The best free cultural & educational media on the web
The best free cultural & educational media on the web
≡ Category: Amazon Kindle, Books, Language Lessons | ≅ 3 Comments
From the TIMES ONLINE:
More than 65,000 19th-century works of fiction from the British Library’s collection are to be made available for free downloads by the public from this spring.
Owners of the Amazon Kindle, an ebook reader device, will be able to view well known works by writers such as Charles Dickens, Jane Austen and Thomas [...]
≡ Category: Language Lessons | ≅ Leave a Comment
How can you learn foreign languages online? Last week, The New York Times outlined a good number of options for its readers. And, for days, the article remained one of the most widely read pieces on the NYT site. Today, the paper issued a followup post, highlighting yet more ways to learn languages digitally. And happily [...]
≡ Category: Language Lessons | ≅ Leave a Comment
We can’t help you get fit (at least physically) in the new year. But we can help you learn a new language. Our collection of Free Language Lessons covers 37 languages, and we have now developed sections dedicated to commonly sought after languages. (See below.) Please keep in mind that the collection also features less [...]
≡ Category: Language Lessons | ≅ 2 Comments
Steve Kaufmann, who runs www.thelinguistblogs.com, says a few words to get us inspired to learn more languages than we currently know (however many that may be). One great place to start is with our collection of free foreign language lessons. These audio lessons will help you learn over 35 languages, including Arabic, Mandarin, French, German, Italian, English, [...]
≡ Category: Language Lessons | ≅ Leave a Comment
Looking to learn a new language this summer? Then give this list a good look. The folks at Universitiesandcolleges.org have created “The Master List of Free Language Learning Resources,” which pulls together materials found across a range of different media. Here, you’ll find podcasts, open courses, iphone apps, and more. And the list notably includes our ever-popular [...]
≡ Category: Language Lessons, Media, TED Talks | ≅ 1 Comment
Today, we’re featuring a guest piece by Tony Yet, a Chinese student, who is helping lead an effort to bring TEDTalks to China. This is part of a larger TED Open Translation Project, which wants to move TEDTalks “beyond the English-speaking world by offering subtitles, time-coded transcripts and the ability for any talk to be translated [...]
≡ Category: Apple, Language Lessons | ≅ Leave a Comment
There’s a curious little piece over at TUAW.com. Apparently American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan are being supplied (on a limited basis) with iPods equipped with special software that will help them communicate in Iraqi Arabic, Kurdish, Dari and Pushto. The software will handily “display a phonetic translation, speak a phrase through an attached speaker, [...]
≡ Category: Language Lessons | ≅ 6 Comments
Thomas Friedman’s latest opinion piece in the New York Times starts like this:
After attending the spectacular closing ceremony at the Beijing Olympics and feeling the vibrations from hundreds of Chinese drummers pulsating in my own chest, I was tempted to conclude two things: “Holy mackerel, the energy coming out of this country is unrivaled.” And, [...]
≡ Category: Language Lessons | ≅ 4 Comments
Today we have the pleasure of welcoming a guest contribution by Eleena de Lisser, who runs Voices en Español, a bilingual blog and conversational Spanish podcast (iTunes – RSS Feed). In this post, Eleena draws on her experience and offers an overview of the best free podcasts that will teach you Spanish (which happens to [...]
≡ Category: Language Lessons | ≅ Leave a Comment
Is it Bay-jing? Or Bay-zhing, as some American broadcasters are inclined to say it? Below, you’ll find the answer according to Two Chinese Characters, a video team composed of Carsey Yee from China, and John B. Weinstein who teaches Chinese at an American university. Give a watch. It’s intentionally campy and amusing. And for more [...]
≡ Category: Language Lessons | ≅ 4 Comments
YouTube’s Trendspotting Tuesday focused this past week on the growing number of videos that can teach you a foreign language (for free, of course). Among the 12 video collections featured here, you’ll find ones that offer lessons in French, Spanish, Modern Greek, Latin, Japanese and Swahili, among others. They also highlight clips that demonstrate how [...]
≡ Category: Language Lessons | ≅ Leave a Comment
MSN-Sympatico has been running a piece that covers the ins-and-outs of learning a foreign language online. The piece highlights free resources that you can access on the web, including our collection of Free Foreign Language Lesson Podcasts, but also many other worthwhile materials. Free language dictionaries, flash cards, interactive games, language learning communities, international news [...]
≡ Category: Language Lessons | ≅ 2 Comments
We have recently spent some time updating our Foreign Language Lesson Podcast Collection. And, along the way, one thing became clear. During the past six months, the number of podcasts offering free lessons in foreign languages has greatly increased, and the lessons now extend far beyond the traditional languages that you’d expect. In addition to [...]
≡ Category: Language Lessons | ≅ Leave a Comment
Here is a quick “lifehack” for you. You can now learn foreign languages and stay current on politics all at once. How so? By taking advantage of a smart podcast concept being used by French and German broadcasters. Radio France Internationale (RFI) issues a daily podcast called Le Journal en français facile (iTunes – feed [...]
≡ Category: Books, Business, Language Lessons, Media, Technology | ≅ Leave a Comment
The New York Times has a great article on a professor of management science who has founded an almost completely automated publishing company. The 200,000 books he’s published sound, well, terrible, and terribly overpriced: “Among the books published under his name are ‘The Official Patient’s Sourcebook on Acne Rosacea’ ($24.95 and 168 pages long); ‘Stickler [...]
≡ Category: Language Lessons | ≅ 2 Comments
We stumbled across this video (below) over on YouTube. It offers a quick survey of web resources that will teach you foreign languages for free. Among other items, the video mentions our Foreign Language Podcast Collection and, for that, we wanted to say thanks to whoever put this together.
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≡ Category: English Language, Language Lessons | ≅ 2 Comments
What’s an easy way to learn a new language at no cost, whenever and wherever you want? One is to take advantage of our extensive collection of foreign language podcasts. Another is to check out Mango Languages, a web site that offers free online language courses that will teach you the basics in French, German, [...]
≡ Category: Language Lessons | ≅ 8 Comments
China is on the upswing politically and economically. According to Goldman Sachs, China’s economy may outsize every other economy (except that of the U.S.) by 2016, and it could even surpass the American economy by 2039. Given this, the hottest language being studied right now by business travelers is Mandarin (see this New York Times [...]
≡ Category: Language Lessons | ≅ 2 Comments
Although facing no shortage of competition, Coffee Break Spanish (iTunes – Feed – Web Site) has remained the most popular foreign language lesson podcast, bar none. The popularity rankings on iTunes have continually attested to that.
From this position of strength, the producers of Coffee Break Spanish have smartly moved into new European territories, rolling out [...]
≡ Category: Audio Books, Language Lessons, Sci Fi | ≅ 1 Comment
Thanks BoingBoing for spotting this one: Utopod (iTunes – Feed – Web Site) is a free French-language podcast, created by Lucas Moreno and and Marc Tiefenauer, that offers readings of fantasy and sci fi stories written by noted authors across the Francophone world. New episodes come out once every 2-3 weeks, and it’s not too [...]
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