Language Directory

I've created a language resource directory at http://languageresources.mylinea.com/ There is a link to the directory from the general resources page of the site.

I'm including every link and resource that is on the site, and I will add everything else that I come up with in my net travels. A lot of links aren't appropriate for the site, so I found an easy way to have a directory of language related resources that can have everything that I come across.

Please feel free to take a look at the directory and submit any of your favorite language resources.

Music and Language Learning

I'm adding a few pages on using music to aid language learners. One page, Using Music to Improve Listening Comprehension Skills, includes an article on using music in the classroom. Another, Use Music to Improve Language Skills, includes some of my comments on using music as a supplement to formal language learning methods.

I've turned off comments for this blog because of too many sleazy spam posts. If you'd like to comment on anything, feel free to use the form on my Contact page.

More Language Articles

I've put up a few more language articles. Improve Your Mind Power With Spanish and Learn Spanish: Why Americans Dont are both from article libraries. Both have points that I agree with heartily, it's always good to get the same info from different viewpoints from time to time, which is one of the main reasons I'm putting up articles like these.

Language Articles

I am placing a new section on the site called Language Articles which will be a library of articles from around the internet on language learning, blog entries, articles which I don't really have another place for and anything related to language in general. These will only be copyright-free articles, or just links or references to articles I can't put up, and I'll include comments. I'm a adding a government-sponsored report or two ( like ASL As a Foreign Language Requirement and Age and Language Learning) to get things moving, but there are a lot of things that I want to put there.

Learn Welsh

I've added a Welsh page. I still have to do pages for Breton and Manx to complete the Celtic languages. I know, there are lots of languages that have more speakers and learners than Manx or Breton, and a few people have pointed that out to me, but there are so many languages, pages and resources to research that I simply do whatever interests me at the moment. It's the only way I can continue without being overwhelmed. The languages I'm most interested in myself (Esperanto, Spanish, French and maybe Swedish and Cornish) will get the most attention, any others will appear or expand as I get the opportunity.

I continue adding words to the Spanish Cognates page. This could take a while but it may be a good resource for people as it develops.

Esperanto Free

I've added a page consisting solely of free esperanto tutorials or courses. The other Learning Esperanto page will be only commercial products. Both (and any other Esperanto pages) will be linked to from the main Esperanto page.

Esperanto Revamping

As I noted earlier, I'm revamping the Esperanto pages. I've changed the main Esperanto page, and I've rearranged the whole section to work a little better. There are a few more additions coming in the next few days.

What's New page

What's New page is now up. If you have been following this blog for updates to the site, you can now RSS the site and this page will summarize all major changes to the site and appear as a regular in the RSS feed, along with other items and new pages.

RSS Feed

There is now an RSS feed from the site. Every page has an RSS link at the bottom of the navbar on the left, and also a link to add to your My Yahoo or MyMSN account. I'm going to add a What's New page for not only new pages or other features added to the site (some of which will have their own item in the RSS feed), but also to document the little modifications and additions which I am constantly doing but that don't merit their own entry in the feed.

Esperanto Resources

I've begun to split off the Esperanto page into several different pages. I'm adding an Esperanto Resources page (which I'll be adding to over the coming days) and I'll have others coming as well. I'm still working on the Incubus transcript. It'll probably have a few errors, but once it's done I'll put it up and with some input it'll be ok.

Icelandic

There is a site for Icelandic called www.Hafronska.org that I've added a link to on the Learn Icelandic page (eventually I'll have an Icelandic Resource page). This site is trying to promote coining new Icelandic words rather than borrowing foreign words for new terms or objects. I find this to be a problem in many languages. English has a unique flexibility which allows it to create new words easily. Most other languages don't have this ability and usually borrow the word from English or create a new one from the same source as English - usually Latin or Greek. For a language like Icelandic, this clearly dilutes the purity of the language. I'm not surprised that there is a backlash against this, and I am surprised there isn't a movement in many other languages like this one.

What is Esperanto

I've added a What is Esperanto page but it's not actually live yet. I have to make a change to it and then I'll link it in. I'll keep adding to these pages and tweaking them as I put them up. I'm still working on the Incubus transcription. It'll be a little while, but it's coming along. So much to do, so little time ...

Esperanto

I have several more Esperanto pages coming. I'm now beginning to go through the whole site and flesh out each of the individual language pages. I'll be adding pages on learning tips, vocabulary and cognates, adding resources etc. for all the languages. I'll also be adding free ebooks and audio files as I can. I'm starting this whole process with Esperanto, and then I'll be working on Spanish and French. Hopefully I'll be able to add in reviews and other pages throughout the site as I can.

Second Esperanto ebook

Uploaded the second Esperanto ebook to the Esperanto page. This one is called - A Complete Grammar of Esperanto by Ivy Kellerman. Like the other one, it is almost a hundred years old. They both use the 'x convention' for writing the unique Esperanto letters - jx, gx, etc. It's annoying but not too difficult to use. I'll have to add a note on this on the page.

Esperanto ebook

Another one of those free ebooks is uploaded. The Esperanto Teacher by Helen Fry is up on the Learning Esperanto page. I have another one also that is a little more comprehensive. I don't think either one of these books is the best solution for a beginner to learn Esperanto, but for free it's worth it.

Learn Scots Gaelic

In adding a page for Scots Gaelic I'm halfway done with the Celtic languages, just three more to go. I'll be adding them in the next few weeks. I'm also uploading some free ebooks to a few pages. There is an old grammar for Icelandic called An Icelandic Primer by Henry Sweet that I've added to the Learn Icelandic page. More free ebooks are on the way for Spanish, Esperanto and others.

More Language Penpal Resources

I'm adding a bunch more resources to the Language Penpal Resources page. There are more sites there than I know what to do with. I'd like to use each one to review them, but I don't have the time for the 2 or 3 that I use now. I'm already behind on my emails, and I'm constantly contacted by new people. Even though they are hit or miss as far as finding long-term penpals, there is certainly no shortage of people out there to communicate with.

Age and Language Learning

Adding a page on age and language learning.

Cornish

I've added a page for Cornish . I've included on the page a download for a pdf ebook with 20 lessons to learn Cornish. The course is called Kernuak Es and is free to use and distribute. It has been available on the internet for a while (I didn't write it). I'll be adding pages for the other Celtic languages soon, as well. Linguashop.com produces and sells a course for learning Cornish as well as many other less commonly spoken languages. I've got the courses for the Celtic languages (Irish, Scots Gaelic, Manx, Welsh, Breton and Cornish) and I'll include a review as soon as I have a better handle on it.

Living Language Review

I've added a review of Living Language Spanish Basic Complete. I've recommended Living Language Basic for a while for a few languages, but I've never included a proper review until now.

Penpals and stuff

I've added a page on the merits of language penpals , linked to from the Language Learning Tips page. I'll probably add more pages on language forums, text chats and live chats just for completeness.

While researching affiliate programs, I discovered that RosettaStone actually has a few projects underway developing software for learning some endangered languages. They have projects with the Mohawks and Seminoles and possibly other endangered Native American tribes. They are open to the idea of more projects, too. I think I might look into the cost of sponsoring a project. There a number of organizations that provide some funding for such projects (RosettaStone had many listed) but it takes someone to get the ball rolling. Stuff like that makes me think that maybe you could actually make a difference sometimes. See http://www.rosettastone.com/languagerescue

FriendsAbroad

A review of FriendsAbroad has been added to the Language Learning Product Reviews page. FriendsAbroad is a website for finding language penpals that I have been using successfully recently. There are so many books, websites and methods to review, I don't know where to begin. So much to do, so little time.

Language Penpals

I'm revamping the language resources page a little. It's getting a little unwieldy so I've decided to just include a few resources in each category and then have a link to a sub-page with a complete listing for each category. I've started with language penpal resources. There are about 12 or so sites for finding language penpals, forums, text chats, voice chats and language exchanges. These are sites open to any language. There are lots more dedicated to a single language, but those are linked to from the individual language pages.

Spanish Cognates

I'm adding some pages for learning Spanish. First up is a page for Learning Spanish Cognates . I'll include common spelling changes between English and Spanish cognates, and as many examples as I can muster, which eventually will be hundreds and thousands! I'll have to add to the page a little at a time just because of the volume of common vocabulary. I'll also add a few other pages on grammar, most common words, phrases etc. I'd also like to do this for French as well, it'll be a good refresher for me.

Sanskrit

Continuing with the resources I've found while searching for Hindi and Urdu, I'm including a page for Sanskrit. I've also made some more updates to Language Resources and the Site Map .

Urdu

Following up on yesterdays post of the Hindi page, is todays post of an Urdu page. Since these are essentially the same language, many of the same resources apply. I've also come across resources for other South Asian languages, like Sanskrit, Bengali, other Indian languages, and languages of Afghanistan. I will put up pages for all of these as I can.

Hindi

I have finally added a Learn Hindi page. I obviously haven't been building this site in any particular order as far as the number of speakers of a language is concerned. I've only now got around to doing a simple page for one of the most widely spoken languages in the world. Apparently, I'm not alone. There are very few resources to study Hindi. Pimsleur only has a compact course, RosettaStone only does level 1 (still not too bad, though) and many of the other publishers don't have anything. The online resources are surprisingly few, too. I expect that will change in the next few years, as India grows more and more, and English becomes less important in South Asia.

Adding More Links

I'm adding some very good resources. German-Grammar.de is an excellent resource for learning German with lots of that all-important audio. From the same people in Germany Learn Spanish Online.de is a tutorial for English speakers learning Spanish, but this one is also downloadable. Both resources are free. LearnKoreanLanguage.com is another excellent and free resource for learners of Korean.

Another Review

I'm back from my most recent trip. Nothing exotic, only Florida. I added a review for 101 Languages of the World , a cd-rom by Transparent Language. It's a neat and inexpensive cd-rom with vocabulary, dialogue (with audio) and games for all the most widely spoken languages and a lot of the less commonly spoken ones as well. I've found it to be a very helpful supplemental resource over the years.

Hawaiian

I've long wanted to learn a Native American language. I still have not decided on which one. I have looked for some Native American ancestry with the idea that if I found something, that would be the language I would study. I have not yet found anything. One of the most beautiful languages is Hawaiian, which is finally seeing a revival in Hawaii and on the mainland among those of Hawaiian ancestry. I have added a Learn Hawaiian page and hope to add more Native American languages (as well as add resources to many of the existing language pages).

Graham Fuller Review

I added a review for Graham Fuller's How to Learn a Foreign Language. It's a book I've seen around for a while but never picked up. I'm also reading Ed Trimnell's Why You Need a Foreign Language and I'll have a review for that before too long. On the back burner are Frederick Bodmer's The Loom of Language, and The Tongue-Tied American by Paul Simon. I've added a lot of new resources, so if you haven't checked the Language Resources page in a while, it's been revamped and added to.

Language Lesson Plans Pages

I've put up a few lesson plans pages (but neglected to blog that). Hopefully some people will find it a useful starting point for putting together a plan for themselves. There is a generic lesson plans page and I also put a page with ideas for Pimsleur lesson plans and how to put one together. It's basic and maybe I'll add a lot more specifics later, but I think most people will tweak it for their own needs anyway.

Dutch and a SiteMap

Finally I have added a SiteMap. This should simplify things for some visitors who are looking for a specific reference or article. I will probably add a site search in the not-too-distant future also. There is also now a Dutch page, which reminds me, I have to add that to the SiteMap. It's always something.

French In Action

Finally I have added a review of the awesome French In Action, one of my favorite (free or otherwise) resources for learning French. I'm still amazed as I look around the internet in language sites that I don't see more mentions of Annenberg/CPB's language programs - they're free for Pete's Sake! (as long as you have broadband, that is) Although Destinos (for Spanish learners) is designed very differently, it's just as awesome and just as free. If there were more organizations like Annenberg/CPB, people like us wouldn't have to pay a dime to learn languages. I just wish there were more people producing additional programs so that Annenberg/CPB could provide them for us.

I also added a Korean page.

Sample Lesson Plans Coming

I added a page on the importance of grammar, even for casual language learners.

People consistently ask me how to set up a lesson plan for themselves using some of the supplements I recommend. So, I'm in the process of putting together a page or two on this. It'll have a variety of lesson plans based on different core language methods and how to incorporate flashcards, supplemental audio, other methods etc. I guess it's different for everyone but I suppose it helps to have a starting point or reference. I'll have that up in a few days.

I also added a page on where to buy language learning products, as it seems some people are having trouble finding certain products that they are looking for.

Added Some Resources

I've added some resources to some of the resource pages. I've been checking out some forums lately (mostly Swedish, which is too bad because my Swedish is not good enough to actually participate in any meaninful way yet) and I happened to be emailed from an Italian forum. http://www.impariamo.com - I added a link from the Italian Language Resources page.

I've been a little out of it lately, but I've got a lot of new stuff coming very soon.

The Blog and The Newsletter

I have added a link to this blog to the contact page on the site. Imagine, a link to the blog about the site from the site itself. Crazy. I'm also considering a newsletter in the future, some people have expressed interest in one. I'm not sure myself yet what I would be including in it, besides the obvious - updates, new pages, new reviews etc. Any suggestions would be welcome.

Icelandic and Irish

I added an Icelandic page and a page for Irish just in time for St. Patrick's Day, I suppose. I'm gathering up resources for Korean and still working on the other Celtic languages. I am also finding information on more supplemental materials for all the languages, starting with the biggies.

Esperanto and Incubus

I just received the invitation for this year's Esperanto congress. It's in Vilnius, Lithuania. That sounds like an interesting place. I wish I could go, but I have a trip planned to the exotic and ancient land of Florida. Someone asked me if there was a transcription anywhere of the movie Incubus (filmed all in Esperanto). I looked for it in the past but couldn't find one, so a few weeks ago I started doing it myself. I do a little bit here and there, it'll take a little time but when I have it finished I'll post it on the site. My Esperanto is not great, so there are a few spots I have trouble getting the exact wording. It doesn't help that it is spoken with odd (and even incorrect) accents in a few spots. Maybe I'll post a review of the movie, as it pertains to Esperanto, and then a transcript from there. It's not a priority right now.

I've just finished up the Other Languages page, and pages for Swedish, Danish and Norwegian.

Breton, Provencal and Catalan

Anyone notice that my blog entries have been a little more involved? I'm getting into this 'blogging' thing. I can see why people enjoy this.

I mentioned my interest in Celtic languages in one of my previous posts. I thought about learning Breton before, it's an interesting language (aren't they all?). It's sort of a 'Frenchified' Celtic - it has that French 'R' which I like. I seem to be leaning in a 'Languages of France' direction. The crown jewel of my language study comes when I learn Provencal (someday). I've had a fascination with it since the day I learned of it in French class in high school. And I've looked into the other 'dialects' of Occitan and they just don't interest me as much. Don't know why. For Pete's Sake - if anyone reading this knows of any books on Provencal or even Occitan in general, please let me know. Let me specify - books written in English. I've found a few resources in French, but no books written in English. Catalan, another language spoken in southern France, seems to interest me as well. Here's a good spot for a Tolkien quote -

'I wish life was not so short,' he thought. 'Languages take such a time, and so do all the things one wants to know about.'

Added a Why Learn Languages page. Also a Learning for Travel and Learning for Business page.

Old Habits Die Hard

I recently read a report (there is a summary of it in the January newsletter of Ogmios) on the state of the Hawaiian language in Hawaii. I was shocked at how few people speak Hawaiian. I was also shocked to learn that Hawaiian was not taught in public schools, and until recently not even in private schools (which explains why so few people speak it). I always thought that most native Hawaiians spoke the language. Whenever you see Hawaii on TV or in movies, the people always seem to use the local lingo to describe things, or use colorful phrases for the tourists. I don't believe everything I see on TV but Puerto Rico is a US territory and everyone there speaks Spanish as well as English, so I, and probably everyone else, assumed it was the same in Hawaii. I was wrong.

The 'Old Habits' I'm referring to in the title belong to the US government. Until very recently, it was actually illegal to teach Hawaiian in public schools, except as a foreign language. And even then, it didn't get a whole lot of support. This is a policy left over from the imperialist days of the late 1800's and early 1900's when the US government sought to squash any streaks of nationalism in it's newly acquired territories. I'm not suggesting that the US government necesarily fears this nationalism today, but rather the inertia of it's bloated bureaucracy prevents reversing this and similarly ridiculous and anachronistic laws without an
enormous effort from someone. It usually takes a large and motivated popular movement to create that change. The Hawaiians seem to be doing just that.

What shocks me most is not that governments do this, or have trouble undoing what they have done, but that people let it happen. Within just a few generations, there are now only a few thousand native fluent speakers of the language. Not only was it not taught in schools, but it was abandoned in the home, too. It's not surprising that people would choose to learn a language (in this case English) out of necesity for survival, but it is shocking that people would completely abandon their native tongue for it. The US government made it illegal to teach the language in public schools as a native tongue, but didn't ban its use altogether. The Hawaiians themselves let that happen. We all know that the situation was similar (or worse) among the native Americans on the continent, but do they have the political ability or will to do as the Hawaiians have begun to do? Doubtful. Hundreds of languages of North America have been lost forever, and many more are facing extinction. I don't know yet what I can do to help, other than create
awareness of this ongoing problem.

I've added a second Language Tips page, as one was just getting too unwieldy.

Added some reviews

Here finally are some of the reviews I've been wanting to include. The Barry Farber review and the great Destinos video program that Annenberg/CPB makes available for free online. I'm sort of focused on Spanish right now, so I'll include a review for the awesome French In Action when I'm more comfortable with my ability in Spanish and I begin to focus more on brushing up my French.

I've mentioned many times before how I think language learning materials ought to be free, now that the technology is available to actually do that with a minimal cost via the internet. I have an outline to do a tutorial with audio files for Esperanto. There are other, free materials on the internet (Kurso de Esperanto among others) that are very good and have audio. I think my niche would be to provide more exercises and practice for pronunciation and conversation. I've planned out short modules on particular topics to be downloaded in mp3 format with pdf text and written exercises. Someone suggested I should do this for Spanish and French too, but I'm not comfortable enough with those languages to do any audio myself. At least Esperanto has no native speakers, everyone learns it as a second language, so I'm much more comfortable doing my own audio for it. For those who don't know me that well, I am a musican with lots of recording equipment sitting around - my instrumental guitar music site will be along in a month or two.

I also expanded the Learning Tips page to include pages for Flashcards and Study Time.

Endangered Languages

I've gathered up a lot of resources for the Celtic languages. I'm still sorting through the resources for the Scandinavian tongues. I guess an 'Other Languages' page is coming soon, since I've finished up the basic pages for the most popular ones. The number of commercial products for these languages is woefully inadequate. I recently came across the number of languages on the planet, over 6000. Thousands of those are expected to die out in the next century. If I'm having trouble finding products to learn Irish or Swedish, both languages with millions of speakers, how can we expect to maintain interest in thousands of languages with only a handful of speakers?

There are a few online resources dedicated to documenting and preserving endangered languages. Otherlanguages is a blog dedicated to promoting awareness of endangered languages. Ogmios is an foundation for endangered languages. I recommend to anyone interested in languages to be aware of this problem and do something to contribute. Be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

I've always wanted to learn a Celtic language. I assumed it would be Irish, as I have some Irish ancestry, or Welsh because it fascinates me. But after becoming more aware of this endangered language problem, I've been thinking of Cornish. This language had a Near-Death Experience. It basically died, but due to a serious effort on the part of concerned citizens has seen a bit of a resurrection. There are only a few hundred fluent speakers and only a few thousand with some knowledge of it, but is still growing. Once I saw some Cornish I was kind of hooked. It looks to me as fascinating as Welsh. It will have to wait a little while for me, though. I need to iron out a few other languages before I start adding more.

The Learning Arabic page and Arabic resources page completes the most popular languages. I also added the Hebrew resource page.

More Additions

I just added a Japanese resource page and a Portuguese resource page. I didn't think that Portuguese would be one of the more popular languages, but the Portuguese page has been ranking high in the stats lately. Are a lot of people going to Brazil for Mardi Gras, or something? Is Carnival the Brazilian version of Mardi Gras? Someone clear me up on that please.

I've finally added a Russianpage and a Russian resources page. I've found so many resources for Russian and other languages. Someday I'll have to go back and revamp all of these resource pages and add loads of entries for a lot of the languages. I firmly believe that when you have a number of different approaches to the same basic information, you'll be able to pick the one that most appeals to you, that helps you 'get it' the best. I guess that's all part of Barry Farber's 'multiple attack' approach. Whatever you want to call it, it works.

Also added a German Resource page and the Learn Hebrew page, with a resource page to follow ASAP.

How could I overlook the Chinese?

China - one quarter of the world's population, political and economic juggernaut of the 21st century, and I still managed to avoid doing a Learning Chinese page. How silly of me. No longer. I've put up the page and it's attendant Chinese Language Resources page. Although French, Spanish and Italian are the most popular languages for my visitors, I wonder how long before Chinese really gets rolling. Someone looking far forward would be well advised to start learning Chinese now, rather than wait until it's 'in vogue' a few years from now. I think Hindi could rise in significance in the next few years as well. Maybe it'll take me that long to do a page for that language, too.

I finally finished out the methods pages with a Classes, Schools and Tutors page. Also, I added an Italian Language Resources page.

Methods and Methods

I've finally ironed out most of the language learning methods pages. I've added an Audio-only Methods page, a Software Methods page and a page for Book-Audio Combo methods . Only one more to go. I've also been looking around for some Italian and Chinese resources for those pages.

Lot 'o Stuff

I've been doing a lot of housecleaning on the site. The How to Learn Languages page is being completely revamped. It is spinning off the Language Learning Methods and the Language Learning Tips pages. The methods page has been around for a while, but I'm adding additional pages to that one. I've already finished pages for Books and online methods and the other types are in the works and will be done in the next few days.

I'm afraid the Product Reviews page will have to remain nearly barren for a while, as I continue to add some flesh to this skeleton.

More minor adjustments

For those who have asked, the Esperanto page will not have a separate resources page, at least not for now. The major languages, like Spanish and French, all have lots of resources, but Esperanto doesn't have as many that are as useful. I expect to add to those other resource pages eventually.

I think I'll do pages for less commonly studied languages like I did the Esperanto page. I was looking into Swedish, and the number of really useful resources are relatively few. I think I'll just put them all on one page with the recommendations, it'll be a lot simpler for now.

And, yes, there is supposed to be more to the Pimsleur review. There was a lot of text to that (and I could've gone a lot more, too!) so I'll be finishing that soon.

Long way to go

I've done a bit more cleaning up to the Learning Spanish page, and fixed some of the resource pages - Spanish Resources and French Resources. If I didn't have enough friends and penpals on my case, I've also added the Contact page so that hordes of complete strangers can get on my case now as well! Really, I'm kidding, I do like feedback form everybody.

So, here's the blog

I have had numerous requests to blog my updates to the site and some of my personal experiences with languages in general, so here we are. After a long hiatus from doing anything related to Language Learning Advisor, I am back in full force. I will now and henceforth flesh out the site as best as I can.

I have made some improvements to the Learning French page, cleaning things up a bit. I still want to add some supplements, like verb books and vocabulary builders and what-not. All the language pages need that, but the site is still in some kind of 'skeletal' stage, and so I'll be doing more 'fleshing' until I can get around to that.