Friday, October 31, 2008

Scary Languages

I remember a conversation once centered around 'scary languages.' I think the topic at hand was how some languages sound 'scary' while others don't. The examples I can remember are :

German - perhaps reminds people of the Germany of WWI or WWII. I think German accents were used a lot in older horror movies (think 1940's and 50's).

Russian - people think of Cold-War era Soviet Union and spies.

Czech or Romanian - stirs up some vague associations with vampires.

Aha! A possible segue into a Halloween theme! In honor of Halloween and 'scary languages' I added a Romanian page on the site. Go learn some scary language and frighten your neighbors on Halloween.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Sharedtalk

There are many Language Community sites that have excellent features for motivated language learners. SharedTalk.com is one I have only briefly mentioned before. It is backed by none other than Rosetta Stone. Several other sites in this category also have backers with deep pockets (Mango Languages, Linq, Friendsabroad come to mind). This is to our advantage as language learners.

More sites with great features means competition - they are competing for us. We benefit from this competition! But it also means that eventually, we will probably have to pay for many of these great features. That means we need to take advantage of what these sites have to offer now. Find 1 or 2 that you like and use them as much as possible. I'm sure that in time you will find them indispensible and you will wonder why you never used them before!

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Rwanda Drops French, Moves Closer to English

The nation of Rwanda is dropping the French language from its curriculum and from official use in favor of English. This is a result of some points of contention between Rwandans and France. The French had once trained or armed some of those who ultimately committed acts of genocide in that country. Many Rwandans harbor some ill feelings toward the French and this has resulted in the desire to shed 'all things French' including the French language, which had long been part of Rwandan culture.

More and more countries in Africa have been adopting English as an international language. In some cases (like Nigeria) English is even used as a unifying language where there are dozens of indigenous languages. Ultimately this gives Africans the ability to compete on the international stage. As language learners, there are many Africans in an advantaged position, as they learn their native language (or 2) and 2 or 3 local, regional or international languages.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Amazon Affiliation

If you are a regular visitor to the site, you may have noticed that I have been adding Amazon links for some books and audio language products. I have always had links to a bookseller on the site (Barnes and Noble, Buy.com) but for one reason or another had to change affiliates. I try my best to link only to reputable merchants with good prices, but they also need to be easy to work with. Amazon offers the widest possible range of products, reliability, a high level of customer service, brand recognition and they are easy for me to work with and integrate into my site. And let's face it, everyone has an Amazon account! So, rest assured that when you click a link on my site to purchase anything or just to learn more about something it is to a safe and reputable site or merchant like Amazon.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Rosetta Stone IPO

While doing some investment research, I came across a filing by none other than Rosetta Stone. Apparently they are looking to go public. The process could take several months so I don't think a Rosetta Stone stock is imminent just yet. This does shed some light on some of Rosetta Stones actions in recent months - pulling software out of public libraries, high profile projects like the Michael Phelps commercial etc. I guess they are gearing up for their IPO.

But, it seems like a strange time for an IPO. The IPO market is dry as a bone and it's a terrible investing climate. Not to mention strange timing for Rosetta Stone itself. They state right in their filing that a large percentage of their sales come during the holiday season. This is expected to be one of the weakest holiday seasons in decades. It's a little risky right now. They are in the right market and have the right products for long-term growth, but keep a close eye on this before you buy.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

A Few French Resources

I have been looking for more information and opinions on Tell Me More around the internet. Not that I need anyone elses opinion of this great software, but I'm surprised there hasn't been a little more buzz about their new Performance level products. It is underrated and deserving of a lot more attention. I did find this review of Tell Me More French Performance.

Speaking of underrated, RFI (Radio France Internationale) Internationale) has some great resources for intermediate learners of French. They actively promote learning French and produce audio material with the French learner in mind. They have news programs, interviews and lots more in easy French with accompanying transcripts and listening comprehension exercises. It's a great resource after you have mastered the basics and you're ready for some real-world French!

Monday, October 13, 2008

Top 10 Language Podcasts

Lexiophiles has named a Top 10 Language Podcast list. These guys are great for compiling the best of the bunch in language websites, blogs, podcasts and resources. While it's interesting, the real value here is viewing the complete list that they used as their starting point. It's chock full of great language podcasts, some for less commonly learned languages like Polish or Turkish. Here is the full list of 85 language podcasts:

http://www.lexiophiles.com/language-podcasts-toplist/the-whole-podcast-list

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Pimsleur Norwegian

Pimsleur Norwegian Comprehensive is a more recent addition to the Pimsleur line. I hit some snags, but eventually I was able to add the first lesson of Pimsleur Norwegian on the Learn Norwegian page.

Since I have been talking so much lately about Michel Thomas, I thought I'd point out a homemade Michel Thomas-style course for Norwegian. A frequent visitor and poster on www.How-to-learn-any-language.com started putting together the course. Here is a link to a discussion of the mini-course with links to the audio :
http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=11542&PN=2&TPN=1

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Michel Thomas Spanish

After I had written that Michel Thomas update a few days ago, I took out my copy of Michel Thomas Spanish and started uploading to my iPod. After listening to the first two cds (which I have seen sold as an 'Introductory'course) I can now give my initial impressions of the course.

It was as I had remembered it to be a few years ago, when I listened to the first few lessons. I recall not liking having the other two 'students' on the cd perhaps taking up time away from my learning, but I quickly accepted that and got over it. Eventually I found it to be my way of buying time to come up with the answer, rather than hitting the pause button as the introduction suggests you should do. (I listen while driving to and from work, so looking down at the pause and play buttons while driving isn't a good idea!)

At this point, the material being studied is quite easy for me, but I am impressed with the method. He does an excellent job of breaking down the language into simple bite-sized chunks that a beginner can get a hold of. I am quite impressed with the complexity of sentences that complete beginners can make within just a few minutes of listening. He builds an intuitive understanding of word-order and sentence formation that blows away most other methods.

I will keep going with the course and post regular updates. Anyone else try Michel Thomas? I am interested to hear your comments!

Saturday, October 04, 2008

Michel Thomas Update

I talked about the Michel Thomas method a few weeks ago. Since then I have done some more research on his method.

Michel Thomas himself recorded courses for French, Spanish, Italian and German. For each of these languages there is an 8 cd Foundation course, a 5 cd advanced course and a 2 cd language builder course. I believe there is also a vocabulary course as well.

Since Michel Thomas has died, there have been several more languages added. Using his technique, Foundation and Advanced courses for Arabic, Mandarin Chinese and Russian were released, and vocabulary courses are scheduled for release in 2009.

They are now aggressively adding languages and courses. Foundation courses have been released for Dutch, Portuguese, Japanese and Polish, with Advanced courses for each of these languages scheduled for release within the next year, along with a Greek Foundation and Advanced course.

These new additions are exciting. I actually have the courses (all of them I think) for Spanish, Italian, French and German, but have never yet given them a decent listen. I will start with Spanish since it is the language freshest in my mind, so at least I can see how Michel Thomas works in detail.

A reader of the blog actually tipped me off to the release of the Dutch course, which really has me excited about the Michel Thomas method (thanks Alan!), and the recent rapid expansion of Michel Thomas courses. I'll work through the Spanish courses, and if I really like it I'll get the Dutch course. But I have to time it just right - if I finish it too soon before the Dutch Advanced course comes out in January, I'll go nuts for too long waiting for it to be released!