What is the Easiest Language to Learn?

So, what is the easiest language to learn, anyway? This is very subjective, of course, but I recently wrote an article on this based on the results of the Easiest Language To Learn Survey. The survey has been active on my site since June 17th, 2006 with 870 responses. If you have read the results on that page before (which I have updated from time to time), then you already know the answer. If you are interested, you can read the article by clicking on the title in the Ezinearticles widget on the right side of the blog.

Aramaic - A Living Language

A few weeks ago, I linked to an interesting article on Aramaic and other related biblical languages. I have also read from time to time of Aramaic being spoken regularly in a few churches or monasteries. While this is interesting, I just read this article :

http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0803889.htm

It shows that Aramaic is actually a living language. It is spoken as a native language and is regularly taught to children. If you listen to the tone of the article, it is a big contrast when compared to efforts to save most other endangered languages, such as those in the US or perhaps Australia. It sounds as if the natives recognize the importance of their language and that they are the stewards of a tradition.

Aramaic is of great religious, historical and linguistic importance. If more speakers of endangered languages felt this way about their own language and culture, there wouldn't be quite so many languages dying out.

Pimsleur has added an Italian Plus to their product lineup. Italian Plus is a 10 lesson course to follow Italian Comprehensive Level 3. This brings the total number of half-hour lessons for Italian Pimsleur to 100.

My only experience with a Plus course was Spanish. I used the Spanish Plus course after finishing all three levels of Spanish Comprehensive. I didn't find it particulary unique, it was just 'another 10 lessons of Pimsleur Spanish." I love the Pimsleur Comprehensive courses and I enjoyed the Spanish Plus addition, but there wasn't anything outstandingly different about it. It was simply a matter of not wanting the Pimsleur Comprehensive course to end since I enjoyed
it so much.

I imagine that the Italian Plus course is similar. If you enjoyed Italian Comprehensive, you will continue with the plus course and enjoy that. And if you are anything like me, you will feel a little bummed to be finished with such an enjoyable course, knowing that there is still so much more to learn.

Lingus TV

There is a great new resource to help you learn Spanish. http://www.lingus.tv is a new site with short video dialogues. Each video has the transcription on the video, plus underneath with or without the translation. There are also notes on grammar and vocabulary or idioms used in each video.

The videos are sorted by level (beginner, intermediate and advanced) and also tagged by topic (like directions or introductions), vocabulary, or specific situations (like being angry or how to apologize).

It is simple, easy to use, full of a sense of humor and more real than most methods or tutorials. These are the kinds of conversations real people have. It is in Castilian Spanish, so it is a little different from Latin American Spanish, but is a very helpful and effective resource. I hope they continue to expand their offering of videos, and maybe even use this new platform to add more languages!

Learn Breton

Breton is a fascinating language. I like to consider it a Frenchified Celtic language. It is spoken on the Brittany coast of France, across the water from where its close cousin Celtic languages, Cornish and Welsh, are spoken. Interested in learning Breton?

Language Survey Updates

I have updated the results on the Most Beautiful Language Survey page. There is now a Top 10 List for both the Most Beautiful Spoken Language and the Most Beautiful Written Language. I will update these Top 10 lists from time to time.

I have also changed the Hardest Language to Learn Survey. There are no longer any choices, just a space for write-ins. After more than 1500 responses, there is a good enough number to get a reasonably accurate sampling. But putting a group of choices first may be unintentionally skewing the results in favor of those languages. So, I have removed the choices. I will see how this affects the results. It should be interesting.

LiveMocha - More Sites for Learning Languages

As part of our study regimen it is essential to add penpals, live chats and even voice chats to our mix of language learning tools. There are dozens of sites that offer these features specifically for language learners. I thought the Language Penpal Resources page had more than enough variety, but every time I turn around, there is another site for language learners. I don't think having anymore of these sites can hurt, but I just can't keep up with them all! The good news is that some of the newer ones have deep pockets. They can afford to spend on some very good features. Here is an in-depth review of LiveMocha - one of the most popular new sites - http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/livemocha-smell-the-coffee-and-learn-the-lingo/

National Languages in Africa

African countries often have a problem that European countries never had : no single unifying native language. No national language around which to rally. Most often, the unifying language or languages (if there even are any) are former colonial languages like English or French.

Most African countries have many, even dozens, of different languages. Tradition and rivalries between tribes and ethnic groups often make it difficult to accept one language over another as an official national language.

The one possibility which seems acceptable to the largest number of people is several official languages taken from the largest and most influential ethnic groups, but alongside the language of their former colonial rulers. It is often one of the few unifying factors keeping the country together (Nigeria comes to mind). They recognize the need for national identity and heritage, but they are also taking the most practical approach.

Here is an article about just such a debate in Ghana.
http://www.modernghana.com/news/173286/1/which-local-language-for-a-national-language.html

Tell Me More German Performance

I've started a blog to document my efforts to learn German using Tell Me More German Performance Edition. I am not very far into the program, but my first impressions of the software are very good. It seems to be very thorough with lots of features. If you are interested in learning German or the Tell Me More software for another language, read Learn German With Me.