Language Center
Language learning is an adventure, and each language its own journey. In an increasingly globalizing world, the demand for multi-lingual people is unprecedented. However, the amount of resources available to on us are also unprecedented, and one can now find materials on almost any languageshe or he can think of. This page is an attempt to concentrate some of these resources in a single place for students, teachers and other esteemed visitors to access.
As with almost all our content, this page is a work in progress. We highly appreciate submitted suggestions of cites and other language-learning documents that are web accessible. Please submit any and all such suggestions through our email, and we will review it for posting in the site. We are looking for sensitive, non-political and unbiased resources that can help our visitors immerse themselves in an ever-widening, yet shrinking world. Thank you for participating.
As always, please be sure to tell us of any great resource finds you locate! Similarly, if you operate a language-based website and would like us to list you below, don't hesitate to contact.
General Resources
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Open Culture
This site is really tops. It offers links to free learning resources for dozens of different languages, from Bulgarian to French to Chinese to Gaelic. Many of the links go to either distinct websites, university pages or free iTunes podcasts that you can access as long as you've downloaded the needed software. Open Culture also contains links to hundreds of free courses and lecture series, many of which are recorded at some of the world's premier academic institutions. Many other resources are also included. Foreign Service Institute These courses (often in both written and recorded form) were developed by the United States Government, largely for those going into foreign service. Although many of the courses are a little old, they can still offer huge payoffs with regard to introductory and even advanced language study. Of course, you won't have the classroom experience that originally focused the materials. These are still some great resources nonetheless, and for a great many languages. Word Reference Online Dictionary This is a fantastic online dictionary with an ever-expanding number of languages included. While the Spanish and French dictionaries are perhaps the most developed thus far, the people at Word Reference have added Russian, German, Polish, Chinese, Arabic, Romanian and more. Dictionary entries frequently give special attention to both contextual and idiomatic usage, and the site hosts a forum for each language where you can seize the chance to ask questions of native speakers if you're stuck on something. Highly recommended. How to Learn Any Language This page is interesting, not so much for the language-learning content it gives you, but for its appraisal of the different challenges and benefits of learning each language. It tries to provide difficulty levels for each language, grammar break-downs, variations or dialects of languages, etc. It even supplies a "chic factor" for learning individual languages, basically informing us how sexy or world-traveled we'll appear being able to speak it. It also offers multiple tips and strategies for approaching new languages in general. Worthy of perusal. Speak 7 Very informative pages compiled for Arabic, German, French, Italian, Spanish and Russian. Includes extensive vocabulary lists, grammar aids, and parts of speech for each subject.. Not a stand-alone resource for language-learning, but a fantastic supplement. |