RocketLanguages.com Rocket French Language Audio and Software Course from Rocket Languages
Try Something Else...
Instead of Rocket French, please read my review of FrenchPod101, a modern and advanced way to learn French.
A lot has changed on the language learning front since I originally checked out and wrote about Rocket Languages in 2008. A whole lot! There are so many other cooler, better ways now to learn and I no longer think this is one of the effective ways to learn French.
This article has been removed from the directory (with links removed) and left for archive purposes.
Learn Silbo Gomero, a Whistled Language from La Isla Gomera in the Canary Islands, on Busuu.com
Update from Busuu.com
Wow! More interesting news just came in from the folks at Busuu! They've done something, well, unprecedented as far as the Free Language team can tell: they've added an endangered language called Silbo Gomero to be learned right through their website!
This language is not spoken, but whistled (silbar = to whistle in Spanish), and is used by the people of Gomera, one of the Canary Islands off Spain, to communicate between long distances and over rough terrain. How cool is that!
Check out this video from Busuu about this fascinating language:
From Website
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.
Two Resources to Learn the Finnish Language for Free: Online Wikibooks and Byki Freeware
Finnish should be on Free Language by now. Ahhh... if only there were all the time in the world! But a recent email from a site user brought Finnish to our attention, and we will make it a point to add Finnish as soon as possible. Since we were unable to email the user back due to email issues on their end, this info is going up here on the blog.
Until a proper section for Finnish is up and running, there are two resources we'd recommend:
A Wikibook for Learning Finnish
Byki Language Freeware for over 70 Foreign Languages (including Finnish)
If you are interested in learning Finnish, please consider signing up for the Free Language Letter so you'll hear about it as soon as Finnish is added to the site!
Best of luck to you in your Finnish learning endeavors! And please recommend Free Language to anyone interested in learning foreign languages. :)
UPDATE: For those with a working knowledge of Finnish seeking listening practice, have a look at the Selkouutiset News in Plain Finnish Podcast.
spanish.about.com Spanish Learning+Teaching Resources, Vocabulary, Pronunciation, Grammar Glossary, Culture, Course Lessons
Summary
spanish.about.com is an excellent resources for beginner to intermediate Spanish learners as well as teachers of those levels. In fact, there is so much content there that listing it here would take too much time! Instead, this article will highlight some of the things you can find on the site, and leave the rest for you to find on the site.
german.about.com German Learning+Teaching Resources, Verb Conjugator, Audio Listening Lab, Grammar, Geneology, Culture, Lessons
Summary
german.about.com is packed full of information for beginner to intermediate German learners as well as teachers of those levels. In fact, there is so much content there that listing it here would take too much time! Instead, this article will highlight some of the things you can find on the site, and leave the rest for you to find on the site.
french.about.com French Learning+Teaching Resources, French Verb Conjugator, Proficiency Tests, French Grammar Help
Summary
french.about.com is packed full of information for beginner to intermediate French learners as well as teachers of those levels. In fact, there is so much content there that listing it here would take too much time! Instead, this article will highlight some of the things you can find on the site, and leave the rest for you to find on the site.
Of special note are the start learning section, practice materials, teacher resources, audio lab, grammar section, vocabulary section, proficiency tests, verb conjugator and the quizzes and tests area.
There is a lot more there, and it's all accessible for free. :)
From Website
Learning French is an ongoing and involved process. You can't learn French overnight, and you probably can't learn on your own, no matter how many books and tapes you buy.
What you can do is use this free website to supplement your learning: to get another explanation of something you didn't understand, to get extra practice between classes, and to brush up on what you once learned but have now all but forgotten.
Learn French at About offers hundreds of lessons and thousands of sound files to help you learn French.
Semanda.com Free Chinese Vocabulary Cards with Downloadable PDFs plus Multiple Choice Quizzes for Children (Kids)
Summary
Semanda offers quick and simple review and download of Mandarin Chinese vocabulary cards and online multiple choice quizzes for children/kids! These are all free. :)
Be sure to have a look at the printable PDFs of the vocabulary packs.
From Website
Free Mandarin Chinese Flash Cards
Semanda.com is a website for learning basic Mandarin Chinese vocabulary using illustrated flashcards. Online flashcards and multiple choice quizzes in several subjects are available, as well as printable PDF flash cards.
On semanda.com, you will find basic Mandarin Chinese flashcards and vocabulary exercises for children and beginners.
The flashcards use both simplified Chinese characters (hanzi) and pinyin, and are available both online and as printable PDF files.
The wordlists cover a wide range of basic concepts, such as colors, animals, fruits, vegetables, vehicles, furniture etc. New flash cards are added all the time, so please check back regularly for updates!
Verbix.com Verbix Free Verb Conjugation Website (WebVerbix), Verb Wiki and Windows Freeware (FreeVerbix) for 100+ Languages
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.
Byki Offers a Free Language Software Application for Learning 70+ Languages at Byki.com (Windows and Mac OS X)
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!