Free Language - The Free Language Letter

About the Newsletter

polyglot — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 07:17:55 +0000

Free Language Letter

The Free Language Letter summarizes the site's latest resource additions, rearrangements, upgrades and insights.

Subscribers receive a (more or less) monthly, digestible bite of condensed language goodness.

Tenth Edition of the Free Language Newsletter

polyglot — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 18:24:06 +0000

Welcome to the tenth edition of the Free Language Letter!

51 new resources for 12 languages are included in this newsletter! There are also many additional resources not specific to any language but useful for all. See below...

What's Inside

Featured Resource: Byki Free Software for Learning 70+ Foreign Languages
51 new resources for 12 languages! (Arabic, Chinese, English, Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Polish, Russian, Silbo Gomero and Spanish)
Mobile Language Learning with iTunes U (iPod, iPhone)
New Social Language Learning Resource: Busuu.com
Multilingual Flashcard Services and Software
Multilingual Online Instant Messenger
Online Distance Language Learning
The Linguists Documentary Film
Free Multilingual Verb Conjugation Software
eBook on How to Learn Languages Faster and Better
Study Abroad Programs and Directories
Constructed Languages (Conlangs)
Blog Buzz: edufire.com names Free Language in top 20 language bloggers!
Language Factoid: Silbo Gomero

Featured Resource

Language Freeware for over 70 Languages

Byki offers a free version of their software for learning the basics of 74 languages, including many less-commonly taught languages. An optional upgrade to the commercial product is available if you choose to continue. The software works on Windows and Mac and is certified friendly and spyware free!

Read the full article on Free Language.

Arabic

ArabicPod.net Podcast with Free Common Colloquial and Standard Arabic Audio Lessons
LQToronto.com Download Free Texts and View Free Video Courses to Learn the Language of the Quran with Full Madinah Arabic Course

Chinese (Mandarin)

ChinesePod.com Celebrates the 1,000 Free Mandarin Chinese Audio Lessons Milestone!
ChinesePod.com Olympics Site with Free Mandarin Lessons, Interactive Map of Beijing, Written and Spoken Country Names
Chinese-Course.com Free Mandarin Course with Flashcards/Sentence Manager and Chinese Character Explanations/Annotations
TheChineseReader.com The Chinese Reader Helps Learn to Read Mandarin with Free Chinese Character Text Annotation
Semanda.com Free Chinese Vocabulary Cards with Downloadable PDFs plus Multiple Choice Quizzes for Children (Kids)
hskflashcards.com Free Download HSK Vocabulary Cards in PDF Format + Print New Practical Chinese Reader Text Flash Cards (NPCR)
RocketLanguages.com Rocket Chinese (Mandarin) Complete Language Audio and Software Course for Total Beginners

English

EnglishPod.com EnglishPod Learn English Podcast for Web-Based and Mobile Learning using iPhone and iPod Touch
China232.com China232 Fun and Business English Lessons via Free Audio Podcast Lessons with Transcripts
AvatarLanguages.com Avatar Languages Learn English in Second Life Virtual World plus Tutors via Skype, Google Docs, Whiteboards
StudyEnglishNews.com Study English News for Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced Levels plus English Proficiency Test and Grammar
Vocabulix.com English, German and Spanish Verb Conjugator, Conjugation Tools, Vocabulary Building, Self-Test Tool, Friend Finder
eurolanguages.com Find and Reserve an English Study Abroad Program or Language School Free Online: London, England, Ireland...

Finnish

Two Resources to Learn the Finnish Language for Free: Online Wikibooks and Byki Freeware

French

French-Flashcards.com Online French Flashcard System, Text Analyzer, Vocabulary List Manager with Audio and Dictionary
french.about.com French Learning+Teaching Resources, French Verb Conjugator, Proficiency Tests, French Grammar Help
RocketLanguages.com Rocket French Language Audio and Software Course from Rocket Languages
eurolanguages.com Find and Reserve a French Study Abroad Program or Language School Free Online: Paris, France, Provence, Nice...

German

German-Flashcards.com Free German Flashcard Course with Dictionary and German Text Annotation
PukkaGerman.com Pukka German Podcast, German Slang, Colloquial German, Idioms, Funny German Sayings for Intermediate to Advanced
Radio Lingua's A Flavour of German Podcast Teaches German Idioms (Idiomatic Expressions) via Audio Lessons
german.about.com German Learning+Teaching Resources, Verb Conjugator, Audio Listening Lab, Grammar, Geneology, Culture, Lessons
Vocabulix.com English, German and Spanish Verb Conjugator, Conjugation Tools, Vocabulary Building, Self-Test Tool, Friend Finder

Hebrew

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

Italian

ItalianPod.com ItalianPod Praxis Italian Lessons Podcast with Free Educational Resources and MP3 Audio
eurolanguages.com Find and Reserve an Italian Study Abroad Program or Language School Free Online: Rome, Italy, Venice, Ski...
Italian-Flashcards.com Online Italian Flashcard System, Text Analyzer, Vocabulary List Manager with Audio and Dictionary

Polish

Polish Wikibook with Basic Polish Language Course

Russian

LearningRussian.Net Learning Russian Website with Beginner Lessons, Grammar Overview and Russian-English Dual-Language Texts

Silbo Gomero

Learn Silbo Gomero, a Whistled Language from La Isla Gomera in the Canary Islands, on Busuu.com

Spanish

Online-Spanish-Course.com Free Online Spanish Course with Flashcards+Sentence Manager and Spanish Text Annotation
RocketLanguages.com Rocket Spanish Language Audio and Software Course from Rocket Languages
spanish.about.com Spanish Learning+Teaching Resources, Vocabulary, Pronunciation, Grammar Glossary, Culture, Course Lessons
SpanishNewsBites.com Spanish NewsBites Free Audio News Bites with Transcriptions about Spanish and Latin America
Useful Spanish Phrases for Travel with Downloadable Audio Recordings for Total Beginners from the Omniglot Website
Vocabulix.com English, German and Spanish Verb Conjugator, Conjugation Tools, Vocabulary Building, Self-Test Tool, Friend Finder
eurolanguages.com Find and Reserve a Spanish Study Abroad Program or Language School Free Online: Madrid, Spain, Valencia...
BBC Spanish Interactive Mystery Thriller Web Video Course for Total Beginners with Spanish Syllabus and Guide for Teachers+Users

Mobile Language Learning with iTunes U (iPod, iPhone)

New iTunes U: Download Educational Podcast Courses to Learn Language with Audio and Video on your iPod for Mobile Learning

Social Language Learning

Busuu.com Busuu Social Language Exchange Partner Community plus Multimedia Photo-Audio Lesson Archives and Video Chat Interface

Multilingual Flashcard Services and Software

Anki Free Flash Card Software for Debian GNU Linux, Mac OS X and Windows Based on Spaced Repetition
Quizlet.com Quizlet Vocabulary Trainer w/Flashcards, Games, Quizzes and Tests w/Multiple Choice, Fill in the Blank, Matching

Multilingual Online Instant Messenger

MeGlobe.com Jabber-Powered, Web-Based Instant Messenger with Automatic Realtime Machine Translation in 14+ Languages

Online Distance Language Learning

Linkua.com Linkua Online Distance Language Learning with Live Video Tutors, One-on-One Lessons and Web Classes

The Linguists Documentary Film

TheLinguists.com The Linguists Independent Documentary Film (Movie) Explores Dangers to Record Dying Languages

Free Multilingual Verb Conjugation Software

Verbix.com Verbix Free Verb Conjugation Website (WebVerbix), Verb Wiki and Windows Freeware (FreeVerbix) for 100+ Languages

eBook on How to Learn Languages Faster and Better

Learn That Language Now! ebook with Quick, Easy and Efficient Method for Learning Any Foreign Language

Study Abroad Programs and Directories

Directory List of International Foreign Language Schools and Language Study Abroad Programs
eurolanguages.com Find and Reserve an English Study Abroad Program or Language School Free Online: London, England, Ireland...
eurolanguages.com Find and Reserve a Spanish Study Abroad Program or Language School Free Online: Madrid, Spain, Valencia...
eurolanguages.com Find and Reserve a French Study Abroad Program or Language School Free Online: Paris, France, Provence, Nice...
eurolanguages.com Find and Reserve an Italian Study Abroad Program or Language School Free Online: Rome, Italy, Venice, Ski...

Constructed Languages (Conlangs)

LinguistList.org Links Page Covers Linguistics plus Constructed (Conlangs), Endangered and Natural Languages and Writing Systems

Blog Buzz

Free Language was written up as one of the top language blogs on the Web!

eduFire.com Blogs about Top 20 Language Bloggers on the Web

Language Factoid: Silbo Gomero

Silbo Gomero is not spoken - it is whistled! (silbar = to whistle in Spanish). This whistled tongue is used by the people of Gomera, one of the Canary Islands off Spain, to communicate between long distances and over rough terrain.

Become a Silbador!

The existence of the whistled language of Silbo Gomero on the beautiful Spanish island of La Gomera has for years fascinated linguists and language enthusiasts alike.

Silbo Gomero was invented in order to facilitate communication between the people of the island across the deep gorges and valleys long before mobile phones were invented. The tradition continues even now with the local government including it in the educational system of the island.

Learn more about Silbo Gomero and watch a video of it being used!

Do widzenia!

Chapman
Free Language
http://freelanguage.org

Ninth Edition of the Free Language Newsletter

travelinguist — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 15:56:40 +0000

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

Eighth Edition of the Free Language Newsletter

travelinguist — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 17:09:21 +0000

Welcome to the Eighth Edition of The Free Language Letter.

25 new free resources for 12 languages have been added to the site. There are not as many updates as usual because I have been working behind the scenes on the new overview pages for each language.

Quick View of What's Inside

New! Afrikaans, Arabic, Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese Overview Pages
Now Available: 34 Languages :)
New resources for Catalan, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Swedish
New Social Language Learning Resources
New News Feeds in Catalan, French, German, Italian, Polish and Spanish
Featured Resource: Lingro Public Domain Dictionary and Online Translation Tool (and so much more)
Language Factoid

New! Afrikaans, Arabic, Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese Overview Pages

As I did for the Spanish language before the last newsletter, I have now completed four more language overview sections. Now you will find new homes on Free Language for Afrikaans, Arabic, Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese.

These overview pages are basically a single spot where all the resources for a given language are brought together for users to quickly view and navigate. I like to think they are quite packed with excellent resources for learning the respective languages. :) Some are more filled than others, and the overview pages do include an overview of the language, a list of resources for learning the language, podcasts, news resources, a tag cloud, InternetTV stations, recommended software, an aggregator link and feed and other such useful info.

Now Available: 34 Languages :)

With some of the major changes I have been working on, I have also slipped in a large number of new languages. Since the last newsletter, this includes Bengali, Catalan, Czech, Dutch, Filipino, Greek, Hausa, Hebrew, Hungarian, Latin, Polish, Swahili, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian and Vietnamese.

Before you get too excited, know that I cheated a bit on most of these and they list mainly resources for learning languages socially, and do not yet list specific resources for those languages. Catalan, Polish and Swedish are the exceptions with one specific resource for each plus the social resources. Specific resources for the rest will come as soon as I can manage!

OK, onto the latest resources added for specific languages and other such goodness.

Catalan

CaféBabel.com Café Babel Local European Political, Economic and Cultural News Magazine in Catalan and 6 Other Languages

English

Blabbinit.com Blabbinit Learn English with Podcasts, Comics, Karaoke, Blogs, Videos and Chat
EnglishLingQ.com English LingQ Podcast with Free iTunes iPod MP3 Audio using Linguist Method by Steve Kaufmann
ECPod.com ECPod Upload and Share English and Chinese Video Podcasts with a Community and Find Language Exchange Friends
Babbel.com Virtual FlashCard Language Share Site w/English, French, German, Italian, Spanish Tools and Video Game-Like Interface

French

FrenchLingQ.com French LingQ Podcast with Free iTunes iPod MP3 Audio using Linguist Method by Steve Kaufmann
CaféBabel.com Café Babel Local European Political, Economic and Cultural News Magazine in French and 6 Other Languages
FSI-Language-Courses.com US Foreign Service Institute French Free Audio Lessons Downloads
Babbel.com Virtual FlashCard Language Share Site w/English, French, German, Italian, Spanish Tools and Video Game-Like Interface

German

GermanLingQ.com German LingQ Podcast with Free iTunes iPod MP3 Audio using Linguist Method by Steve Kaufmann
CaféBabel.com Café Babel Local European News Magazine in German and 6 Other Languages
FSI-Language-Courses.com US Foreign Service Institute German Free Audio Lessons Downloads
Babbel.com Virtual FlashCard Language Share Site w/English, French, German, Italian, Spanish Tools and Video Game-Like Interface

Italian

CaféBabel.com Café Babel Local European Political, Economic and Cultural News Magazine in Italian and 6 Other Languages
Babbel.com Virtual FlashCard Language Share Site w/English, French, German, Italian, Spanish Tools and Video Game-Like Interface

Japanese

JapaneseLingQ.com Japanese LingQ Podcast with Free iTunes MP3 Audio using Linguist Method by Steve Kaufmann

Mandarin Chinese

EnterZon.com Zon MSU Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) for Learning Mandarin Chinese Interactively
ECPod.com ECPod Upload and Share English and Chinese Video Podcasts with a Community and Find Language Exchange Friends

Polish

CaféBabel.com Café Babel European Political, Economic and Cultural News Magazine in Polish and 6 Other Languages

Portuguese

PortugueseLingQ.com Portuguese LingQ Podcast with iTunes MP3 Audio using Linguist Method by Steve Kaufmann
FSI-Language-Courses.com US Foreign Service Institute Portuguese Free Audio Lessons Downloads

Russian

RussianLingQ.com Russian LingQ Podcast with Free iTunes iPod MP3 Audio using Linguist Method by Steve Kaufmann

Spanish

SpanishLingQ.com Spanish LingQ Podcast with Free iTunes MP3 Audio using Linguist Method by Steve Kaufmann
CaféBabel.com Café Babel European Political, Economic and Cultural News Magazine in Spanish and 6 Other Languages
FSI-Language-Courses.com US Foreign Service Institute Spanish Free Audio Lessons Downloads
Babbel.com Virtual FlashCard Language Share Site w/English, French, German, Italian, Spanish Tools and Video Game-Like Interface

Swedish

SwedishLingQ.com Swedish LingQ Podcast with Free iTunes iPod MP3 Audio using Linguist Method by Steve Kaufmann

Social Language Learning

Below are the latest additions to the social language learning section.

Babbel.com Virtual FlashCard Language Share Site w/English, French, German, Italian, Spanish Tools and Video Game-Like Interface
Palabea.net Palabea the Speaking World Social Language Exchange Network with Videolectures, Podcasts, Images, Docs
Worldia.net Worldia International Community for Making Friends to Learn and Teach Foreign Languages via Skype

News Feeds

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

CaféBabel.com Café Babel Local European Political, Economic and Cultural News Magazine in Catalan and 6 Other Languages
CaféBabel.com Café Babel Local European Political, Economic and Cultural News Magazine in French and 6 Other Languages
CaféBabel.com Café Babel Local European News Magazine in German and 6 Other Languages
CaféBabel.com Café Babel Local European Political, Economic and Cultural News Magazine in Italian and 6 Other Languages
CaféBabel.com Café Babel European Political, Economic and Cultural News Magazine in Polish and 6 Other Languages
CaféBabel.com Café Babel European Political, Economic and Cultural News Magazine in Spanish and 6 Other Languages

Featured Resource

Lingro is a truly useful site with a decidedly free and open approach to multi-lingual dictionaries and online web translation. It provides users with quick and powerful online translation dictionaries and study tools, vocabulary lists and games. The site is "committed to building the Web's largest collection of open dictionaries."

I was struck by the straight-forward, no nonsense approach to open content. The site content is empowered and protected by the Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0 License. In short, this means the multilingual dictionaries can be copied, adapted and distributed with proper attribution. Equally, content editors must allow their additions to continue to be worked with under the same license. Thus, in an open and free way, lingro appeals to the users for help in creating "relevant translations and definitions" for the these language translation dictionaries.

Since I published the original article, several new changes have been in the works at the Lingro headquarters. Here's a list on their blog of some of the major improvements. There is also a great sections for webmasters that explains how to integrate Lingro into your website. Also added is a new feature for showing each user's personalized reading/vocabulary profile.

They are really cranking it out over there and I send lots of good vibes to this crew that is working to improve Public Domain tools for language learning. :)

Continue reading about Lingro.

Language Factoid

Mandarin Chinese is a category of related Chinese dialects spoken across most of northern and south-western China. When taken as a separate language, as is often done in academic literature, the Mandarin dialects have more speakers than any other language.

Factoid thanks to Wikipedia.

看你下一次!

Chapman
Free Language
http://freelanguage.org

Seventh Edition of the Free Language Newsletter

travelinguist — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 20:33:41 +0000

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

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

The Free Language Letter - August 23, 2007

polyglot — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 21:39:56 +0000

Sixth Edition

Welcome to the sixth edition of The Free Language Letter.

Persian/Farsi Language Resource Section Added

We are happy to announce a new resource section for the Persian or Farsi language!

There is now a total of 16 language sections available on the site.

New Free Resources

71 new free resources for 18 languages have been added to the site.

Afrikaans

Learn Afrikaans Wikibook in English

Arabic

Syrian Arabic Free Illustrated Textbook with Audio Download
Learning Arabic Language from Didactiques Langues Publications

Dutch

Valley Trail Free Online Dutch Courses and Lessons for Beginner and Advanced Students

English

TheEnglishLanguage.org Directory of Websites about the English Language
EnglishClub.com Free ESL Learn and Teach English Lessons, Games, Forums, Quizzes, Chat
Effortless English Podcast Gives Automatic English for the People
Listen to English-Learn English Podcast
English1010.com Free Audio and Written English Lessons Online
BetteratEnglish.com Better at English ESL/EFL Podcast for Real People
Learn about the English Language at Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
itcansay.com Huge Database of Audio Samples for English Pronunciation Practice, Dictionary, Online Text Reader
Englishmate.com.cn English Mate Podcast for Learning English Online with Real Teachers

Esperanto

Esperanto.info Website about the Constructed Language Esperanto

French

Fancy French: Learn to Speak, Read and Write French Online in Total Immersion with Free Podcast Downloads
Learn about the French Language at Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia

German

Download Free FSI German Language Audio Courses
Learn about the German Language at Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia

Hindi

Learn about the Hindi Language at Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia

Indonesian

Learn about the Indonesian Language (Bahasa Indonesia) at Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia

Italian

Let's Speak Italian Podcast: Learn in Minutes a Day

Japanese

Kanji-a-Day.com Learn Japanese Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana Daily Study Aid Website
KanjiQuizzer.com Free Sura Sura Kanji Quiz Web Software Interface

Korean

KoreanPod Learn Korean Podcast on Podomatic
LetsLearnKorean.com Let's Learn Korean Group Blog Website
Learn about the Korean Language at Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia

Latin

Latinum - The Latin Language Learning Podcast from London

Mandarin Chinese

CSLPod.com Chinese as a Second Language Podcast
learningmandarinpod Learning Mandarin Chinese Podcast and Video Podcasts
Learn Chinese Through Music: Mandarin Language Study through Pop Music

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
Learn about the Persian/Farsi Language at Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia

Portuguese

Easy Portuguese Website for Beginner and Intermediate Brazilian Portuguese Learners
Learn Portuguese Wikibook for Beginner and Intermediate Learners/Students
Tá Falado Free Brazilian Portuguese Podcast for Spanish Speakers
Loads of Podcasts in Spanish and Portuguese Languages

Russian

Learn Russian Wikibook for English Speakers Learning the Russian Language
langintro.com An Introduction to Russian for the Casual Learner
Learn about the Russian Language at Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia

Spanish

SpanishRomance.com: A Variety of Spanish Language Content
Loads of Podcasts in Spanish and Portuguese Languages
SpanishSense.com Learn Spanish on Your Terms Podcast
Learn about the Spanish Language at Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia

Cool Free Tools and Multi-Lingual Resources

We added some cool tools and multi-lingual resource links, including internet TV stations, Firefox tools, recording archives and mobile phone phrasebooks!

Global Internet TV Gateway Portal with Web TV in World Languages
FoxLingo Free Firefox Browser Extension Software for Translating Web Pages
Language Learning Advisor Website for Help Learning Foreign Languages
Learno.com Free Online Foreign Language Learning Books
Verbs-Online.com Study French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German, English with Verb Tools
UMN's Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition
Newseum.com Free Front Page News from over 50 Countries in Loads of Languages
WordChamp Language Toolbar for Firefox
Wikipedia Language Portal
Free and Open Mandarin Chinese University Lectures from Archive.org
Free Mobile Phone Phrasebooks for French, Spanish, German, Italian, Greek and Portuguese

New! English Language Teaching Resource Section

We started a resource database for language educators. Currently, we have resources for teaching English. We will be adding more languages soon!

Teach English

TeachingEnglish.org.uk BBC British Council Teaching English Resources
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
Internet TESL Journal for Teachers of English as a Second Language
English1010.com Free Audio and Written English Lessons Online
Top ESL/EFL/TESOL/TEFL/TESL and TOEFL Salad Websites
itcansay.com Huge Database of Audio Samples for English Pronunciation Practice, Dictionary, Online Text Reader

Resources for Non-English Speakers

A few resources for speakers of languages other than English were added. This will eventually expand into localized/internationalized versions of the site.

For now, we have a handful of resources for non-English speakers to learn Mandarin Chinese. We figured with the Beijing 2008 Olympics just around the corner, these would be useful to folks out there.

Apprendre le chinois chez chine-nouvelle.com
Aprender chino a chino-china.com
Chinesisch-Lernen.org Chinesisch Lernen und China Entdecken
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

New Commercial Resources

9 new commercial resources have been added for 9 languages:

English

Rosetta Stone Learn UK British English Language Software Level 1 (Commercial)

French

Rosetta Stone Learn French Language Software Level 1 (Commercial)

German

Rosetta Stone Learn German Language Software Level 1 (Commercial)

Hindi

Rosetta Stone Learn Hindi Language Software Level 1 (Commercial)

Indonesian

Rosetta Stone Learn Indonesian/Bahasa Indonesia Language Software Level 1 (Commercial)

Korean

Rosetta Stone Learn Korean Language Software Level 1 (Commercial)

Persian

Rosetta Stone Learn Persian/Farsi Language Software Level 1 (Commercial)

Russian

Rosetta Stone Learn Russian Language Software Level 1 (Commercial)

Spanish

Rosetta Stone Learn European (Spain) Spanish Language Software Level 1 (Commercial)

Blatant Self-Promotion

If you have not already done so, please visit our site and use the social bookmark link on the top right side to add us to any of numerous social bookmarking services such as del.icio.us, furl, magnolia, digg, reddit, newsvine, simpy, bluedot, stumble upon and more. Please help us grow!

The Free Language blogs are still the #1 blog on TopBlogArea.com in the Resources Section. We have moved up from #7 to #4 on BlogTopSites.com in their Resources Section.

Our Alexa rating is also improving. According to this rating, Free Language currently holds the spot as the 308,598th most-visited website in the world! This is up millions from when we released Version 2 on February 1st of this year.

Thanks for all the support!

BETA Testers Needed!

If you are interested in blogging about your language-learning experiences, you are invited to join Free Language! All you have to do is request a BETA user account and we'll set you up!

As mentioned in the March 2007 Free Language Letter, when Free Language V3 is launched, revenue sharing for users will be implemented.

Show Us the Resources!

If you have a favorite language-learning resource (or manage a website of your own) that is not listed on Free Language, please let us know by suggesting a resource. This is a simple way to help us get the word out!

Current Languages

Below is a quick list of all 16 languages for which resource sections are currently available on the site. Resources for other languages are also available at the blog.

Language Factiod

Tschüss (also tschüs) is an informal German parting phrase, used in much the same way as "good-bye" in English-speaking countries such as the United States or United Kingdom.

It is derived from Walloon adjüs (the equivalent of adieu in French), and was first taken up into the Low German language. For this reason, the word Tschüss has historically been more common in northern Germany, though it has gained country-wide acceptance. It is also commonly used in Switzerland and Austria, at the very least in Zürich and its outskirts. However, in southern Germany it is more common for the informal farewell ciao or adieu to be used, and the farewell Auf Wiedersehen is considered appropriate in more formal settings.

Factiod available thanks to Wikipedia.

Tschüss!

The Free Language Community
http://freelanguage.org

The Free Language Letter - July 4, 2007

polyglot — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 20:03:06 +0000

Fifth Edition

Welcome to the fifth edition of The Free Language Letter.

Korean Resource Section Added

We are happy to announce a new resource section for the Korean language!

There is now a total of 15 languages available on the site.

New Free Resources

15 new free resources for 7 languages have been added to the site:

Afrikaans

Study and Learn Afrikaans Easy at EasyAfrikaans.com

Arabic

Download Free FSI Arabic Language Courses

French

Improve Your French with the Lille Podcast from France
Download Free FSI French Language Courses

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

Mandarin Chinese

Download Free FSI Mandarin Chinese Language Courses

Russian

Taste of Russian Podcast with Free MP3 Audio and PDF Transcripts

Spanish

Improve Spanish with Español Podcast or Spanish Podcast
Rojas Spanish Language Podcast for Intermediate and Advanced Learners
Download Free FSI Spanish Language Courses

4 new multi-lingual resources have been added to the site:

Multi-Lingual Resources

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

Commercial Resource Database Started

From polyglot's blog:

"Just wanted to unofficially announce that starting soon we will be posting commercial resources through the front page of the site. There will continue to be a steady flow of free resources interspersed with these commercial resources.

We are doing this in order to create more revenue in order to improve site features, look and feel and organization..."

Find out more.

New Commercial Resources

5 new commercial resources have been added for 5 languages:

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)

Podcast Coming

The first Free Language Podcast show was supposed to be here two months ago, but it was put on the back burner in order to launch the new languages and commercial resources.

We are now setting a potential release date of late-July. We know this is lagging, but it will be worth the wait.

The Blog Gains Momentum

Lots of activity has been going on over at the Free Language Blog.

It is currently the #1 blog on TopBlogArea.com in the Resources Section.

It is also currently #7 on BlogTopSites.com in their Resources Section.

If you are interested in blogging about your language-learning experiences here, you are invited to request a BETA user account on Free Language. As mentioned in the March 2007 Free Language Letter, when Free Language V3 is launched, revenue sharing for users will be implemented.

Current Languages

A quick list of all 15 languages for which resources are currently available on the site:

Suggest a Resource

If you have a favorite language-learning resource (or manage a website of your own) that is not listed on Free Language, please let us know by suggesting a resource.

Social Bookmark Us!

If you have not already done so, please visit our site and use the social bookmark link on the left side to add us to any of numerous social bookmarking services such as del.icio.us, furl, magnolia, digg, reddit, newsvine, simpy, bluedot, stumble upon and more. Please help us grow!

再见！

The Free Language Community
http://freelanguage.org

The Free Language Letter - May 30, 2007

polyglot — Thu, 31 May 2007 00:58:32 +0000

Fourth Edition

Welcome to the fourth edition of The Free Language Letter.

New Languages

Two new languages have been added to the site! We are happy to announce new sections for the Afrikaans and Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian) languages.

New Resources

21 new resources for 11 languages have been added to the site:

Afrikaans

LearnAfrikaans.us Learn Afrikaans Free Online Language Courses
Beeld South African News in Afrikaans

Arabic

Free Learn Gulf Arabic Language Resources
Learn Arabic Free at Speak7

English

ESL Business News Podcast
Podictionary English Dictionary Podcast

French

RFI News in Slowly-Spoken French Podcast
World Nomads iPod French Language Podcasts

German

Learn to Speak German with this Free Podcast

Hindi

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

World Nomads iPod Italian Language Podcasts

Japanese

World Nomads iPod Japanese Language Podcasts

Mandarin Chinese

World Nomads iPod Mandarin Chinese Language Podcasts

Spanish

Notes in Spanish Intermediate Podcast
Notes in Spanish Advanced Podcast
Rolling Rs Learn Spanish Podcast
World Nomads iPod Spanish Language Podcasts

Coming Soon...

Our First Podcast

The first Free Language Podcast show was supposed to be here last month, but it was put on the back burner in order to launch Afrikaans and Indonesian resources on the site. We will do our best to get this out in June.

Commercial Language-Learning Resources

Once again, this was put on the back burner. In June we hope to be rolling out a better store with a larger selection of commercial language-learning products and services. Funds earned from this new section will be put into making the interface and features of the site more rich and better organized.

Full Stats from freelanguage.org

Another back burner story... but in June we will be posting the entire history of statistics for freelanguage.org. For now, you can see a hint on polyglot's blog. You can also see a visual representation of where our visitors come from by visiting the Geovisitors tag page. Here is a screenshot of visitors from today:

The Blog Grows More

There are now six bloggers over at the Free Language Blog:

Current Languages

A quick list of all 14 languages for which resources are currently available on the site:

Suggest a Resource

If you have a favorite language-learning resource (or manage a website of your own) that is not listed on Free Language, please let us know by suggesting a resource.

Social Bookmark Us!

Auf wiedersehen.

The Free Language Community
http://freelanguage.org

The Free Language Letter - April 16, 2007

polyglot — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 22:43:29 +0000

Third Edition

Welcome to the third edition of The Free Language Letter.

New Resources

Since the last newsletter, 18 new resources for 7 languages have been added to the site:

Arabic

University of Chicago Arabic Circle Lectures Podcast
Madinah Arabic Beginner Language and Reading Courses

English

languagecaster.com Learn English through Soccer/Football Podcast
Breaking News English EFL/ESL Learning Podcast
Exam English Free Practice Tests

French

Learn French by Podcast
Easy French Poetry Podcast
BBC Languages French
Learn French Wikibook
The French École French for Beginners Podcast

German

Learn German Wikibook
MyDailyPhrase.com German Podcast

Italian

MyDailyPhrase.com Italian Podcast

Mandarin Chinese

Mobile Chinese Flashcards Cell Phone Software
Adsotrans Dynamic Chinese Annotation Website and Software Project

Spanish

Chile Podcast and Video Podcast
InstaSpanish.com's Insta Spanish Podcast

General Tools

BBC Better at Languages

Coming Soon...

Our First Podcast

The first Free Language Podcast show will be coming by the end of this month!

Commercial Language-Learning Resources

Within the next month we will be rolling out a better store with a larger selection of commercial language-learning products and services.

Full Stats from freelanguage.org

We will be posting the entire history of statistics for freelanguage.org within the next month. For now, you can see a hint on polyglot's blog.

12 New Languages

The list of potential languages to add to the site will be narrowed down to 12 and posted before the next newsletter!

The Blog Grows

There are now three bloggers over at the Free Language Blog:

If you are interested in blogging about your language-learning experiences here, you are invited to request a BETA user account on Free Language. As mentioned in last month's Free Language Letter, when Free Language V3 is launched, revenue sharing for users will be implemented.

Current Languages

A quick list of all 12 languages for which resources are currently available on the site:

Suggest a Resource

If you have a favorite language-learning resource (or manage a website of your own) that is not listed on Free Language, please let us know by suggesting a resource.

Até a proxima.

The Free Language Community
http://freelanguage.org

The Free Language Letter - March 13, 2007

polyglot — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 03:20:04 +0000

Second Edition

This is the second edition of The Free Language Letter. Since the first edition was published over a month ago, a lot has been happening here. Most of these changes regard the growing database of language-learning resources for the 12 languages currently listed on the site. These twelve languages are:

New Resources

Since the last newsletter, 21 new resources have been added to the site:

Arabic

Learn Arabic Language Wikibook

English

The Bob and Rob Show English Lessons Podcast
English Feed English Listening Practice Podcast
Business English Pod Podcast

French

DailyFrenchPod Beginner Lessons Podcast
DailyFrenchPod Intermediate Lessons Podcast
DailyFrenchPod Advanced Lessons Podcast
DailyFrenchPod Video Podcast

Hindi

A Door into Hindi
HindiLanguage.org Website

Italian

Centro Studi Italiani Online Classroom

Japanese

Machigai Podcast
Learn Japanese Podcast at LibSyn
Learn Japanese at Japancast.net Podcast
Underground Global Japanese Tutorial

Mandarin Chinese

ChineseTools.com Website

Portuguese

BBC Languages Portuguese

Russian

Listen 2 Russian Website

Spanish

Learn Spanish Survival Guide Podcast
BBC Languages Spanish
Business Spanish Website

General Tools

Online Flashcard Exchange Community

Coming Soon...

Blogs and Revenue Sharing

At some point in the not-too-distant future, Free Language will be implementing free blogs for language learners. A key feature in this implementation will allow bloggers on the Free Language website to earn revenue from their posts via revenue sharing through Google AdSense.

All content posted in blogs, as with all content posted on the Free Language website, will be empowered by the GNU Free Documentation License, and will thus be public domain. :)

If you are interested in getting in early on this opportunity, please request a BETA User Account and let us know that you are interested in blogging with revenue sharing.

General Language Learning Info Section

Also coming soon will be an extended section with general information about languages and language learning. The information presented in this section will be applicable to learners of any language.

The Free Language Podcast

We will start hosting our own podcast! It will be called, surprise, "The Free Language Podcast". This podcast will feature interviews with some of the leading online language learning podcasters and resource communities. It will, naturally, be totally free. As part of the first podcast, we will be interviewing Steve Kaufmann, founder of The Linguist.

The Blog

Side notes about updates and other such chatter are noted in the blog. Please check in there for frequent updates on the status of the site and other goodies that don't necessarily belong in the main content of the site.

Suggest a Resource

If you have a favorite language-learning resource (or manage a website of your own) that is not listed on Free Language, please let us know by suggesting a resource.

Ciao for now.

The Free Language Community
http://freelanguage.org