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Welcome to the Seventh Edition of The Free Language Letter. Lots has happened since the Sixth Edition.
45 new free resources for 19 languages have been added to the site. See below for language-learning videos, multilingual podcasting, free software downloads, tools, browser extensions, OpenCourseWare, online communities and more.
New! Social Language-Learning Resource Section
Social language learning has become incredibly popular on the web as it has transcended language barriers in previously impossible ways.
For example, right now someone in Russia could be waiting to teach you Russian in exchange for your English skills. Or maybe your native language is Spanish and you want to learn Mandarin Chinese - there's someone out there for that as well! In fact, chances are there are hundreds or even thousands of potential language partners with whom you can achieve your collective language learning goals in a symbiotic fashion...
Visit the Social Foreign Language Learning Resource Section.
Below you will find the most recent additions to the social learning section.
LiveMocha.com Live Mocha Social Language Learning Course and Networking Website
MyHappyPlanet.com My Happy Planet Private Social Language-Learning Community
italki.com Free Skype VoIP and IM Language Partner Community
Dickinson College's Language-Exchanges.org Mixxer Free Skype Language Exchange Community
Lingopass.com Free Global Language Exchange Community
VoxSwap.com VoxSwap Online Instant Message and Voice Social Foreign Language Exchange with Forums and Groups
Spanish Leads the Way
As a new phase of information architecture unfolds at Free Language, Spanish is the first language to have an overview homepage. This is where you'll find a taste of the different Spanish language learning resources on the site in a nutshell.
Visit the Spanish homepage on Free Language.
The other 15 languages currently available on the site will follow shortly.
New Free Resources
Afrikaans
DigitalDialects.com Afrikaans Language-Learning Games and Activities
Arabic
Arabic Language Course for Arabic Learners Familiar with Arabic Script
DigitalDialects.com Arabic Language-Learning Games and Activities
FSI-Language-Courses.com US Foreign Service Institute Arabic Free Audio Lessons Downloads
SurvivalPhrases.com Survival Phrases in Chinese, Korean, Japanese, French, Swedish, Arabic, Spanish and Vietnamese
Cantonese
FSI-Language-Courses.com US Foreign Service Institute Cantonese Free Audio Lessons Downloads
English
English Language Learning and Teaching Article on Wikipedia
LanguageGuide.org English Language Guide with Images and Audio Recordings for Learners
lingro.com lingro Free and Open Multilingual Dictionary, Online Translation, Vocabulary Lists and Games
French
DigitalDialects.com French Language-Learning Games and Activities
BitesizedLanguages.com Bitesized Languages Improve Your French, Spanish or Portuguese Skills with Daily Emails
SurvivalPhrases.com Survival Phrases in Chinese, Korean, Japanese, French, Swedish, Arabic, Spanish and Vietnamese
lingro.com lingro Free and Open Multilingual Dictionary, Online Translation, Vocabulary Lists and Games
German
OneMinuteLanguages.com One Minute Language Lessons for Polish, Irish, German and Russian
lingro.com lingro Free and Open Multilingual Dictionary, Online Translation, Vocabulary Lists and Games
Hindi
ISpeakHindi.com I Speak Hindi Website, Podcasts, Dictionary and Resources
Indonesian
LearningIndonesian.com Podcast is a Fun and Easy Way to Learn Indonesian Online
Irish
OneMinuteLanguages.com One Minute Language Lessons for Polish, Irish, German and Russian
Italian
Japanese
JaplishPodcast.com Japlish Podcast of Funny Phrases in English and Japanese Languages
SurvivalPhrases.com Survival Phrases in Chinese, Korean, Japanese, French, Swedish, Arabic, Spanish and Vietnamese
Korean
Mandarin Chinese
A Torrent File for 500 Free Mandarin Chinese Audio Podcast Lessons from ChinesePod.com
nciku.com nciku Free Online Mandarin Chinese Handwriting Recognition, Conversations, Radical Dictionary
A Pinyin.info Article on Most Difficult and Challenging Aspects of Learning Mandarin Chinese
Learn Mandarin Chinese Videos on YouTube AskBenny Channel
Learn Chinese on YouTube with Mandarin Videos from ActiveChinese
FSI-Language-Courses.com US Foreign Service Institute Mandarin Chinese Free Audio Lessons Downloads
SurvivalPhrases.com Survival Phrases in Chinese, Korean, Japanese, French, Swedish, Arabic, Spanish and Vietnamese
BitesizedLanguages.com Bitesized Languages Improve Your French, Spanish or Portuguese Skills with Daily Emails
Polish
OneMinuteLanguages.com One Minute Language Lessons for Polish, Irish, German and Russian
lingro.com lingro Free and Open Multilingual Dictionary, Online Translation, Vocabulary Lists and Games
Portuguese
Russian
DigitalDialects.com Russian Language-Learning Games and Activities
OneMinuteLanguages.com One Minute Language Lessons for Polish, Irish, German and Russian
Spanish
BitesizedLanguages.com Bitesized Languages Improve Your French, Spanish or Portuguese Skills with Daily Emails
Spanish-Podcast.com Voices en Español Conversational Spanish Podcast
Spanish-Podcast.com Voices en Español Bilingual Blog
SurvivalPhrases.com Survival Phrases in Chinese, Korean, Japanese, French, Swedish, Arabic, Spanish and Vietnamese
Swedish
Vietnamese
Teach English
Our Teach English Section is growing with two new resources added recently.
English Language Learning and Teaching Article on Wikipedia
LanguageGuide.org English Language Guide with Images and Audio Recordings for Learners
Cool Free Tools and Multilingual Resources
We added some cool tools and multilingual resource links, including Firefox browser extensions for improving your productivity in foreign languages online!
Quick Translation Firefox Extension to Translate Single Words in 17+ Languages
Foreign Language Translation Extensions/Tools/Plugins/Add-Ons for the Firefox Web Browser
Langmaker.com Language Maker Website on Auxiliary and Constructed Languages
Word2Word.com Website
The Alternative Dictionary: Slang, Profanities, Insults and Vulgarisms from all the World
Instructional Foreign Language Videos
ExpertVillage.com Instructional Videos on Learning Foreign Languages
YouTube Video Language Lessons at LanguageTube.org
Multilingual Podcasting Resources
SurvivalPhrases.com Survival Phrases in Chinese, Korean, Japanese, French, Swedish, Arabic, Spanish and Vietnamese
OneMinuteLanguages.com One Minute Language Lessons for Polish, Irish, German and Russian
Language News
United Nations Declares 2008 the International Year of Languages
To see the news in many different languages, check out our syndicated multilingual news section.
OpenCourseWare, Open University and Distance Language Learning
Download Free Open University Courses from MIT OpenCourseWare Foreign Languages and Literatures Department
About.com Distance Learning Free Online Language Courses
open.ac.uk OpenLearn LearningSpace Open University with Free Courses in Modern Languages
Free Language Education Software
BYKI.com Download Free Language Software for Learning 42 Languages!
Featured Resource
Mango Languages is fantastic! Truly one of the top language-learning resources available online. Indeed, it may well be the most user-friendly, feature-rich, well-organized and free resource for learning languages online.
Mango Languages offers an amazing amount of totally free lessons and courses for learning a growing number of languages. At the time this article is going to press, these include Brazilian Portuguese, English for Polish speakers, English for Spanish speakers, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Pig Latin!, Russian and Spanish.
Current Research
I am researching and drafting articles regarding foreign language study in Second Life. This metaverse approach to teaching and learning has amazing potential. Subscribe to Free Language's RSS feed to be sure you get new articles as they're hot off the press.
Language Factoid
Russian (русский) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia and the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages.
Factoid thanks to Wikipedia.
Пока!
Chapman
Free Language
http://freelanguage.org
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It's been a very long time since polyglot from Free Language has actually published a list of the latest updates to the site. At last, this happened last night. So here goes with a healthy chunk of language-learning goodness...
Foreign Language Translation Extensions/Tools/Plugins/Add-Ons for the Firefox Web Browser
OneMinuteLanguages.com One Minute Language Lessons for Polish, Irish, German and Russian
SurvivalPhrases.com Survival Phrases in Chinese, Korean, Japanese, French, Swedish, Arabic, Spanish and Vietnamese
FSI-Language-Courses.com US Foreign Service Institute Mandarin Chinese Free Audio Lessons Downloads
FSI-Language-Courses.com US Foreign Service Institute Cantonese Free Audio Lessons Downloads
ExpertVillage.com Instructional Videos on Learning Foreign Languages
The Alternative Dictionary: Slang, Profanities, Insults and Vulgarisms from all the World
Learn Chinese on YouTube with Mandarin Videos from ActiveChinese
Learn Mandarin Chinese Videos on YouTube AskBenny Channel
A Pinyin.info Article on Most Difficult and Challenging Aspects of Learning Mandarin Chinese
FSI-Language-Courses.com US Foreign Service Institute Arabic Free Audio Lessons Downloads
Dickinson College's Language-Exchanges.org Mixxer Free Skype Language Exchange Community
Quick Translation Firefox Extension to Translate Single Words in 17+ Languages
United Nations Declares 2008 the International Year of Languages
nciku.com nciku Free Online Mandarin Chinese Handwriting Recognition, Conversations, Radical Dictionary
LearningIndonesian.com Podcast is a Fun and Easy Way to Learn Indonesian Online
open.ac.uk OpenLearn LearningSpace Open University with Free Courses in Modern Languages
italki.com Free Skype VoIP and IM Language Partner Community
Download Free Open University Courses from MIT OpenCourseWare Foreign Languages and Literatures Department
About.com Distance Learning Free Online Language Courses
MyHappyPlanet.com My Happy Planet Private Social Language-Learning Community
List of Free Foreign Language Courses Online at Education-Portal.com
DigitalDialects.com Arabic Language-Learning Games and Activities
DigitalDialects.com Afrikaans Language-Learning Games and Activities
English Language Learning and Teaching Article on Wikipedia
A Torrent File for 500 Free Mandarin Chinese Audio Podcast Lessons from ChinesePod.com
JaplishPodcast.com Japlish Podcast of Funny Phrases in English and Japanese Languages
Spanish-Podcast.com Voices en Español Bilingual Blog
Spanish-Podcast.com Voices en Español Conversational Spanish Podcast
BYKI.com Download Free Language Software for Learning 42 Languages!
MangoLanguages.com Mango Languages Free Online Language Courses, Audio, Web Software
ISpeakHindi.com I Speak Hindi Website, Podcasts, Dictionary and Resources
Langmaker.com Language Maker Website on Auxiliary and Constructed Languages
Word2Word.com Website
Arabic Language Course for Arabic Learners Familiar with Arabic Script
BitesizedLanguages.com Bitesized Languages Improve Your French, Spanish or Portuguese Skills with Daily Emails
LiveMocha.com Live Mocha Social Language Learning Course and Networking Website
Lingopass.com Free Global Language Exchange Community
DigitalDialects.com French Language-Learning Games and Activities
DigitalDialects.com Russian Language-Learning Games and Activities
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This is a big list of the front page articles on Free Language. This does not include blog entries.
Learn
Afrikaans
Learn Afrikaans Wikibook in English
LearnAfrikaans.us Learn Afrikaans Free Online Language Courses
Beeld South African News in Afrikaans
Study and Learn Afrikaans Easy at EasyAfrikaans.com
Arabic
Learning Arabic Language from Didactiques Langues Publications
The Arabic PodClass
LLHQ Arabic Class Podcast
UK India Learn to Read Arabic Lessons
BBC News in Arabic
Learn Arabic Language Wikibook
University of Chicago Arabic Circle Lectures Podcast
Madinah Arabic Beginner Language and Reading Courses
Free Learn Gulf Arabic Language Resources
Learn Arabic Free at Speak7
Download Free FSI Arabic Language Courses
Syrian Arabic Free Illustrated Textbook with Audio Download
Cantonese
CantonesePod Podcast
Cantonese.ca Website
Sheik.co.uk Cantonese Resources
Radio Free Asia in Cantonese
English
The Linguist on Language Podcast
BBC Learning English Website
BBC Learning English Blog
BBC World News in English
ESLPod.com English as a Second Language Podcast
languagecaster.com Learn English through Soccer/Football Podcast
Breaking News English EFL/ESL Learning Podcast
Exam English Free Practice Tests
The Bob and Rob Show English Lessons Podcast
English Feed English Listening Practice Podcast
Business English Pod Podcast
ESL Business News Podcast
Podictionary English Dictionary Podcast
English1010.com Free Audio and Written English Lessons Online
Listen to English-Learn English Podcast
Internet TESL Journal for Teachers of English as a Second Language
Effortless English Podcast Gives Automatic English for the People
EnglishClub.com Free ESL Learn and Teach English Lessons, Games, Forums, Quizzes, Chat
TheEnglishLanguage.org Directory of Websites about the English Language
BetteratEnglish.com Better at English ESL/EFL Podcast for Real People
French
FrenchPod Podclass
French Learning Center
BBC Afrique News in French
DailyFrenchPod Beginner Lessons Podcast
DailyFrenchPod Intermediate Lessons Podcast
DailyFrenchPod Advanced Lessons Podcast
DailyFrenchPod Video Podcast
Learn French by Podcast
Easy French Poetry Podcast
BBC Languages French
Learn French Wikibook
The French École French for Beginners Podcast
RFI News in Slowly-Spoken French Podcast
World Nomads iPod French Language Podcasts
Improve Your French with the Lille Podcast from France
Download Free FSI French Language Courses
German
Deutsche Welle Slowly Spoken News in German Podcast
My German Class Video Podcast
Deutsche Welle Sprachbar Podcast
Deutsche Welle Top Thema mit Vokabeln Podcast
Deutsche Welle Stichwort Podcast
Deutsche Welle Alltagsdeutsch Podcast
Rocket German Beginner Language Course
Deutsch-Lernen.com Website
Deutsche Welle News in German
Learn German Wikibook
MyDailyPhrase.com German Podcast
Learn to Speak German with this Free Podcast
Hindi
Learn Hindi from Bollywood Movies Podcast
Free Hindi Lessons from Syracuse University
Virtual Hindi from NYU
Hindi Script Tutor
A Door into Hindi
HindiLanguage.org Website
World Nomads iPod Hindi Language Podcasts
Indonesian
Beginning Indonesian Learn Bahasa Indonesia Course
Learn Basic Bahasa Indonesia Phrases at Expat.or.id
SEASite Indonesia Resources for Learning Bahasa
World Nomads iPod Lingo Indonesian Language Podcast
Italian
LearnItalianPod Podcast
BBC Languages Italian
Corriere della Sera Italy News in Italian
Centro Studi Italiani Online Classroom
MyDailyPhrase.com Italian Podcast
World Nomads iPod Italian Language Podcasts
Let's Speak Italian Podcast: Learn in Minutes a Day
Japanese
JapanesePod101 Podcast
Japanese-Online.com
Machigai Podcast
Learn Japanese Podcast at LibSyn
Learn Japanese at Japancast.net Podcast
Underground Global Japanese Tutorial
World Nomads iPod Japanese Language Podcasts
KanjiQuizzer.com Free Sura Sura Kanji Quiz Web Software Interface
Kanji-a-Day.com Learn Japanese Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana Daily Study Aid Website
Korean
Study and Learn About the Korean Alphabet or Writing System at Omniglot.com
Learn Korean Alphabet, Basic Conversation and Key Vocabulary
KBS World Radio Let's Learn Practical Korean Web Tutorial with Audio
LetsLearnKorean.com Let's Learn Korean Group Blog Website
KoreanPod Learn Korean Podcast on Podomatic
Mandarin Chinese
ChinesePod Podcast
Zhongwen.com Chinese Characters and Culture
Sinosplice
Chinese Lessons with Serge Melnyk Podcast
Serge Melnyks Learn Mandarin Chinese Weblog
Chinese Learn Online Podcast
PublicChinesePod Podcast
Xinhuanet News in Chinese
Deutsche Welle News in Chinese
MandarinTools.com Online Chinese Learning Tools
ChineseTools.com Website
Mobile Chinese Flashcards Cell Phone Software
Adsotrans Dynamic Chinese Annotation Website and Software Project
World Nomads iPod Mandarin Chinese Language Podcasts
Download Free FSI Mandarin Chinese Language Courses
Learn Chinese Through Music: Mandarin Language Study through Pop Music
learningmandarinpod Learning Mandarin Chinese Podcast and Video Podcasts
CSLPod.com Chinese as a Second Language Podcast
Persian
Persian Grammar Book for Farsi Study on Google Books
Farsi/Persian Language Lessons, Reading and Dialogues for Study Materials
Free Learn Persian Flashcards in Sets from Flashcard Exchange
Free and Easy Persian/Farsi Lessons from EasyPersian.com
The Iran Podcast
BBCPersian.com BBC Persian News in Farsi
Portuguese
Brazilian Portuguese Podcast
Portuguese Online Website
Sonia-Portuguese.com Website
BBC Brasil News in Portuguese
BBC Languages Portuguese
Tá Falado Free Brazilian Portuguese Podcast for Spanish Speakers
Learn Portuguese Wikibook for Beginner and Intermediate Learners/Students
Easy Portuguese Website for Beginner and Intermediate Brazilian Portuguese Learners
Russian
A Spoonful of Russian Podcast
Master Russian Website
BBC News in Russian
Russian Language .Net Free Online Lessons
Listen 2 Russian Website
Taste of Russian Podcast with Free MP3 Audio and PDF Transcripts
langintro.com An Introduction to Russian for the Casual Learner
Learn Russian Wikibook for English Speakers Learning the Russian Language
Spanish
StudySpanish.com Website
Coffee Break Spanish Podcast
BBC Mundo News in Spanish
Learn Spanish Survival Guide Podcast
BBC Languages Spanish
Business Spanish Website
Chile Podcast and Video Podcast
InstaSpanish.com's Insta Spanish Podcast
Notes in Spanish Intermediate Podcast
Notes in Spanish Advanced Podcast
Rolling Rs Learn Spanish Podcast
World Nomads iPod Spanish Language Podcasts
Improve Spanish with Español Podcast or Spanish Podcast
Rojas Spanish Language Podcast for Intermediate and Advanced Learners
Download Free FSI Spanish Language Courses
SpanishRomance.com: A Variety of Spanish Language Content
Multi-Lingual
italki.com Free Skype VoIP and IM Language Partner Community
NetTVDB Free Database of Internet/Web TV Stations in Multiple Languages and Countries
PhraseBase.com Multi-Lingual Conversational Phrase Database Resource
expatriates.com Free International Multi-Lingual Language Exchange Partner Classifieds
FoxLingo Free Firefox Browser Extension Software for Translating Web Pages
Global Internet TV Gateway Portal with Web TV in World Languages
Online Flashcard Exchange Community
Teach
English
TEFL.net Free Resources for English Teachers/Educators with TEFL, ESL, TESOL Help
EnglishClub.com Free ESL Learn and Teach English Lessons, Games, Forums, Quizzes, Chat
TeachingEnglish.org.uk BBC British Council Teaching English Resources
Language-Learning Specific
Commercial Resources
Arabic
Rosetta Stone Learn Arabic Language Software Level 1 (Commercial)
English
Rosetta Stone Learn US American English Language Software Level 1 (Commercial)
Japanese
Rosetta Stone Learn Japanese Software Level 1 (Commercial)
Mandarin Chinese
Rosetta Stone Learn Mandarin Chinese Language Software Level 1 (Commercial)
Spanish
Rosetta Stone Learn Latin American Spanish Language Software Level 1 (Commercial)
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Here are the latest articles that have been promoted to the front page:
CSLPod.com Chinese as a Second Language Podcast
TeachingEnglish.org.uk BBC British Council Teaching English Resources
Apprendre le chinois chez chine-nouvelle.com
Aprender chino a chino-china.com
FoxLingo Free Firefox Browser Extension Software for Translating Web Pages
Chinesisch-Lernen.org Chinesisch Lernen und China Entdecken
Language Learning Advisor Website for Help Learning Foreign Languages
Kanji-a-Day.com Learn Japanese Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana Daily Study Aid Website
InfoCina.net Web site per imparare la lingua cinese
A-China.info: um Web site com informação e recursos para aprender a língua chinesa
Język-Chinski.com: Nauka języka chińskiego poznaj Chiny
Latinum - The Latin Language Learning Podcast from London
TheEnglishLanguage.org Directory of Websites about the English Language
Esperanto.info Website about the Constructed Language Esperanto
KoreanPod Learn Korean Podcast on Podomatic
LetsLearnKorean.com Let's Learn Korean Group Blog Website
KanjiQuizzer.com Free Sura Sura Kanji Quiz Web Software Interface
Valley Trail Free Online Dutch Courses and Lessons for Beginner and Advanced Students
EnglishClub.com Free ESL Learn and Teach English Lessons, Games, Forums, Quizzes, Chat
TEFL.net Free Resources for English Teachers/Educators with TEFL, ESL, TESOL Help
Recently, certain blog posts are being promoted to the front page. Find out why.
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Here is a list of the podcasts available on Free Language:
Learn Arabic Podcasts
Learn Cantonese Podcasts
Learn English Podcasts
Learn French Podcasts
Learn German Podcasts
Learn Hindi Podcasts
Learn Italian Podcasts
Learn Japanese Podcasts
Learn Mandarin Chinese Podcasts
Learn Portuguese Podcasts
Learn Russian Podcasts
Learn Spanish Podcasts
Here is a list of the video podcasts, though not all languages have them yet:
Learn Arabic Video Podcasts
Learn Cantonese Video Podcasts
Learn English Video Podcasts
Learn French Video Podcasts
Learn German Video Podcasts
Learn Hindi Video Podcasts
Learn Italian Video Podcasts
Learn Japanese Video Podcasts
Learn Mandarin Chinese Video Podcasts
Learn Portuguese Video Podcasts
Learn Russian Video Podcasts
Learn Spanish Videos Podcasts
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Every now and then something exciting enough happens to announce it here on the company site. Free Language Version 2 was just released last night. It is built using Drupal 4.7.
Here is some key information:
There are 12 languages thus far at Free Language
- Learn Arabic
- Learn Cantonese
- Learn English
- Learn French
- Learn German
- Learn Hindi
- Learn Italian
- Learn Japanese
- Learn Mandarin Chinese
- Learn Portuguese
- Learn Russian
- Learn Spanish
For all the Drupalers out there, Free Language v2 is running Drupal 4.7 and following contributed modules were used to beef it out:
- aggregator2
- captcha
- emailpage
- google analytics
- insert_block
- pathauto (to the max)
- poormanscron
- simplenews
- sitemenu
- tagadelic
I tried to keep contrib mods to a minimum while still maximizing the site's functionality.
I am going to upgrade to Drupal 5 as soon as I can get some funds together to commission the upgrade of aggregator2 to Drupal 5. Or perhaps someone will decide to just do it!
Here is a screenshot of the Mandarin Chinese Tags Page:
I have been steadily adding news feeds to Free Language today. A total of 10 feeds have already been added:
Radio Free Asia News in Cantonese
BBC World News in English
BBC Afrique News in French
Deutsche Welle News in German
Corriere della Sera Italy News in Italian
Deutsche Welle News in Chinese
Xinhuanet News in Chinese
BBC Brasil News in Portuguese
BBC News in Russian
BBC Mundo News in SpanishThe idea is that people will be exposed to the idea that they can read news to help learn a language once at a given level of comprehension.
