Polyglot Products

Avoid Common Errors in Spanish

2010-02-16T09:37:00.000-08:00

Learn Chinese Pinyin in 6 minutes

2010-02-11T16:28:00.000-08:00

This is great video for learning the Chinese Pinyin writing system.
Skip to time index 0:25.
Pinyin Video

Basque Links

2010-02-09T09:32:00.001-08:00

This site is full of links for learning Basque:
Buber's Basque Page

Great On-Line German Course

2009-12-31T10:55:00.000-08:00

This on-line course Deutsch – warum nicht?, divided into four parts, tells the story of the journalism student Andreas and his invisible ex. Join the two of them on an adventure and learn German along the way! Each of the four series contains 26 lessons with dialogues, exercises and audios to download. The course covers levels A1 to B1 of the European Framework of Reference for Languages and is geared toward beginners and advanced learners. Deutsch – warum nicht? was produced by Deutsche Welle and the Goethe Institute:

Deutsch - Warum Nicht?

Learning Turkish

2009-12-31T10:52:00.000-08:00

Here is a link to a great on-line Turkish language learning site:

Turkish Language Tutor

Great Book about Russian Culture and Idioms

2009-12-27T07:40:00.001-08:00

Survival Russian: I am mentioning this book here because the cover and title are deceptive in that you would think that this is just an ordinary run-on-the-mill simple grammar or phrase book, but it is much more. If you are learning Russian, click on the link below and search inside the book and I am sure you will see what I mean. The author uses the expressions inside stories and narratives. Examples of some of the chapter titles are: "You Look Like a Cucumber and other Compliments", "Fishing with Dried Pasta" and "Why Going Dutch is not Russian".

Again, don't let the title and cover fool you - please click on look inside this book and look at the first few pages and I am sure you will see what a great asset this book is. Published in 2007, there is supposed to be a follow-up book soon and I cannot wait.

If you are planning a trip to Moscow or just want to know more about the city, Culture Shock: Moscow is also a great book.

Encyclopedia about the Spanish Language

2009-12-23T13:50:00.000-08:00

This 1200-page encyclopedia is written entirely in Spanish and discusses ever aspect of the past, present and future of the Spanish language.

Navajo On-Line Resources

2009-12-02T08:13:00.000-08:00

Navajo On-Line Linguistic Resources

Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes!

2009-11-02T05:57:00.000-08:00

Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes: Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle

This book recounts the author's 30 years of dedication to the Pirahã and their native tongue, "a mystifying system of sound and rules unrelated to any other language in the world. In this fascinating and candid account of life with the Pirahã, Everett describes how he learned to speak fluent Pirahã. He also explains his discoveries about the language—findings that have kicked off more than one academic brouhaha. Everett learned that Pirahã does not use what are supposed to be universal aspects of grammar." - "The language is claimed to have no relative clauses or grammatical recursion. Its seven and eight consonant phonemes (feminine and masculine, respectively) and three vowel phonemes are the fewest known of any language. There is a disputed theory that the language has no color terminology. There are no root words for color. The language does not have words for precise numbers."

Here is a wikipedia article about the the Pirahã:
Wikipedia article

Spanish Accents

2009-09-28T13:19:00.000-07:00

Spanish learners can listen to passages covering a variety of topics. These passages are representative of the various Spanish regional accents: Argentinean, Chilean, Cuban, Ecuadorian, Guatemalan, Honduran, Mexican, Peruvian, Puerto Rican, Spanish, and Venezuelan.

Spanish Accents

Arabic Accents

2009-09-28T13:17:00.000-07:00

This site provides audio passages that are representative of the various Arabic regional accents: Egyptian, Iraqi, Jordanian, Lebanese, Libyan, Palestinian, Saudi Arabian, Sudanese, Syrian, and Tunisian. These passages will help you practice understanding non-standard Arabic. You can select the passage by level, or by topic.

ARABIC ACCENTS

September's Language Learning Finds

2009-09-13T13:15:00.000-07:00

Biting the Wax Tadpole: Confessions of a Language Fanatic

The Third Ear: You Can Learn Any Language

Language Logic: Practical and Effective Techniques to Learn Any Language

Deutsche Wiederholungsgrammatik

2009-09-13T13:07:00.000-07:00

This is great comprehensive review of the German language. Despite the title, the book is written in English with clear examples and explanations:

A Walking Tour of Latin

2009-09-11T09:03:00.000-07:00

This 600-page book shows you Latin texts used all over Rome. "Remarkably, many of these inscriptions are still to be found in situ, on the walls, gates, temples, obelisks, bridges, fountains, and churches of the city. The Latin texts appear on the left-hand page with English translations on the right. The original texts are equipped with full linguistic annotation, and the translations are supplemented with historical and cultural notes that explain who mounted them and why."

Carpe Diem - Books about Latin

2009-09-11T08:48:00.000-07:00

"Stress"ful Italian -ere Verbs

2009-09-04T05:25:00.000-07:00

For those of you studying Italian, you are familiar with the need to memorize where the stress falls on Italian -ere verb infinitives (such as prendere, correre, vivere, mettere, leggere, credere, etc.). You have to know whether it is "crédere" or "credére". If you already know French, this task is simplified thanks to the shared origin of the languages. Italian -ere verbs that have the stress on the ére tend to correspond to French -oir verbs and Italian -ere verbs that are not stressed on -ere tend to correspond to French "re" verbs.

Examples (stress marks not written in Italian):
sapére = savoir / avére = avoir /potére = pouvoir /volére = vouloir / sedére = asseoir / vedére = voir

pérdere = perdre / scéndere = descendre / rídere = rire / conóscere = connaitre / rómpere = rompre / méttere = mettre /préndere = prendre / léggere = lire / náscere = naitre / báttere = battre, etc. etc.

There are some exceptions (aren't there always) and some French verbs which are completely different from their Italian counterparts (temere = craigner), but I found this idea intriguing.

More interesting trivia: the Spanish word for spiderweb is "telaraña", reverse the letters and you get the Italian word for spiderweb "ragnatela". Reverse the letters in the French word for sun "soleil" and you get "il sole" or Italian for "the sun" (I think this is explained by the fact that in some vernaculars of Latin, the definite article was placed after the noun).

Comparison of Italian and Spanish

2009-08-31T09:59:00.000-07:00

This an excellent site about the differences between Italian and Spanish:

Comparison of Italian and Spanish

Pronouncing Portuguese in Portugal / Spanish vs. Portuguese

2009-08-31T08:37:00.000-07:00

The Pronunciation of the Portuguese of Portugal

Differences between Spanish and Portuguese: Spanish and Portuguese

Cool Site for Learning French Slang

2009-08-31T08:31:00.000-07:00

French Slang

French Horror Films - Warning: Not for the Squeamish or Faint of Coeur

2009-08-31T08:24:00.001-07:00

Some of the French horror movies that have come out recently are very scary and quite gory. Way worse than anything you will see in an American horror flick. You have been warned:

Great French Films

2009-08-31T08:21:00.000-07:00

On-Line Videos for Russian "Golosa" Textbook

2009-08-31T07:55:00.000-07:00

These videos accompany the textbooks:

Link to Videos

Textbook:

Mexican slang links

2009-08-31T07:49:00.000-07:00

Mexican Slang Guru

Mr. Gabe's Spanish Slang

Mexican slang books:

More Great Spanish Finds

2009-08-31T07:47:00.000-07:00

The Words Your Italian Teacher Never Taught You

2009-08-31T07:43:00.000-07:00