduction to Russian for the Casual Learner
Learn about the Russian Language at Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
Spanish
SpanishRomance.com: A Variety of Spanish Language Content
Loads of Podcasts in Spanish and Portuguese Languages
SpanishSense.com Learn Spanish on Your Terms Podcast
Learn about the Spanish Language at Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
Cool Free Tools and Multi-Lingual Resources
We added some cool tools and multi-lingual resource links, including internet TV stations, Firefox tools, recording archives and mobile phone phrasebooks!
Global Internet TV Gateway Portal with Web TV in World Languages
FoxLingo Free Firefox Browser Extension Software for Translating Web Pages
Language Learning Advisor Website for Help Learning Foreign Languages
Learno.com Free Online Foreign Language Learning Books
Verbs-Online.com Study French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German, English with Verb Tools
UMN's Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition
Newseum.com Free Front Page News from over 50 Countries in Loads of Languages
WordChamp Language Toolbar for Firefox
Wikipedia Language Portal
Free and Open Mandarin Chinese University Lectures from Archive.org
Free Mobile Phone Phrasebooks for French, Spanish, German, Italian, Greek and Portuguese
New! English Language Teaching Resource Section
We started a resource database for language educators. Currently, we have resources for teaching English. We will be adding more languages soon!
Teach English
TeachingEnglish.org.uk BBC British Council Teaching English Resources
EnglishClub.com Free ESL Learn and Teach English Lessons, Games, Forums, Quizzes, Chat
TEFL.net Free Resources for English Teachers/Educators with TEFL, ESL, TESOL Help
Internet TESL Journal for Teachers of English as a Second Language
English1010.com Free Audio and Written English Lessons Online
Top ESL/EFL/TESOL/TEFL/TESL and TOEFL Salad Websites
itcansay.com Huge Database of Audio Samples for English Pronunciation Practice, Dictionary, Online Text Reader
Resources for Non-English Speakers
A few resources for speakers of languages other than English were added. This will eventually expand into localized/internationalized versions of the site.
For now, we have a handful of resources for non-English speakers to learn Mandarin Chinese. We figured with the Beijing 2008 Olympics just around the corner, these would be useful to folks out there.
Apprendre le chinois chez chine-nouvelle.com
Aprender chino a chino-china.com
Chinesisch-Lernen.org Chinesisch Lernen und China Entdecken
InfoCina.net Web site per imparare la lingua cinese
A-China.info: um Web site com informação e recursos para aprender a língua chinesa
Język-Chinski.com: Nauka języka chińskiego poznaj Chiny
New Commercial Resources
9 new commercial resources have been added for 9 languages:
English
Rosetta Stone Learn UK British English Language Software Level 1 (Commercial)
French
Rosetta Stone Learn French Language Software Level 1 (Commercial)
German
Rosetta Stone Learn German Language Software Level 1 (Commercial)
Hindi
Rosetta Stone Learn Hindi Language Software Level 1 (Commercial)
Indonesian
Rosetta Stone Learn Indonesian/Bahasa Indonesia Language Software Level 1 (Commercial)
Korean
Rosetta Stone Learn Korean Language Software Level 1 (Commercial)
Persian
Rosetta Stone Learn Persian/Farsi Language Software Level 1 (Commercial)
Russian
Rosetta Stone Learn Russian Language Software Level 1 (Commercial)
Spanish
Rosetta Stone Learn European (Spain) Spanish Language Software Level 1 (Commercial)
Blatant Self-Promotion
If you have not already done so, please visit our site and use the social bookmark link on the top right side to add us to any of numerous social bookmarking services such as del.icio.us, furl, magnolia, digg, reddit, newsvine, simpy, bluedot, stumble upon and more. Please help us grow!
The Free Language blogs are still the #1 blog on TopBlogArea.com in the Resources Section. We have moved up from #7 to #4 on BlogTopSites.com in their Resources Section.
Our Alexa rating is also improving. According to this rating, Free Language currently holds the spot as the 308,598th most-visited website in the world! This is up millions from when we released Version 2 on February 1st of this year.
Thanks for all the support!
BETA Testers Needed!
If you are interested in blogging about your language-learning experiences, you are invited to join Free Language! All you have to do is request a BETA user account and we'll set you up!
As mentioned in the March 2007 Free Language Letter, when Free Language V3 is launched, revenue sharing for users will be implemented.
Show Us the Resources!
If you have a favorite language-learning resource (or manage a website of your own) that is not listed on Free Language, please let us know by suggesting a resource. This is a simple way to help us get the word out!
Current Languages
Below is a quick list of all 16 languages for which resource sections are currently available on the site. Resources for other languages are also available at the blog.
- Afrikaans
- Arabic
- Cantonese
- English
- French
- German
- Hindi
- Indonesian
- Italian
- Japanese
- Korean
- Mandarin Chinese
- Persian
- Portuguese
- Russian
- Spanish
Language Factiod
Tschüss (also tschüs) is an informal German parting phrase, used in much the same way as "good-bye" in English-speaking countries such as the United States or United Kingdom.
It is derived from Walloon adjüs (the equivalent of adieu in French), and was first taken up into the Low German language. For this reason, the word Tschüss has historically been more common in northern Germany, though it has gained country-wide acceptance. It is also commonly used in Switzerland and Austria, at the very least in Zürich and its outskirts. However, in southern Germany it is more common for the informal farewell ciao or adieu to be used, and the farewell Auf Wiedersehen is considered appropriate in more formal settings.
Factiod available thanks to Wikipedia.
Tschüss!
The Free Language Community
http://freelanguage.org
Submitted by polyglot on Thu, 2007-08-23 21:39.
- 1380 reads
- Email this Newsletter
