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Ninth Edition of Free Language's Foreign Language Learning Newsletter

Sat, 06/07/2008 - 01:25 — polymath

Hot off the press! -->

Welcome to the Ninth Edition of The Free Language Letter.

30 new free resources for 14 languages (4 new!) have been added to the site. There are now 343 resources available for 34 languages.

Quick View of What's Inside

New! English Overview Page
New Languages! Hebrew, Irish, Luxembourgish and Norwegian
New resources for Arabic, English, French, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Irish, Luxembourgish, Mandarin Chinese, Norwegian, Polish, Russian and Spanish
List of new web feeds including news and podcasts
Online Translation Resources and Mozilla Firefox Addons
Featured Resource: The New BBC Languages
Language Factoid

New! English Overview Page

The latest language to get a shiny new overview page is English. An overview page is basically a single spot where all the resources for a given language are brought together for users to quickly navigate.

English is an Indo-European, West Germanic language originating in England, and is the first language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and the Anglophone Caribbean. It is used extensively as a second language and as an official language throughout the world, especially in Commonwealth countries and in many international organizations.

Visit the English Overview Page and continue reading.

New Languages! Hebrew, Irish, Luxembourgish and Norwegian

Since the last newsletter, four new languages have been added to the site: Hebrew, Irish Gaelic, Luxembourgish and Norwegian.

Arabic

Omniglot.com Abjad Consonant Alphabet about Arabic Script with Images, Example Text and Audio

English

Yolango.com Yolango Learn English Watching Web Videos w/Tags, Categories, Scenarios, Play Activites, Transcripts, Tools
Simple English Wikipedia Free and Open Encyclopedia for Learning and Teaching through Topics Written in Basic English
Deutsche Welle Miro Player for Instant Access to DW's Audio and Video Content in German, English and More
Verbbusters.com Verb Busters Free English Irregular Verbs Quizzes/Tests with High Regard for Privacy
JustVocabulary.com Just Vocabulary Podcast with ESL, TOEFL, SAT and GRE English Words Audio for iPod

French

FrenchPod.com FrenchPod Praxis French Lessons Podcast with Free Educational Resources and MP3 Audio
Loquella.com Loquella Listen, Read and Speak French Using a Free Online Language Tool and the FSI Language Method

German

BBC Languages German
Deutsche Welle Miro Player for Instant Access to DW's Audio and Video Content in German, English and More
OneMinuteLanguages.com One Minute Languages German Podcast Introduction to Basic Greetings and Key Travel Phrases

Hebrew

HebrewPocasts.com Learn to Speak Hebrew at your Leisure with Free MP3 Audio Podcast Downloads
LearnHebrewPod.com Learn Hebrew Podcast with Free MP3 Audio Lessons for Conversational, Listening and Written Practice
FSI-Language-Courses.com US Foreign Service Institute Hebrew Free Audio Lessons Downloads

Hindi

Namaste Dosti: The Learn Hindi Podcast for Grammar and Vocabulary for Beginners
FSI-Language-Courses.com US Foreign Service Institute Download Free Hindi Textbook/e-book

Italian

ItalianLingQ.com Italian LingQ Podcast with iTunes MP3 Audio using Linguist Method by Steve Kaufmann

Irish

OneMinuteLanguages.com One Minute Languages Irish Podcast Introduction to Basic Greetings and Key Travel Phrases

Luxembourgish

OneMinuteLanguages.com One Minute Languages Luxembourgish Podcast Introduction to Basic Greetings and Key Travel Phrases

Mandarin Chinese

BBCChinese.com BBC News in Mandarin Chinese
BBC Languages Mandarin Chinese
Loquella.com Loquella Listen, Read and Speak Chinese Using a Free Online Language Tool and the FSI Language Method
ChineseLingQ.com Mandarin Chinese LingQ Podcast with iTunes MP3 Audio using Linguist Method by Steve Kaufmann

Norwegian

OneMinuteLanguages.com One Minute Languages Norwegian Podcast Introduction to Basic Greetings and Key Travel Phrases

Polish

OneMinuteLanguages.com One Minute Languages Polish Podcast Introduction to Basic Greetings and Key Travel Phrases

Russian

OneMinuteLanguages.com One Minute Languages Russian Podcast Introduction to Basic Greetings and Key Travel Phrases

Spanish

Loquella.com Loquella Listen, Read and Speak Spanish Using a Free Online Language Tool and the FSI Language Method

Online Translation

FreeLanguage.com.ua List of Free Online Translators/Translation Websites for Multiple Languages

Mozilla Firefox Web Browser Addons

addons.mozilla.org Experimental and Stable Mozilla Firefox Addons Extensions for Language Support

Commercial Products

earworms MBT Rapid Language line of learn to music audio courses have become a hit!

earwormslearning.com Earworms MBT Rapid Language Learning Products Accelerate Study through Music and Science

Recent News and Podcast Feeds

Below are the most recently added web feeds that Free Language syndicates.

BBC News in Chinese
Hebrew Podcasts' Podcast
LearnHebrewPod Podcast
Namaste Dosti Podcast
One Minute German Podcast
One Minute Irish Podcast
One Minute Luxembourgish Podcast
One Minute Norwegian Podcast
One Minute Polish Podcast
One Minute Russian Podcast

Featured Resource

The BBC has recently updated its BBC Languages resources! The new look and features are a considerable upgrade, making it easier to see all the resources available and get learning the languages you want to learn.

BBC Languages has always been a great place to access self-contained beginner courses in Chinese, German, Greek, French, Italian and Portuguese. There are also tidbits and goodies in other languages.

Recently, the BBC has revamped it's entire website for more flexibility, personalization and ease of use. In the languages section, this means it's easier than ever to find online courses, grammar info, learning games, dictionaries, self-assessment tests, resources for tutors, info about going abroad, photos, tips, stories, audio, video, related links, local class finder, cool/slang words and phrases, etc. It's all there and packed with good content!

Continue reading about the new BBC Languages.

Language Factoid

Approximately 375 million people speak English as their first language. English today is probably the third largest language by number of native speakers, after Mandarin Chinese and Spanish. However, when combining native and non-native speakers it is probably the most commonly spoken language in the world.

Factoid thanks to Wikipedia.

Slán agat!

Chapman
Free Language
http://freelanguage.org

A Spanish Podcast and Bilingual Blog, a Funny Japanese English Podcast, Hindi Podcasts, Social Language Learning and More

Tue, 11/27/2007 - 19:40 — polymath

More of the latest from Free Language:

I took a break from updating Free Language for a while to rest my eyes and pursue other, well, pursuits.

So here are the latest posts from the site, which I have attacked with new vigor of late. Enjoy!

Rosetta Stone Learn Italian Language Software Level 1 (Commercial)
Learn about the Italian Language at Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
Rosetta Stone Learn Brazilian Portuguese Language Software Level 1 (Commercial)
Learn about the Portuguese Language on Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
Rosetta Stone Learn US English Language Software Level 2 (Commercial)
eslgo.com English as a Second Language Learning and Teaching Resources
Langmaker.com Language Maker Website on Auxiliary and Constructed Languages
ISpeakHindi.com I Speak Hindi Website, Podcasts, Dictionary and Resources
MangoLanguages.com Mango Languages Free Online Language Courses, Audio, Web Software
BYKI.com Download Free Language Software for Learning 42 Languages!
Spanish-Podcast.com Voices en Español Conversational Spanish Podcast
Spanish-Podcast.com Voices en Español Bilingual Blog
JaplishPodcast.com Japlish Podcast of Funny Phrases in English and Japanese Languages
DigitalDialects.com Russian Language-Learning Games and Activities
DigitalDialects.com French Language-Learning Games and Activities
Word2Word.com Website

Free Language Adds Persian/Farsi Language Learning Resource Section

Mon, 08/13/2007 - 01:55 — polymath

Free Language now has a section for learning the Persian language!

This makes a total of 16 languages on the site. Currently, these are:

Afrikaans
Arabic
Bahasa
Cantonese
Chinese
English
Farsi
French
German
Hindi
Indonesian
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Mandarin
Persian
Portuguese
Russian
Spanish

The Big List from Free Language

Wed, 08/01/2007 - 21:07 — polymath

This is a big list of the front page articles on Free Language. This does not include blog entries.

Learn

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

BBC Better at Languages

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)

Freestyle Language Learning?

Sat, 07/28/2007 - 11:33 — polymath

I have launched a new site called Freestyle Language. There is not too much content there as yet, but here is the idea:

I am a linguist and a lover of languages. My native language is English. I speak fluent French, Portuguese and Spanish. I am fairly proficient with Italian and can eek by in German and Mandarin Chinese.

On this blog, I share my experiences learning languages both on the web and off. On the web, I generally use Free Language to find solid resources. Off the web, I spend any free time working on improving some language or another.

Currently, I am interested in starting studies in Arabic and Russian, as well as continuing to improve my Mandarin Chinese, German and Italian skills. I will blog about all of these languages here - and more.

I will also start a podcast (yes, another one) for people interested in learning the English language. I will offer transcriptions of what I say - nothing fancy.

All original content on this website is protected, empowered and freely-distributable thanks to the GNU Free Documentation License (GNU FDL). You may recognize this license from Wikipedia.

Freestyle Language also has a blog at Free Language.

I am always transparent about the fact that I have multiple blogs on my own sites! I am, after all, Opal Myth, Freestyle Language and, yes, even polyglot. There are several motivations for doing this kind of potentially confusing role-playing:

1) I am an aspiring polymath, and can't seem to quell my interest in a wide variety of subjects, mainly languages, music production and travel.

2) With Free Language, I am working to build the feel of a presence of a community, if you know what I mean. Thus, I blog under several names to give the feeling that there are numerous people blogging on the site. I am obviously not trying to hide this fact. There actually are a few other people blogging on Free Language: deXta, adoyles and soon shpigunov.

3) Each pseudonym that I use for blogging at Free Language has a different purpose. As polyglot I am the site site super administrator. As Opal Myth I write about interesting things I come across on the web. As Freestyle Language I write about my experiences learning new languages and maintaining proficiency with the languages I already speak.

I also use several sites to inform people about the latest happenings with my various online projects:

Small World Servers
woodriff.org
Mandarin Chinese Info
Conscious Manifestations

And, of course, this site right here. And there are others, which you can easily track down with a little research.

So there it is... wide open.

Don't forget to check out Freestyle Language, which runs Drupal and will also have a podcast for English learners.

GrenadaPod.com Podcast about Grenada and Carriacou, West Indies, Eastern Caribbean

Fri, 07/13/2007 - 15:18 — polymath

The Grenada Podcast or GrenadaPod is almost finished!

This site will host a podcast about life and happenings in Grenada and Carriacou, West Indies, Eastern Caribbean.

French, Indonesian, Spanish, German, Arabic, Hindi, Russian, Afrikaans and More Resources added to Free Language

Thu, 06/07/2007 - 18:01 — polymath

It's been a while since I have announced the latest resources to the blog subscribers. Here they are:

Beeld South African News in Afrikaans
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
World Nomads iPod Spanish Language Podcasts
World Nomads iPod Japanese Language Podcasts
World Nomads iPod Italian Language Podcasts
World Nomads iPod Mandarin Chinese Language Podcasts
World Nomads iPod Hindi Language Podcasts
World Nomads iPod French Language Podcasts
Learn Arabic Free at Speak7
italki.com Free Skype VoIP and IM Language Partner Community
Study and Learn Afrikaans Easy at EasyAfrikaans.com
Improve Your French with the Lille Podcast from France
Improve Spanish with Español Podcast or Spanish Podcast
Taste of Russian Podcast with Free MP3 Audio and PDF Transcripts

We also published a newsletter for May 2007:

Read the May 2007 Free Language Letter.

Going with the Zoom H4 Mobile Recording Device

Sat, 04/14/2007 - 20:54 — polymath

I have decided (after looking at the devices I posted about a few days ago) to go with the Zoom H4 for my mobile recording needs.

Some of the reasons I chose this one over the others are:

functions as a USB mic as well
great recording time
uses SD card, which I already use for my camera
also works as a 4-track recorder in the field
more features at a comparable price to other similar devices

You can get this incredible device at these two online stores:

Learn French Beginner Podcast and Wikibook and Learn Italian Links

Sat, 04/07/2007 - 08:18 — polymath

The latest updates to Free Language nclude:

Learn French Wikibook
French École French for Beginners Podcast

And if what you are interested in is the Italian language, try out these podcasts for learning the Italian language.

German Wikibook, Arabic and Spanish Learning Podcasts on Free Language

Sat, 03/24/2007 - 22:23 — polymath

Latest updates to Free Language include resources for German, Arabic and Spanish language learners:

Learn German Wikibook
University of Chicago Arabic Circle Lectures Podcast
InstaSpanish.com's Insta Spanish Podcast

Two New Lectures at Heart of the Initiate

Sun, 03/18/2007 - 20:30 — polymath

We just put up two new lectures on the Heart of the Initiate website given live last week at the Brazil Ayahuasca Workshops!

The first lecture by Shaman Warinei Wanare is from March 14th, 2007, and is called The Four Sicknesses of Humanity.

The second lecture by Ralph Miller is from March 16th, 2007, and is called Plant-Human Intervention.

Please have a look at these two new lectures fresh and live from our Brazil Ayahuasca Workshops.

Mechanical Meditation by Opal Myth

Thu, 02/15/2007 - 04:56 — polymath

5:24 minutes (8.53 MB)

This piece was originally a recoding of my step-mother and I ohming together. From there I took it into some software and started tweaking out the sounds and putting together what I consider to be a sort of mechanical walking meditation.

I added some choir to back us up and actually created some instruments out of the recording that we made by taking samples and slicing them with different effects.

The result is, well, something like a mechanical meditation.

When I think of all the years I have practiced meditation, it always amazes me that there is what amounts to a sort of "back door" into those realms. This back door is a healthy one, too, and one which can be carried with you even after the door has closed. This "back door" is Ayahuasca.

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Centric Sea by Opal Myth

Thu, 02/15/2007 - 04:31 — polymath

2:17 minutes (3.37 MB)

This piece was done while waiting for a flight in Puerto Rico. It is the most straight-forward house tune that I have done thus far. That is not to say it isn't ambient. It is. But it has a nice four-on-the-floor bounce.

I find it a fun track to groove out to, and sometimes that is just what people need.

I used Reason 3 for this one.

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Out of the Sphere by Opal Myth

Tue, 02/13/2007 - 08:45 — polymath

4:20 minutes (5.96 MB)

This track was done with a friend in California. It has a lot of floaty synths, which I just can't seem to get enough of. It is very meditatively electronic.

This song, though I had not yet had ayahuasca when I created it, causes me to reconnect with some of the feelings I have had while working with the plant.

The title, which was given in retrospect, refers to the ability of the ayahuasca plant to literally take people out of the sphere of influence of their everyday lives and envision much more than a simple daily existence on Earth.

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EcoCheckOut.com

Quick View of What's Inside

New! English Overview Page

New Languages! Hebrew, Irish, Luxembourgish and Norwegian

Arabic

English

French

German

Hebrew

Hindi

Italian

Irish

Luxembourgish

Mandarin Chinese

Norwegian

Polish

Russian

Spanish

Online Translation

Mozilla Firefox Web Browser Addons

Commercial Products

Recent News and Podcast Feeds

Featured Resource

Language Factoid

Slán agat!

Learn

Afrikaans

Arabic

Cantonese

English

French

German

Hindi

Indonesian

Italian

Japanese

Korean

Mandarin Chinese

Persian

Portuguese

Russian

Spanish

Multi-Lingual

Teach

English

Language-Learning Specific

Commercial Resources

Arabic

English

Japanese

Mandarin Chinese

Spanish

Opal Myth Music

unrev.org

Friends

Raw Gems and Healing Crystals