John Wesley of Universitiesandcolleges.org sent me their Master List of Free Language Learning Resources, and it looks like something that might be interesting to people out there, so I’m passing it along. It’s got podcasts, online courses, iPhone/iPod applications, and general language learning sites, and includes languages from Abenaki to Xhosa. Check it out if it seems up your alley.
Addendum. Michael Farris points us to So you want to learn a language, which he says “is especially useful for lots of lesser studied languages.” I see, for instance, that they have Javanese, which isn’t on the list at the other site.
ONLINE LANGUAGE LEARNING.
June 18, 2009 by 11 Comments
Thanks so much! The timing is marvellous, as I’m just about to start teaching myself Punjabi and Urdu, so you’ve made the process significantly cheaper.
Very nice. Thank you John Wesley (but how could you go wrong with a name like that) and thank you Hat. The ones I looked at were really free, very interesting, and you can subscribe to them. I haven’t looked at the English/ESL ones yet, but if they’re as nice as the ones I looked at, my students will be interested.
The only thing that made me think twice was the program wanted to download the latest version of itunes and quicktime. The last time I did that it set itself as the default player and messed up my photo software so that I had to reinstall it. I guess I can just use the older version though.
Nijma, I got a similar message but aborted and used Apple Update to just update my QuickTime player to 7.6.2 for the security fix. I have no need for the bloated mostrosity that is iTunes since I don’t have an iPod. With Apple software, one simply has to match them in cunning and ruthlessness to ensure that one can use their products as one wishes, not as they wish.
Great timing for me as well, as listening to this song – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPj5iBELuXc – has gotten me interested in Brazilian Portuguese again! I first heard it on the radio performed by Badi Assad, but I have yet to find her version of it on-line.
There’s also this massively useful site:
http://soyouwanttolearnalanguage.googlepages.com/home
which is especially useful for lots of lesser studied languages.
Thanks, Michael, I’ll add it to the post, and I’m glad people find this useful.
Thanks, languagehat! This is very useful: my students often ask about online resources to supplement my materials and classes.
The Master List even contains Malayalam.
The other site says: “If you are looking for authentic material in your chosen L2…” I’m sure many readers here have moved beyond L2, L3, …
Dutch is on both lists, so that eliminates another excuse for not learning it 🙂
I have yet to find her version of it on-line.
Yahoo! Music was happy to play some for me. Maybe it depends on where you’re coming from? Or maybe it’s just a preview.
It’s right up my lane, thanks, Katiba.
Ooooooh.
Now I have no excuse but my own laziness.
I’ve actually downloaded some podcasts attempting to teach German. The first one was annoying and the second one is a bit too cutesy. I think I need to find something real and listen to for complete immersion. Of course I won’t understand half of it, but hopefully that’ll change. If I could find some that discuss the same subjects I listen to in English, I might help.
Guess I should go ask the skeptics and astronomy buffs. (Hmmm – I wonder if there’re any chemistry and maths podcasts …)