Online Language Review

Check Out Some of These Language Programs

2009-10-21T23:58:00.000-07:00

For your convenience I have selected a few links to post on this page. I hope you find them useful.

Rocket Languages program seems to be "popping up" everywhere. So, I thought it fitting to put their link first. Click Here!

Who wouldn't want to learn the language of their choice quickly?! Learn to speak ANY language in just a few days!! Click Here!

Although this link is not to a language program, it's information is invaluable! It shows you the techniques to make the most of your studies. Click Here!

If you would like to travel and try out your new language skills stop by this travel site! Click Here!

How to Learn a Foreign Language in One Hour

2009-10-21T23:50:00.001-07:00

By Larry M. Lynch

In his article entitled, "How to Learn (But Not Master) Any Language in One Hour", author Tim Ferris details his techniques or what he calls "deconstructing" a foreign language. His argument is that by deconstructing the language's main elements such as alphabet, key grammatical structures, rules of pronunciation and sentence structure, you can gain a basic understanding of just how it functions. That way you can relatively easily determine if you will be able to pursue fluency in communicating in that language within a reasonable amount of time.

How to Learn Any Foreign Language

His general belief system is similar to my own in that I state in my foreign language learning techniques book entitled, "You Can Learn A Foreign Language: Tested Techniques Anyone Can Use" that if a language is similar in grammar and structure or pronunciation to your own first language (L1), then it should be fairly easy to acquire using English, for instance, as a point of reference. An example would be a native Spanish speaker learning Italian, Portuguese or even French. These are all in the same linguistic family.

On the contrary, if the language that you are considering is vastly different in structure, grammar or pronunciation to your own, then you will likely tend to have increased difficulty in learning it. That is not to say that you cannot learn a foreign language radically different from your own, but simply that learning it will have greatly increased difficulty for you in comparison to one in your first language's family group.

Linguistics and Families

Languages, like people, come in families. In my book, I go into detail about linguistic families and which ones are grouped together. English, for example, is in the same linguistic family as German - not French and Spanish as many language learners initially believe. While there are a substantial number of true word cognates between these three - English, Spanish and French, which often can help considerably with communications, there is a distinct "caveat". What is it, exactly? It is the presence of a considerable number of false cognates. That is to say, words which look and are spelled in similar manner but have very different meanings in the two languages.

In the next and final part of this article, we'll consider anomalies in spoken Chinese. Also, we'll review how to look at foreign language learning "as a sport". See you then.

Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, prolific writer, expert author and public speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 120 countries. Get your FREE E-book, "If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" and English language teaching and learning information at: http://bettereflteacher.blogspot.com Need a blogger or copywriter to promote your school, institution, service or business or an experienced writer and vibrant SEO content for your website, blog or newsletter? Contact the author at the above blog address for more information.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Larry_M._Lynch

How to Learn a Foreign Language in One Hour - Part 2

2009-10-21T23:45:00.000-07:00

By Larry M. Lynch

Foreign Language Learning

In the first part of this article post, we briefly looked at the general belief system for learning a foreign language as opinioned by noted author Tim Ferris as compared to my key considerations. Here in the final, part 2 of this article, we will continue by examining anomalies in the Chinese language which add to its already inherent difficulty in learning it as a foreign language.

An Anomaly of the Chinese Language

But being in the same language family can also have its problems and idiosyncrasies for unwary foreign language learners. Chinese is a good example of this. Although there are nine major "dialects" of Chinese, most of them are virtually unintelligible to speakers of the other Chinese dialects or variants. Speakers of Cantonese cannot "talk" directly to speakers of Mandarin, although they can read the written form of Mandarin since most of the dialects in Chinese have the same written form! They can easily read and understand each other's writing, but cannot speak to one another.

Treat Language as a Sport

Author Ferris advises would-be foreign language learners to "treat language learning as a sport". Learn the rules of the language first to determine if you'll be able to manage it, before investing any substantial amount of time in trying to learn a foreign language which may be somewhat "out of reach" or at the very minimum, a "broad stretch" for you to acquire up to even a mediocre level. His clearly laid out and well-defined points are well taken in my opinion.

Learn a Foreign Language in One Hour

Can you learn a foreign language in one hour? Normally, most certainly not. But you could do enough deconstruction of a foreign language in one hour, more or less, to determine how well or how difficult it would potentially be for you to learn that foreign language. This could definitely go a long way in helping to avoid the disappointments and frustrations of trying to learn a foreign language that was too far out of your league for easy acquisition. And that my dear potential foreign language learner, is certainly something well worth considering.

Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, prolific writer, expert author and public speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 120 countries. Get your FREE E-book, "If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" and English language teaching and learning information at: http://bettereflteacher.blogspot.com/ Need a blogger or copywriter to promote your school, institution, service or business or an experienced writer and vibrant SEO content for your website, blog or newsletter? Contact the author at the above blog address for more information.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Larry_M._Lynch

Exercise Your Brain by Learning a New Language

2009-10-20T15:39:00.000-07:00

By Kelly Winter

It is no mystery that the secret to preventing memory loss, dementia and Alzheimer's disease is to ensure your brain stays active throughout your life. Largely fueled by the concerns and fears of the aging baby boomers, there is a thriving business surrounding this topic and you can now find numerous books, articles, games, courses, websites and other products dedicated to helping you maintain a healthy and properly functioning brain.

Luckily, this is not all just hype and there has been extensive scientific research surrounding this topic. A quick internet search will fetch you volumes of information on related studies so I won't go into technical detail here except to summarize that findings show that when the brain is stimulated to produce new neural pathways (connections between brain cells) on a continuous basis, throughout your life, the brain will continue to grow and improve.

Neurologists have reported that by spending only 20 minutes, 3 times a week, practicing mental exercises you can reduce your chances of developing Alzheimer's disease by 70%. And so, what is an effective brain exercise? It has been discovered that for a brain exercise to be beneficial it needs to meet three criteria; one, it needs to engage your attention, two, it must involve more than one of the senses (sight, sound, touch, smell, taste), and three, it must break a routine activity in an unexpected, nontrivial way.

Learning a new language is recognized as being a highly effective brain exercise because it strongly meets and even exceeds all three of these criteria.

One, you must focus intently to make progress in your lessons thus making your brain work strenuously. You have to listen to a word or phrase, repeat back the word or phrase and at the same time your mind has to translate the meaning of words from and to your native language. Add memorization, listening, reading and writing to the list and your brain will feel the workout.

Two, you must use sight, sound and speech to properly speak and understand a new language. Although speech is not one of the five senses, it does require the brain to interpret and organize the information from the other senses and to formulate a response using motor-skills thereby exceeding criteria number two.

Three, If you only speak one language than it is probably safe to assume that learning a new language would not be a routine activity for you. Even if you already speak multiple languages, each new language brings new concepts and challenges to the brain.

Besides the obvious benefit of brain longevity, learning a new language will provide other benefits such as confidence when travelling to the country where your new language is spoken and perhaps it could even open doors for certain careers.

There are many ways to learn a new language ranging from formal classroom style courses to self-paced video, audio or online computer courses. My personal preference is online computer courses mainly because when cleverly designed, they are highly interactive, entertaining and transportable (that is if you have a laptop or access to multiple computers). A well designed computer based language courses will offer a variety of learning techniques such as audio, video, text, games and quizzes providing an even greater opportunity to flex your brain muscles.

Kelly Winter is just one of the many baby boomers concerned with keeping healthy, active and alert as she enjoys the next phase of her life. She enjoys travelling the world and has had great fun and success learning to speak Spanish with the rocket language program which offers all the benefits mentioned in her article. Check it out at http://www.rocketlanguages.ca and start to challenge your brain now.

[1] Alzheimer's Research & Prevention Foundation

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kelly_Winter

How to Find the Right Word to Use

2009-10-20T15:15:00.000-07:00

By Jonathan Sayles

The problem with looking for language translations online is the way most websites translate languages. You enter a word into a search box, and every possible translation, or possible similar word will flash infront of your eyes.

As an example, have you ever tried translating something as simple as car? Of course, the language you are trying to translate into will depend on the translations you get, but if you chose Italian, you might achieve the following:- macchina, automobile, auto, tram, vagone, carroza, carro and a few more.

Which is the right one? If you wanted to translate car into Bisaya, one of the Philippine languages you would get awto. However awto would represent all of the different types of car you can have. Convertibles, people carriers, estate cars. There is no real definition.

The main method for finding the translations I use is as follows, if I need to translate a word, I`ll think of similar words. If I wanted to translate lemon tree, and I already knew the translation for tree I would include that in a search on Google. In Spanish it would be "lemon tree árbol" This way I wouldn't be using a language website, but the power of Google to locate articles and websites that might list language translations as word lists.

For singular word and singular phrase translations, this is the master method you can use. If you want to translate a bunch of words related to one specific field, like drinks, you can also use the same method, just increase the amount of words in the search, and include some of those words in the language you already know.

Try this Google search for a list of drinks in the dutch language.

The other method of translating words which are quite rare is to use Wikipedia. Type your word in your language, and if you find an article page, search on the left side for a language link to the language you wish to translate too. For wildlife and nature, Wikipedia is a very useful resource.

Another way of translating the right word is to find someone else that has done all of the hard word already. Categorizing each word into the right places, and translating compound forms and phrases. This is what I`ve been doing for the past three years on my website http://www.jonsay.co.uk/. I used the above methods in the construction of my website, and without them, there is no way I could have done so much work. So far I have categorized a few thousand words in each of the following languages:- bisaya, chinese, dutch, italian, indonesian, japanese, spanish and tagalog, and with german almost ready to go live.

A final tip, get a friend from the country you wish to learn the language for! I did, and they have all been an excellent source of information.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jonathan_Sayles

How to Pass Your Foreign Language Class

2008-10-28T11:53:00.000-07:00

Whether you are a student in high school, college, language class or just studing on your own, I thought these were some very good tips to help you in your quest to learn!

By Tom Tessin

Are you currently taking a foreign language class in college? If you aren't yet you most likely will need to take a few foreign language classes to get your major in college. There are many general education classes that are needed when in college, and foreign language is one of them. Foreign languages can be very difficult for some people to learn. When in college, it is even harder to learn a language because you learn the language at such a fast pace. Read below for some tips on how to pass your college foreign language class.

Professor - Your professors are supposed to be your friends so make sure you can ask them questions. If ever you have a question be sure to always ask until you understand. Whether you ask in class, or after class be sure you find out the answers.

Be there - College is expensive and if you don't show up you're going to only be wasting money. You want to make sure you go to every class when you have a foreign language. If you miss one day you will most likely be missing out on a lot. It's like math you have to learn the basics before you can go any further.

Textbook - Any kind of book in college costs an arm and a leg these days so you want to make sure you read it. Go through the textbook and go page by page and chapter by chapter. If you keep up with reading the textbook you will go much further than you think.

Sounds - You want to make sure you get a feel for the sounds. When learning a foreign language we often get confused at first with the different sounds. Try to pick them up and speak with the accents. It will take some time but it will flow much nicer and make you feel a whole lot better.

Verbs - To create good sentences in a foreign language you need to make yourself aware of a lot of verbs. Take a few days a week and just study verbs for 20 minutes each time. The more verbs you know the better your speaking will get.

Tenses - Be sure that you familiarize all the tenses. You want to make sure you know the past, present and future tense. If you don't learn these properly your sentences won't make sense. Once you get the feel for the tenses you will be on a roll.

Conjunctions - Learn all the conjunctions of the foreign language. Be sure you understand the subordinating, coordinating, and verb conjunctions. Once you know these a foreign language will make much more sense to you.

There is a lot to know about learning a foreign language. The most important thing is to have patience, have fun with it and have motivation. Foreign languages can be very frustrating but once you get the gist of it you'll be glad you took the time to learn it.

Find articles like these and more of Tom's work all on his student blog.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tom_Tessin

Swedish Language - An Overview From A Translation Agency

2008-10-28T11:46:00.000-07:00

By Ioana Mihailas

A descendant of Old Norse, Swedish belongs to the East Scandinavian group of languages, a subdivision of the North Germanic branch of the Germanic languages.

Swedish is mutually intelligible with Danish (also a member of the East Scandinavian language group) and Norwegian (which belongs to the western Scandinavian language group). It is spoken by approximately nine million people worldwide, most of whom reside in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark and Estonia. Sweden is an official language in Sweden and Finland, as well as in a small region of Estonia – Noarootsi.

Chronologically speaking, we can distinguish three periods in the evolution of Swedish language: Old Swedish, New Swedish and Modern Swedish.

- The first refers to the language spoken on the Swedish territory in the Middle Ages. The most relevant sample of this language was found in a law code, Västgötalagen, written around 1250.

- Gustav Vasa's Bible is one of the first documents written in New (literary) Swedish and dates back to the 16th century.

- Since then Swedish language has gone through various changes and, under the influence of writers and intellectuals, as well as due to the industrial development and internationalization, it has developed into becoming Modern Swedish, the language spoken by the Swedes today.

“Rikssvenska” (or Standard Swedish), is the official language of Sweden. It is used in media, officialdom and administration and it was created in accordance with the dialects spoken around Stockholm.

Swedish uses a 29 letters alphabet, 26 of Latin origin and three specific letters: ö, ä, å.

Its vocabulary is predominantly of Germanic origin. Borrowings from German and English are quite common together with many French words that became part of the language in the 18th century.

Both Swedish syntax and morphology resemble the ones of the other Germanic languages. Swedish verbs fall into five conjugations; the nouns are divided into five declensions and are inflected according to number, case and definiteness; the adjectives agree with the nouns and pronouns; the number words are cardinals and ordinals etc.

Although apparently a difficult language, Swedish may prove easy to learn for a person who speaks a language of Germanic origin and it is sure to create no problems for someone speaking another Scandinavian language.

Swedish is a working language of the Nordic Council and one of the official languages of the European Union.

Considered one of the countries with the highest living standard, Sweden is famous for its worldwide appreciated industry represented by companies like Volvo, IKEA, Tetra Pak etc.

Ioana Mihailas is a linguist for Lingo24 document translation companies, a top provider of technical translation services in London.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ioana_Mihailas

Björn Engdahl's Swedish Course

2008-10-28T11:18:00.000-07:00

Pronunciation guide to the Swedish language

As I said, the most difficult thing to start with, is the pronunciation. Therefore, you don't have to memorize all this at the beginning. You could just skim through it so as to get a rough idea of the basics. And then, as you expand your knowledge in Swedish, you could go back and try to make your pronunciation more Swedish. What you especially should look at is the tone and stress chapter and the phonems printed in bold.

The Swedish language has got two kinds of phonetical accents - the acute and the grave accents. The acute accent is the same as in many other languages. The tone is falling as in the English word speaker. This accent is employed in words of one syllable and in a few words of two or more syllables.

The grave accent is the one characteristic for the Swedish language, and it occurs in most words of more than one syllable. Here, the tone is falling too, on the first syllable, but the second syllable starts on a higher pitch than does the first, and a strong stress occurs. Most Swedish polysyllabic words have the main stress on the first syllable and the grave accent on one of the following syllables.

I will mark polysyllabic words employing the acute accent with an apostrophe (') behind the stressed syllable.

('segel = sail, the noun)Words using the grave accent are marked with a star (*) on the main stress syllable, and if needed, an apostrophe behind the syllable with the higher pitch

The following curve illustrates the pitch of the grave accent with the Swedish word *tala = to speak.

Here are some a couple of endings, all of which use the acute accent, stressed on the last syllable. It's not important that you memorize these endings at the beginning. Just learn to recognize them as you come across them.

-ang, -ant, -at, -ent, -eri, -ess, -ion, -ism, -ist, -log, -nom, -tris, -ur, -ör, -ös

Vowels: (all comparisons to English refer to the British pronunciation)

a [a:] as in father - ta = to take[a] as the the o in brother - katt = cat

o [o:] o exact English counterpart, but somewhat like the u in German rufen - ko = cow[o] like German u in und - hon = she

u [u:] no English counterpart, tongue position as for y but lips even more rounded - hus = house[u] somewhat like English er in letter, but lips rounded - brunn = a well

å [å:] similar to English saw - båt = boat[å] almost like English song - sång = song

e [e:] like the first part of the English here - se = to see[e] like English net - fett = fat

i [i:] similar to English ee in see, mouth more straightened - fil = file[i] almost like i in did - in = in

y [y:] similar to French rue and German müde, but lips more rounded and protruded - sy = to sew[y] the same but shorter, somewhat like German müssen and French lu - sytt = sewn

ä [ä:] before r similar to the first part of English hair - där = there. Else less open like French chaise - träd = tree[ä] before r like a in English carry - stjärt = bottom. Else like [e] - lätt = easy

ö [ö:] before r almost like i in bird - för = for. Else similar to French deux - söt = pretty[ö] before r like [ö:] befor r but shorter - dörr = door. Else like [ö:] but shorter - röst = voice

Consonants (I only write those whose pronunciation differs from the same letter in English)

d [d] as in English but put your tongue against the upper part of your teeth.

g [g] as in great when preceeding a,o,u,å or unstressed e[j] as English y in yes before e,i,y,ä,ö and after l and r

j [j] as y in English yes

k [k] as in English k before a,o,u and å[k] Somewhat like the ch in choose without the initial t-sound, or similar to German Ich

l [l] almost like English l, but with your tongue more to the front in your mouth

q [k] as English k

r [r] a roled r

t [t] similar to English t but with your tongue against the back of your teeth

w [v] as English v

x [ks] never [gz] as in English example, always [ks]

z, s [s] as English voiceless s

Certain combinations:

[s] ch, sk (before e,i,y,ä,ö), sj, schsi and ti (before -on), skj, stj, -ge and rs

Either you could pronounce it as sh in shall, but you could also use another sound similar to German ch in nach but softer.

[j] gj, lj, hj as y in English yes

[k] tj, ch (sometimes) see k above

[g] ng as in English sing

[gn] gn as it says

[gk] nk as it says

[k] ck as ck in English sick

[n] rn as n but with the tongue slightly further back in the mouth

[t] rt as t but with the tongue slightly further back in the mouth

Learn Swedish With the Course Used to Teach Diplomats!

2008-10-28T10:21:00.000-07:00

Foreign Service Swedish is for those that want to learn conversational Swedish fast. Developed by the U.S. State department and used by government agencies for the last 40 years, you too can learn Swedish quickly. With an easy to use, sensible, and efficient format, you will see why this course has been used by the Foreign Service for decades. Foreign Service Swedish is so effective you have nothing to lose!

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Building Blocks That Last a Lifetime

Little kids don't learn to speak a language by burying their nose in a book and neither will you. Drills, rules, and random lists of words rarely work for all but the most dedicated of students. Instead, Foreign Service Swedish immerses you in conversational Swedish from the first lesson, so you learn by doing. Studies show retention rates are far higher when you experience using a new skill rather than just reading or listening about it. Foreign Service Swedish provides the structure you need to make this happen fast.

Mirror, Mirror

Foreign Service Swedish immerses you in the sounds of Swedish right from the beginning. You need to learn to hear the similarities in sounds between English and Swedish before you even begin to learn new words. Foreign Service Swedish's Mirroring approach does just that. By revealing to you the sound and structure of Swedish first, you'll come to recognize words in conversation almost immediately after you've completed your first lesson. With a solid foundation, your Swedish skills will expand at a rate you hadn't imagined was possible!

This Isn't Your High School Language Class

Learning Swedish should be fun. Grammar drills? Not around here. Foreign Service Swedish doesn't quiz you on nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Such an approach is bound to fail given how boring it is. Instead, Foreign Service Swedish takes a much more subtle approach to revealing the structure of the Swedish language as you listen and practice speaking. Foreign Service Swedish gives you the tools you need to start forming your own Swedish sentences from the very beginning!

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Watch The Video To Learn More

How to Pronounce Polish Words Part 1

2008-10-27T15:52:00.000-07:00

By Martin Cheslak

The Polish language is often considered one of the most difficult for non-native speakers to learn, and one of the reasons cited is the difficulty foreigners have in pronouncing Polish words and phrases.

However, this shouldn't have to be so. Polish is, after all, a very phonetic language, and almost every single word is pronounced exactly as it is written (there are a few exceptions, but not many).

The Polish alphabet is very similar to the English one, with only some extra accent marks and unique letters. However, some of the letters which are the same in both Polish and English are pronounced differently, and this can lead to confusion among English speakers learning Polish.

The 32 letters of the Polish alphabet, with both upper and lower case, are: Aa, Ąą, Bb, Cc, Ćć, Dd, Ee, Ęę, Ff, Gg, Hh, Ii, Jj, Kk, Ll, Łł, Mm, Nn, Ńń, Oo, Óó, Pp, Rr, Ss, Śś, Tt, Uu, Ww, Yy, Żż, Źź, Zz. Notice that Qq, Vv, and Xx are not present in the Polish alphabet (more information about this in the second part of the article).

There are quite a few more vowels in the Polish language than in English. The Polish vowels are: a, ą, e, ę, i, o, ó, u, y. There are also several digraphs (two or more letters pronounced as one sound) in Polish, some of which have very unique pronunciation.

Once you learn how to pronounce the 32 letters of the alphabet and the digraphs above, reading Polish will become very simple and straightforward (understanding what you're reading may take some more work, however). For the sake of simplicity, I've presented a table below with an explanation of all the letters and digraphs and their pronunciation.

A a The Polish "a" is a lot softer than the English "a" sound, and sounds a little higher than the "ahhh" sound you make at the doctor's office (there is no corresponding English sound; you should listen to a Polish speaker to learn it correctly) Ą ą Sounds like the American English "ow" in the word "own" with a deep French accent (again, this is a uniquely Polish sound) B b Pronounced exactly like the English "b" C c Pronounced as the "ts" sound in English Ć ć This letter is pronounced as the "ch" in the word "cheese". Beware: people will tell you that "ć" and "cz" are pronounced the same; any native speaker will tell you this is not true! D d Pronounced just like the English "d" E e Pronounced just like the American English "e" in the word "let" Ę ę This sound is absolutely impossible for a foreigner to comprehend unless they hear it in person... it starts like the English "eh" and ends with an "wwww" sound with a thick French accent (please ask a Polish speaker to pronounce it for you to learn it correctly) F f Pronounced just like the English "f" G g Pronounced like the English "g" in the word "green" H h Pronounced like the "h" in "hello" I i Pronounced exactly like the American English "ee" in "bee" J j Pronounced like the "y" in "yesterday" K k Pronounced exactly like the English "k" L l Pronounced just like the English "l" Ł ł Pronounced exactly like the "w" in English M m Pronounced just like the English "m" N n Pronounced just like the English "n" Ń ń Pronounced like an English "n" but with the mouth spread wider apart (like the Spanish letter "ñ") O o Pronounced like the American English "o" in the word "more" Óó Pronounced as "oo" like in the American English "cool" P p Pronounced exactly like the English "p" R r Is pronounced with a roll of the tongue and lips in a circle, sounding like an engine running... "rrrrr" (much like the Spanish "r") S s Pronounced just like the English "s" Ś ś Pronounced like the American English "sh" sound T t Pronounced exactly like the English "t" U u Is pronounced "oo," exactly the same as the Polish "ó" letter. W w Pronounced like the English letter "v" Y y Pronounced like the "i" in the American English word "dim" Ż ż This sound is not present in English. It sounds like a combination of a rolled "r" and a "z" Ź ź This sound is also not present in English or the Western European languages. It sounds like a "ż" with a higher pitch; it is sometimes incorrectly transliterated as "zh"... this does not reflect the actual translation. Z z Pronounced just like the English "z"

Find more articles about the Polish language on the website of SlovoPol Group at http://www.slovopol.com. SlovoPol also provides professional low-cost Polish and English translations. Martin Cheslak is the author of this article, and has all rights to its distribution, except those granted to articlesbeyondbetter.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Martin_Cheslak

How to Pronounce Polish Words Part 2

2008-10-27T15:45:00.000-07:00

By Martin Cheslak

In Polish, every letter or digraph is pronounced separately, even when the same letters are written one after the other. For example, if a Polish word contains "nn" or "ll", both letters are pronounced separately. The stress is Polish is also very regular: almost every Polish word is pronounced with the stress on the second-from-last (penultimate) syllable. In some foreign words the stress will fall on the third-from-last syllable, but this is rare.

There are several digraphs (two or more letters pronounced as one sound) in Polish. It is important to learn these digraphs, because they will be pronounced the same way every time you see them, and the pronunciations are not always intuitive. The table below presents how to pronounce each digraph separately.

ch Pronounced exactly like the Polish "h" letter (equivalent to the English "h" in "hello")

ci Pronounced exactly like the Polish "ć"

cz Pronounced with a lower tone than the Polish "ć". To pronounce it, start saying "ć" then stick your lips further out

dzi Pronounced like the American English word "gee"

dź, dz Pronounced like the "j" in the American English word "jeans"

dż A deeper sound than the "dź", it is pronounced like the "j" in the American English word "jungle", but with the lips further out

ni Pronounced like the Polish "ń"

rz Pronounced just like the Polish letter "ż"

si Pronounced like the Polish "ś"

sz Pronounced with a lower tone than the Polish "ś". To pronounce it, start saying "ś" then stick your lips further out

zi Pronounced exactly like the Polish "ź"

Major Exceptions to Be Aware Of:

There is a phenomenon in the Polish language known as devoicing. Devoicing happens when one of the letters b, d, g, w, or z occur at the end of a word. When this occurs, the consonant is softened and changes its pronunciation. For example, the letters b, d, g, w, and z would change their pronunciation to p, t, k, f and s.

The letters q, v, and x are not present in the native Polish alphabet, yet you may encounter them while reading a document in Polish or while traveling through Poland. The reason for this is that they are used only in words which are direct foreign loanwords, such as English words which have not had their spelling changed to follow Polish grammatical rules.

In certain situations, you will need to know how to pronounce these letters. The "q", which is rarely encountered in Polish, is pronounced as the English letters "kw". The "v" can be pronounced two ways: usually as a English "v" in English loanwords, but as an English "f" is words of German origin. The "x", which is fairly common in some written Polish documents, is pronounced as the English "ks".

Find more articles about the Polish language on the website of SlovoPol Group at http://www.slovopol.com. SlovoPol also provides professional low-cost Polish and English translations. Martin Cheslak is the author of this article, and has all rights to its distribution, except those granted to articlesbeyondbetter.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Martin_Cheslak

Polish Language - An Overview from a Translation Company

2008-10-27T15:38:00.000-07:00

By Ioana Mihailas

The official language of Poland, Polish is spoken by over forty million people worldwide. Speakers of Polish are commonly found in Canada, France, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia - countries where they emigrated to during the two world wars. Polish is also spoken in some small regions of Ukraine, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Belarus.

A descendant of Old Polish, Polish belongs to the West-Slavic group of the Indo-European languages together with Czech and Slovak. The first document written in Polish was called "Gniezno papal bull" and it included several hundreds of Polish names.

Polish language makes use of the Latin alphabet but it also uses some diacritics. Its difficult and diverse reading rules, as well as the tendency to conglomerate numerous consonants in a row in one word, makes it difficult to be learned by foreigners.

Polish nouns, pronouns and adjectives decline in seven cases. Polish verbs have three tenses, three moods and three voices and, as a peculiarity, they have a feature called "aspect". The "aspect" can be perfective or imperfective, depending on whether the action is completed or not.

The Polish language has several dialects but the differences between them are insignificant to such an extent that a non-native speaker could not make a difference between them. The most important Polish dialects are: Great Polish (used in the west), Lesser Polish (spoken in the south), Silesian (used in the South-West) and Mazovian (spoken in the East and in Central Poland).

The language of personalities like Henryk Sienkiewicz, Ludwik Zamenhof (the inventor of Esperanto), Krzysztof Kie[lowski and Roman PolaDski, Polish is a language that has always been associated with culture and history. Far from being an 'old' language, Polish continues to develop and adapt to modern times, mostly by borrowing new words from English and German.

Ioana Mihailas is a linguist for Lingo24 Translation Services. Please feel free to visit our website http://www.lingo24.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ioana_Mihailas

Dutch Language - An Overview From a Translation Company

2008-10-22T16:54:00.000-07:00

By Ioana Mihailas

Dutch language started to take shape at the middle of the 5th century AD. The language spoken by the inhabitants of the Netherlands back then was called Old Dutch and it developed from Lower Franconian (Niederfränkisch), a dialect of Low German.

Middle Dutch was the language used during the 12th and the 15th century and since the year 1500 we can speak of Modern Dutch, a language very similar to Standard Dutch, the language currently used by the Dutch people. Standard Dutch is called "Algemeen Beschaafd Nederlands" meaning "general civilized Dutch".

The name of the Dutch language comes from the word Dietsc / Duutsc (language of the people), as people used to call it in the Middle Ages.

Dutch is a West Germanic language spoken in the Netherlands, Belgium, Suriname and other Dutch colonies, as well as in small parts of Germany and France. It has an official status in the Netherlands, Flanders, Suriname, Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles and it manages to sum up around 23 million native speakers worldwide (15 million residing in the Netherlands).

Dutch used to be the official language of South Africa until 1961, contributing to the development of Afrikaans, one of the official languages of South Africa.

Dutch has several dialects, the most important being Flemish, spoken in Flanders (Belgium). Compared to Standard Dutch, it uses older words and a softer pronunciation.

Like the other Germanic languages, Dutch uses the Latin alphabet. As a particularity, it contains the group of letters "3" that stands for the more common "y" which is used only in foreign words.

Dutch language has three genders (masculine, feminine and neuter) but they are quite often reduced to two (common and neuter). Cases are used mainly for pronouns, while common nouns and adjectives are not case inflected.

The Dutch vocabulary is predominantly of Germanic origin and it is one of the richest in the world, containing approximately 190,000 words.

Other particularities of the Dutch language are the extensive use of doubled letters (mostly due to the formation of compound words) and the devoicing of all consonants at the end of the words.
Ioana Mihailas is a linguist for Lingo24 Translations Service London, a provider of high quality technical translation services.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ioana_Mihailas

Dutch Progression: The Changes in the Dutch Language in the 20th Century

2008-10-22T15:08:00.000-07:00

By Philip Nicosia

The Dutch language is spoken by more than 22 million people, most of them in countries like the Netherlands and Belgium. Given this statistic, Dutch can be considered as one of the more popular languages in Europe.

Before the 17th century the Dutch language was not yet standardized. There were many dialects in existence that it was beginning to pose a problem.

After the 17th century, after the standardization of the Dutch language has taken place, it became so much easier to identify the distinctions between the standard Dutch language and its dialects. But the developments surrounding the Dutch language has continued well into the 19th and 20th century. Because of the influences being exerted by other languages like German, French, and English, the standard Dutch language is undergoing a change.

One of the more noticeable change in the Dutch language over the past century is with regards to pronunciation. The voiceless pronunciation of certain letters or syllables are now entering the standard language and is a unique feature that was more commonly heard from a dialect found in a province in Holland. These voiceless pronunciations commonly revolve around “v” as “f”, “z” as “s” and “g” as “x”. This current trend mirrors the desire for a change in spelling Dutch as near to its phonological sound as possible. This would mean that each particular sound is represented by a single letter or that a grapheme is only made in one particular way.

There is also a shift in how three diphthongs are being pronounced. The diphthongs in reference are ei, ui, and ou. The current shift for these are now moving towards aai, ou, and aau. This change was first seen among women who are middle aged and well educated and who come from the upper middle class. These women are identified with the world of the academia, politics, arts and literature.

From these beginnings the practice eventually spread out to women from other demographics. But lately even men have started employing this language change. It is also becoming employed by children, even those under the age of ten years and from very diverse backgrounds.

Already, this change can be heard in large parts of the Netherlands, but most especially among women of Turkish or Moroccan descent.

There are also some changes being seen in the area of morphology. One very significant change is inclusion of plural endings ( -s) even for nouns. This change is mostly seen in words that end in –e – for example, hoogte – de hoogtes, which was usually hoogten.

Even the suffix –baar is becoming more and more prevalently used in modern Dutch usage more often in the use of neologisms. In turn, the suffix -(e)lijk is becoming less and less used and in fact is being ignored in favor of the aforementioned –baar.

There is even a rising use of “concentrations” in modern Dutch. This is most commonly seen when using multi part compound nouns.

LearnMyLingo.com delivers a variety of quick language learning programs right to your desktop including Dutch and a free language learning guide, 8 ways to learn a language quickly and easily.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Philip_Nicosia

7 Reasons You Should Choose Chinese As a Second Language

2008-10-21T14:42:00.000-07:00

By Rosie Wang

Reason 1 - Over 1.2 billion people speak the Chinese Language. It is spoken by one out of every five people on earth, more than any other language in the world.

Reason 2 - The Chinese civilization is over 6000 years. Learning the language is the key to explore and appreciate the cumulative knowledge and experience of one the world's oldest and exquisite cultures.

Reason 3 - China is becoming a dominant player in the international economic and financial system of this century. With China joining the WTO, it has created huge demands for a greater understanding and trading with the world's fastest growing nation.

Reason 4 - The United States government has designated Americas relations with China as one of the most important foreign policy issues. Ever-broadening U.S. - China relations in various business fields has increased the importance of Chinese presence in American communities.

Reason 5 - Chinese is one of the four "critical languages" for Americans. Understanding and proficient in the Chinese language are of critical importance to the United States in economic advantages and opportunities.

Reason 6 - Chinese communities have played important roles, including science, business, education, arts and various services in local communities of all countries around the world. Being able to communicate with and better understand these community members is a benefit in our multicultural society.

Reason 7 - Learning Chinese not only satisfies our desire to grasp a foreign language but it can also be the greatest asset to career advancement. There are increasing opportunities for government and business careers as well as for scientific, scholarly and cultural exchanges.

(http://www.chinese-online.info)

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rosie_Wang

An Introduction to Learning Chinese

2008-10-21T14:17:00.000-07:00

By Kip Owens

The Chinese language has over 40,000 characters, but only 10,000 are commonly used. To fully understand the language (at least in reading and writing), you need to learn Chinese Characters. Chinese is considered one of the most beautiful, but complex languages in the world. There are over 1 billion people that live in China, not including overseas Chinese Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and parts of Malaysia -- Which makes Chinese the most spoken language in the world. With the growing economic prosperity of these areas, more and more schools are offering Chinese language programs.

Chinese is a very diversified language, with twelve different dialects of spoken Chinese The national dialect of China is Mandarin, or "pu tong hua" which translates into "the people's language." I would recommend learning it to many people, with over 50% of China's population able to speak Mandarin. The language is based on ideaograms, or based strongly on symbols and characters. Loosely it is based on combinations of 214 elementary pictographs called " Chinese radicals."

The Chinese language is one of the oldest languages in the world. In fact, the earliest traces of written Chinese go as far back as the early Zhou Dynasty, or over 3,000 years ago. While the Chinese culture itself has seen constant changes over its long life, the grammar, vocabulary, and writing system have mostly remained preserved.

The grammar and sentence structure of Chinese is very different from English. For example, in English, someone may say "I will run," "I am running," "I have ran," but in Chinese someone can say, "Wo zuo"(which means "I run") with time as an adverb such as today, tomorrow, in a little while, etc. Chinese sentences take up less space than the English translation. This is because sentences only need to consist of several characters.

Mandarin is the most widely spoken of the Chinese language and can be a bit difficult to learn, but there are many sites online that can help get you started.

A great source of articles for learning beginner Chinese is the Chinese crunch blog. There are 10 mistakes that all beginner Chinese students make that slow them down and are very frustrating. Read on to learn how to recognize and avoid the 10 common mistakes people make learning Mandarin Chinese.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kip_Owens

Important Points To Consider Before You Learn To Speak Chinese

2008-10-21T14:07:00.000-07:00

By Mukil Krishnasamy

Mandarin Chinese is the main language in Mainland China and is used on a day to day basis by more than 50% of the population. While there are a number of dialects spoken throughout Chinese provinces, the number of users of Mandarin Chinese is constantly growing, along with the growing status that now recognizes Mandarin as China's official national language.

People right across the world learn Chinese language for a variety of reasons including to improve their chances of employment, to help them negotiate internal business agreements or to enhance their travel experiences. While in the past, you may have been concerned about which Chinese language to learn and master, take heart that Mandarin is the second language of over 40 million people of Chinese descent throughout the world and so it is the natural choice when it comes to deciding to learn Chinese. It is not only spoken in the People's Republic of China, Taiwan and Singapore but also used widely throughout countries in Southeast Asia and other parts of the world where Chinese-speaking communities are present.

Chinese is a truly fascinating language to study and it is relatively simple to learn to speak Chinese at the fundamental level. Chinese is based on a simple structure language and character structure, and it uses varying tones to give different meanings to a word. As soon as you start to learn Chinese, you will realize though, that it is so much more than just a language though. When you learn to speak Chinese you get a window into understanding Chinese culture and way of life.

Mukil Krishnasamy is an expert in language learning skills. Learn Chinese and Learn To Speak Chinese with the guidance of the Language Advisor. You can also find free online courses at http://www.language-advisor.com/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mukil_Krishnasamy

Learn Italian Home Study

2008-10-19T12:27:00.000-07:00

By Sunil Tanna

Italian is spoken by around 63 million. Italian speakers can be found in a number of countries, including of course Italy, where the majority of Italian speakers live. Other countries where Italian is an official language include San Marino, Switzerland (where it is one of four official languages along with French, German and Romansh), and the Italian national community in Slovenia. In the Vatican City, Italian is also widely spoken, although Latin is the official language. Additionally, you can find Italian speaking communities in many countries around the world.

Learning Italian is a very useful if you plan to do business in Italy or another Italian speaking area. Additionally, Italian is to greater or less extent used in various fields as a Lingua Franca,including in some areas of the Roman Catholic Church, in fashion, in some areas of the arts (particularly design and visual arts, as well as opera), and to some degree in sports such as motor racing and soccer.

If you decide to learn Italian, the most obvious option is probably to go to Italian classes. Classes do suit many people, but of course they are not to everyone's tastes. Additionally, for some people, going to classes can impractical, either because they can't fit classes around their schedule, or because there simply are no classes in the area in which they live.

An alternative option is home study. Home study allows you to work at your own pace, enjoy flexible schedule, and of course learn in the comfort of your own home. Once upon a time, home study courses were mainly books and tapes, and while these options are still available, today, you can also find many computer-based courses.

By S. Tanna. Discover how to learn Italian at home at http://www.downloadfocus.com/cat_language_italian.php

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sunil_Tanna

Slow Down With Italian Words

2008-10-19T12:22:00.000-07:00

By Shareen Aguilar

The Italian language is among the Romance languages that is popularly studied and spoken by many other speakers. Regardless of the native language of a person, learning how to study Italian is always the first, second or third choice in language learning. This is because there are already many Italian speakers in mainland US and apart from that, the Italian culture has clashed with that of the US just fine. Eating spaghetti is an Italian custom, so while you're at it, why not complete what you need to know about the Italian language itself.

Though we notice Italian speakers conversing in their native language in a fast pace, it doesn't mean you have to do the same in each of your Italian exercises. It's not a problem though, in terms of pronouncing Italian words since each syllable (similar to the Spanish language) is pronounced just as how they appear. Any beginner can learn this part of the Italian language well. But there is a trick. Most newbies usually consider speaking very fast since the native Italians that they hear in a normal conversation has this trait. Don't be fooled any further, emphasize your consonants and vowels on every Italian word you use if you want to be understood.

Italian food is scattered everywhere and are popular in the American market. If you get the chance, try to read Italian ingredients, produce and beverages just as how an Italian native would read it. Read it out loud, as if you are teaching yourself the best way to pronounce it. You will realize that this activity, if done more so often, makes you comfortable in speaking the Italian language in public. When the right time comes, when you are all prep up in speaking Italian with Italian speakers regardless you are in your own country or in mainland Italy, you know that you are prepared and up for the exciting experience.

Shareen Aguilar is a writer for Learn Italian which has Memory Improvement Books and Memory Game Software for better Italian language memorization.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Shareen_Aguilar

Learn Italian And Its Origin

2008-10-19T12:15:00.000-07:00

By Shareen Aguilar

The Italian language has developed from its ancestor, Latin, during the 13th and 14th century. Though Italian shares about 85% of similarities to the Spanish and French languages, it is still easier to pronounce. Each word is pronounced exactly as how it is spelled.

However, the Italian language has many sub categories and these are called the Italian dialects. Each town in Italy has different Italian language but the good thing about it is that the Modern Italian language has spread to countries like Somalia. A misunderstanding often happens between an Italian speaking person (not a pure Italian) and an Italian native. This is because the Italian native may have been born in a different district in Italy and the language he could be using is not the standard Italian language but one of the Italian dialects from towns that lie on the outskirt of Italy.

There is still a chance to learn the standard Italian language easy and fast. By using very simple memorization technique, a person can master Italian words even if it just takes a 10 to 15 minute session each day. Below is an example.

The pink ballerina elephant leads the dance and closes the show and receives a whale of applause from the elephant audience.

This method is called Link-Word. This is a memorization technique use to enhance a person’s memory. The idea is to link all the Italian word and its English meaning in one absurd story. Only that the Italian word is replaced by another English word that sounds much like the Italian term.

Italian = Balena

English word used = ballerina

English translation = whale

What’s good about this technique is that it can be used by anyone, of any age. It is a brain exercise which is safe for anybody to try. And it’s all natural too.

Shareen Aguilar is a writer for http://learn-italian-program.com which has Memory Improvement Books and Memory Game Software for better Italian language memorization.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Shareen_Aguilar

Learn How to Speak Italian - Excellent Reasons to Speak Italian

2008-10-19T12:08:00.000-07:00

By Valentina Capra

Do you want to learn how to speak Italian? Italian is the most beautiful and harmonic language in the world. Who doesn't love the sound of this fantastic language?

How many people enjoy themselves eating in an Italian restaurant, travelling around the world and visiting museums full of Italian masterpieces of ancient and modern art? How many people plan to buy a house in Italy close to the sea or in the countryside and spend most of their holidays in the sun or to start a new business in this fantastic country?

A lot of people have the false belief that Italian language is difficult to learn but my experience as a teacher of foreign students is that with the right method everyone can easily speak and understand Italian.

Italian pronunciation is fun and easy and the Italian words are written in such a way that everyone can immediately pronounce them.

Furthermore, foreign people already know hundreds of Italian words having learnt them in a natural and unaware way by watching TV, going to Italian restaurants or even going shopping in the market and buying Italian products.

Who has never heard the word pasta, pizza, opera, caffè, cappuccino, lasagne, bella and ciao? Yes they're all Italian.

If you are passionate about Italy and its culture but you work and you don't have time to go in an Italian school, attend private lessons and you want to learn Italian fast, the perfect solution for you is to try Rocket Italian a new and effective course of Italian, which is easy and pleasant for all levels, from beginners to advance.

Click here to Learn How to Speak Italian today!

Valentina Capra is a qualified Italian Language teacher, who teaches private and group lessons in England. Her methods of teaching students is the best and quickest way to learn Italian, possible.

Learn how to Speak Italian at http://www.rocket-italian.org/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Valentina_Capra

How to Understand Common Italian

2008-10-19T11:47:00.000-07:00

The Italian language is a beautiful language, as they say. You can learn how to speak most of the common words, which will get you around when you take a trip to Italy. You will need to know all this when shopping in an outdoor Italian Marketplace.

1 Learn some common greetings. It will show people that you are friendly.

Good Morning = Buongiorno (Bone-Jor-No) Good Afternoon = Buon Pomeriggio (Bone-po-mer-i-jo) Good Evening = Buona sera (bon-a-say-ra) Good Night = Buona notte (Bon-a-no-tay) Hi/Bye = Ciao (chow)

(informal) 2 Remember that after you say hello, you will leave eventually, so learn the next important word.Goodbye = arrivederci (a-reev-ay-der-chee) (formal) ciao (chow) (informal)

3 Have dinner or lunch out, or make a date to meet a special someone, and you may want to learn these words to pay the bill and not be cheated.

1 = uno 2 = due (doo-ay) 3 = tre 4 = quattro 5 = cinque (chin-quay) = sei (say) 7 = sette 8 = otto 9 = nove (no-vay) 10 = dieci (dee-a-chi)

4 Never forget these other words, or you might get into a problem area and not be able to get out.

No = no Yes = si (see)

5 Always be polite. That is always a nice way to make friends, and be invited back.
Thank you = grazie (gra-tsee-e) You're welcome = prego Buongiorno is used from the morning until 2pm (1:00 -14:00). Buon pomeriggio is used in the afternoon (14:00-evening). Buona sera is for the evening Buona notte is either after 24:00 or when you are going to bed. If you don't understand, try to say this: Non parlo italiano. This is only basic Italian. Don't stop learning the language. It is beautiful and melodic.

Tips The vowels have the exact same sound every time:

a = ah e = ay i = ee o = oh u = oo "ci" is pronounced "chi" "chi" is pronounced "kee"

There are rarely any "sh" or "g" sounds in Italian.Roll your tongue when making "r" sounds. This is important because your words won't sound Italian if you don't roll your tongue.

Usually when there is a z, there is a "t" sound before it. For example, ragazzo (boy), sounds like (ra-gat-zo)

Listen to it being spoken. That is a quick way to pick up key words and phrases.

Learn French Online With Skype And A Native Speaker!

2008-10-18T19:49:00.000-07:00

By Franck Silvestre

Let's face it, learning the French language is not easy. You already know it, otherwise you would be able to pick the phone and speak with me today. The very best way to accelerate your learning curve is to learn with a native speaker.

The Internet made it easy to learn anything. You can literally learn French over skype without moving from your home.

Let me give you some tips to be sure that you learn French fast this year.

Learn Basic French Tip 1. Fixed Schedule

Make sure that you dedicate at least one hour per week to your French lessons. If you can have two hours or more, you will make more progress, but one hour per week is a good start.

Skype is not expensive, so you are not going to pay a lot of money to learn.

Learn Basic French Tip 2. Native Speaker

No need to say that you want to talk with a native if you really want to learn modern French. You don't want to learn words that nobody use. And you don't want people to laugh at you either.

Learn Basic French Tip 3. Learn French Software

I advise you that you get a French software to revise what you learn with your tutor. Rocket French will help you to revise because it is really well structured and beginner friendly.

I recommend it to my mentee.

To learn French, you need to be organized and spend at least one hour per week on skype. You need to speak with someone else. This is a the secret to learn any language.

Want to Learn French Fast? Visit http://www.learnfrenchexpert.com/

Franck Silvestre is a French native who helps others who want to learn to speak french online.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Franck_Silvestre

Why You Should Learn French in Paris - A Powerful Reason To Travel To France!

2008-10-18T19:45:00.000-07:00

By Franck Silvestre

If you have ever wanted to learn the French language, the best way to do this it to learn French in Paris. That's right, travel to Paris and immerse yourself in the culture. This will teach you the French language faster than any home study course or night class.

The reason that it is easier to learn French in Paris is because you can actually feel the emotions behind the words that are used. You can hear the proper dictation of the way the French words are pronounced. You can see the facial expressions the French use to get their point across. This is the best French language education you can get.

When you are learning the French language from the great people of Paris, you will be having a lot more fun than if you were taking a dry online course or night class. You will be able to go out an enjoy the nightlife and tour the museums. You can immerse yourself completely in the French culture.

When you learn French in Paris you get to experience the sights and sounds of Paris as you learn. You are essentially receiving two educations when you are learning the language of Paris.

So if you have the desire to learn to speak French, there is no better way than to learn French in Paris. When you travel back to your home country, your friends and family will be amazed at how well you can speak the French language. So what are you waiting for, book your travel plans to Paris today!

Want to become fluent in French FAST? Visit http://www.learnfrenchexpert.com/

Franck Silvestre is a French native. Visit his website if you want to learn How To Speak French online.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Franck_Silvestre

Learn to Speak French to Better Yourself

2008-10-18T19:32:00.000-07:00

By Chrisitne Breen

Learning a foreign language especially if you want to learn to speak French, is terrific endeavor. French is widely spoken in a crazy variety of places so no global traveler should really go without learning this language. The opportunity to learn French is precious, since this is the language of many UN missions. To learn French is to advance socially and morally.

If you are a native English speaker, one of the best reasons to learn French is to help you understand your own language. The most important thing you need to learn French is the desire to acquire the language. The best way to learn French is to have a French course that will teach you to speak French in an easy way.

There are many ways to learn to speak French. You can buy a book and try to teach yourself though without hearing the words spoken you cannot learn it correctly. You could also buy very expensive audio tapes or a cd set with books but last time I checked those are several hundred dollars! If you can find a local class that meets when you can attend, isn't too expensive or too far away and moves at a pace that works for you then that would be a good choice. But how many of us have a local French class that we can attend?

The best way to learn to speak French is to put yourself around native French speaking people. Just making the effort to learn French is half the battle.

Find out the best way to learn to speak French at your own pace!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chrisitne_Breen

Learn French in France

2008-10-17T13:44:00.000-07:00

A French immersion experience is the most expensive way to learn the French language. It is not a viable option for everyone; there are choices such as online lessons, school tuition, software, etc., for an inexpensive way to learn French. But if you can afford it, learn immersion style in France.

French is one of the languages that always come on top of the list of the languages that one would like to learn. The fact that it is considered the language of love and romance with a rich cultural history coupled with the fact that it is the official language of more than 30 countries all around the world explains why most people are eager to learn it as a second or third language.

There are many ways in which one can choose to learn the French language. The standard option is to go sign up for regular language classes at a language training institute. Since this is not an option for most people in today’s fast paced life and work culture, many other flexible options to learn the language have sprung up in recent times. The most popular of them are the online or PC based French language courses that offer an interactive and flexible option to learn the French language.

But, the best way of all to learn the French language for people with time, resources and inclination is to undertake what is popularly known as a French immersion course. A French immersion course will mean that you will have to travel to France from your country of residence for a short while and undertake a French learning course there. The most obvious advantage with this way of learning French is that you will be tutored by native French speakers in a course developed by them, so it will be without doubt the best French language course you could ever take. Travelling all the way to France and staying there for the duration of your course will mean that you will have to encounter and relate to native French speakers day in and day out throughout the course of your stay.

There is no equal to this real life French experience, as you will learn to speak the language from native speakers in their own country, interact with them everyday and gain a firsthand understanding of French life and culture. A French immersion course will provide ample opportunities each day to improve your French language skills - be it haggling with a vegetable grocer over the price of tomatoes, or asking someone for directions to go visit your favorite tourist spot in Paris, or even asking the French girl or boy that you happen to meet to accompany you on a date! You will have no choice but to exercise your new found French muscles to the full during your stay in France!

An important point to note is that though most preferred France is not the only French immersion destination. Canada with its own take on French culture and large French speaking population is another great place to have your French immersion experience. Another exciting option is to visit one of the popular French speaking Caribbean islands on a vacation and also club your French immersion experience with it. Whatever be the place you choose to have your French immersion experience, you are guaranteed to master every nuance of the language and have a load of fun along the way!

Learning French Online: a Review of Language Guide.org

2008-10-17T13:26:00.000-07:00

Part 1 of 2

One great Internet resource for learning French is http://www.languageguide.org/francais/. Read on to learn how you can use this site to learn vocabulary, grammar and reading/discourse skills in French.

One of the Internet's simplest tools for French language learning is http://www.languageguide.org/francais/. The layout of the site is straightforward and the tools it offers are effective for learning language quickly, without getting bored.

The Pictorial Vocabulary Guide Rating

There are three main sections on the French Language Guide website. The first is the Pictorial Vocabulary Guide, an incredibly simple and helpful dictionary. The Pictorial Vocabulary Guide is simple to navigate; it is divided into seven larger groups of vocabulary domains. The vocabulary groups build from simpler to more complex domains.

When you click on any particular domain within one of the groups, a new page will pop up, displaying pictorial representations of the vocabulary to be taught. For example, the les vêtements d'homme, when clicked on, will open a page displaying images of men's clothing items. As you scroll over the pictures of the clothing items with your mouse, each word will automatically be pronounced in French. There is no need to download any sound files: they are directly embedded in the page and activated at once when you scroll over them. As you scroll over the item, you will also see a small box appear with the written form of the French word. This method is wonderful, as it allows you to quickly and easily see a picture, see the written form of the word, and hear the correct pronunciation of that word. Since the vocabulary is separated by domain, you can easily choose which group of words you want to learn and tackle that domain.

The Grammar Section Rating

The section division of the French Language Guide site is the Grammar division. At the top of the Grammar page, there are links to a Grammar Introduction and to a Pronunciation section. Both these sections--Grammar Introduction and Pronunciation--are well organized with subdivisions and are extremely helpful. They describe the basics of French grammar and the pronunciation of all the sounds in the French language, supplementing the informative text with clear audio files. Just as in the Pictorial Vocabulary Guide, you need only scroll over the French words to hear them pronounced: no file downloading is required.

After the introductions, the grammar section offers four areas of grammar with a number of lessons in each area: verbs, miscellaneous, pronouns and adverbs. Click on one of the lessons in any of these four groups; Relative Pronouns, for example, and you will open a page that explains in detail how that particular grammatical concept works in French. As usual, the clear written text is supplemented by scroll-over-activated audio files, making it easy to learn and remember French grammatical concepts.

The Reading Section Rating

In learning a new language, it is essential to learn how the language functions not just in words, phrases or sentences, but at a higher discourse level--particularly the narrative level. Until you are able to understand the read and spoken flow of a story in a foreign language, you don't really know that language. That is what makes the Readings section of this website so useful. This page offers beginning readings (each rated "easy," "medium," or "hard") as well as advanced readings. If you click on a particular reading/story, such as Deux Amis, you will open a page of text that is accompanied by an audio version of the story. Many of the vocabulary words in the story will be underlined with a small dotted line; when you scroll over these particular words, you will see a small pop-up box that gives an English definition of the word, along with example sentences in English or French.

An Excellent Resource Rating

Overall, the French Language Guide is a fabulous resource to utilize in your self-directed French language learning. It is not comprehensive, of course, but few language resources are. But the help it offers is straightforward, easily accessible, and effective in that they employ both readable and audible content. Use this site faithfully, and your ability to use French vocabulary and grammar will be greatly enhanced.

Learning French OnlineIf you want to jumpstart your French language learning, the internet offers many excellent resources. These reviews of web resources will help you decide which ones may best help you improve your French grammar and vocabulary and enhance your knowledge of Frenchlanguage and culture.1. Learning French Online: a Review of LanguageGuide.org 2. Learning French Online: a Review of BBC's French Language Resources
http://www.brighthub.com/education/languages/reviews/11153.aspx

1. Learning French Online: a Review of LanguageGuide.org

2. Learning French Online: a Review of BBC's French Language Resources

Learning French Online: a Review of BBC's French Language Resources

2008-10-17T13:24:00.000-07:00

Part 2 of 2

The British Broadcasting Corporation offers online resources for French language learning. Their layout is a little more complex than some language learning sites, but is still navigable. BBC's French resources are interactive, fun and useful in language learning.

Overall, BBC offers a plethora of fun and helpful language learning resources, especially for French. The only negative aspect of their offerings is the slightly disorganized format in which the resources are presented. For example, one resource offered by BBC is "Ma France," an interactive video series for intermediate level French students. There are three separate links to "Ma France" on BBC's main page, making the interface a little confusing. But once you get the hang of how to access your favorite elements of their site, BBC can provide you with hours of French learning through listening, reading and evaluating your progress with the tools they offer.

French Steps: a 12-Week Beginner's Course Rating

French Steps is one of BBC's resources featured on the main French page. It is an excellent tool for jumpstarting your French language learning, used either alone or in conjunction with other resources. On the left sidebar of the French Steps webpage, you'll see the curriculum is divided into six "Stages." Each of these stages includes several lessons, organized by domains of life and vocabulary. For example, Stage Four includes the lessons "Restaurant," "Shopping" and "Food."

Each lesson in French Steps offers a video for you to watch (the "video" is simply a series of screen shots, each with optional French and/or English subtitles) and several exercises to reinforce the content taught in the video: these exercises are: 1. Guess the words, 2. Build sentences, and 3. Speak and write. Once you have completed all twelve weeks of lessons, you will have a good beginning grasp on the French language, as well as having developed a good ear for French pronunciation, thanks to the video/audio content.

Talk French: a Supplemental Video-based Course Rating

Talk French is another video-based resource offered on BBC's website. Although it supplements a BBC program, many people will not have access to this program (since it's not broadcast in the U.S. and many other countries). However, this web resource is useful in its own right.

Talk French is divided into nine different sections, each of which contains several clips, an interactive word game and a printable worksheet for further practice. The video clips show you French speakers in their daily locales; as the video clips progress, you can pause and stop the video whenever you wish or go backwards or forwards. Subtitles in French and English, which appear on the right, can be turned off if you don't prefer to see them. The interactive word games let you play with the French concepts that the video clips introduced to you; you will be able to match pictures with phrases, put things in correct columns or rearrange words. Finally, the worksheets can be printed out; they give you a chance to write your own sentences and do more written practice of the French concepts you're learning.

Ma France: an Intermediate Video Rating

If you already know some French and simply want to brush up on what you know and improve your French language skills, BBC's 24-video series Ma France might be perfect for you! In these videos, which were shot in Lyon, Provence and the Alps region, Stéphane Cornicard will serve as your French-speaking guide. Each video is accompanied by downloadable English and French transcripts and by fun activities, such as various card games, interactive roleplays, and cultural quizzes.

Other French Language Resources Rating

Besides the three video-based courses offered on BBC's website, there are a number of other resources you may want to take advantage of. One is an interactive test that gives you immediate feedback on your level of competency in French. Another resource is the Quick Fix page, which offers you lists of useful phrases in mp3 format, along with a text version of the phrases that you can download and print; the Quick Fix phrases are divided into various domains (accommodations, food and drink, beach, etc.). In addition to these resources, the BBC page also offers more language games, grammar tips, an online French/English dictionary, and external links to other French language-learning resources.

Overall Review of BBC's French Language Site Rating

Overall, the BBC's French language learning site is an excellent resource. While French vocabulary lists, online dictionaries and grammar tips can be found elsewhere, BBC offers three great video courses that are definitely worth the investigation of any serious self-directed student of the French language.

Learning French Online

If you want to jumpstart your French language learning, the internet offers many excellent resources. These reviews of web resources will help you decide which ones may best help you improve your French grammar and vocabulary and enhance your knowledge of Frenchlanguage and culture.

French in Action Language Learning Curriculum: a Review

2008-10-17T13:07:00.000-07:00

French in Action is a dynamic, excellent language learning curriculum that will help you drastically improve your reading, listening, speaking and writing ability in French. It is easy to use in self-directed learning, has elements that are online and will provide hours of language learning fun!

French in Action is an excellent curriculum set for self-directed French language learning. The program includes a textbook, a workbook, and video and audio components (the video and audio are accessible for free online). The French in Action program, first produced in 1987, is published by the Yale University Press and is truly an excellent language learning resource. It enables a learner to observe everyday French “in action” through a video series that develops an interesting, romantic storyline. I will outline each element of the curriculum here. These tools can be used separately or, for best learning, in conjunction with one another. Depending how much of the material you choose to use, you will spend a small sum of money or you may spend nothing!

The Videos

The French in Action video series can be streamed online from the Annenberg Media website; there are fifty-two videos, each one a half hour long. The video series tells the story of a young university student named Mireille, her life, friendships and romance. The videos are completely in French, but they begin very slowly and they repeat concepts and phrases over and over. I recommend watching each episode a couple of times, until you start to grasp what the lessons are about. A professor makes regular appearances throughout the video series, guiding learners through new vocabulary and grammar structures. Since these videos can be watched completely free and can be accessed online, they are an excellent resource. They also offer invaluable access to French culture, particularly to the “pinnacle” of French culture, that which is set in Paris! The language and culture you can glean from this video series is truly phenomenal, and the story line in also quite engaging.

You can find the French in Action videos at the Annenberg Foundation’s website.

The Textbook

You can find the French in Action textbook for a very reasonable price at amazon.com or abebooks. Be sure to look for the Second Edition and be sure to buy both Part 1 and Part 2—there are two textbooks to make the size manageable. The textbook includes several helpful elements. Each chapter of the text corresponds to one half-hour video, and contains the entire written transcript of the video! Needless to say, this is invaluable in being able to match the sound of the French language with the written form of the language. In addition, each chapter contains many pictures (black and white) and a handful of exercises. It is helpful to have the text as a supplement to the videos.

If you want to listen to the spoken text without having to watch the video, you can stream it online. Each chapter has to be accessed separately online. For example, to access chapter two of the text, you would go to: http://otter.middlebury.edu/ns-media/frenchmedia/action/02-00.mp3. Where you see the “2” in that web address, you would simply enter the number for whichever chapter you wished to hear the entire text. This is a great way to hear and see the language at the same time and get familiar with the spelling of different French sounds!

The Workbook and Audio Files

The third element of the French in Action is the workbook. Like the textbooks, there are two workbooks to cover the 52 videos of the series, and if you look for the workbooks on Amazon’s or ABE Books’ websites, you should look for the Second Edition and make sure to buy both Part 1 and Part 2 if you plan to go through the whole series! For each video and corresponding chapter of the textbook, the workbook offers dozens and dozens of short exercises that will help to improve all your language skills—speaking, reading, listening and writing. Many of the exercises are to be used in conjunction with audio files. You can buy the audio files, but they are very expensive. I recommend streaming them online; however, to do this, you can only access the files one at a time. This is not difficult to do, once you get the hang of how to change the numbers in the web address to get to the next file. Say, for example, that you want to do exercise 3.43 (basically, this is exercise 43 for lesson 3). You would go to the following web address: http://otter.middlebury.edu/ns-media/frenchmedia/action/03-43.mp3.

Recomendation Rating

I recommend using all three elements of the French in Action curriculum in conjunction, for maximum French language and culture learning. However, even if you choose just to watch the half-hour video segments, you will begin to improve your French language skills, I highly recommend this excellent French language learning series: it will hold your interest and make you successful in your language learning endeavor!

Internet Activities for Foreign Language Classes

2008-10-16T20:29:00.000-07:00

I found this website, it looks like a good resouce for anyone looking to learn a new language, brush up on some of their new language skills or just for review. I would be interested in getting some feedback on this site from you.

This site has links to lessons for Spanish (levels 1,2,3, & 4 and above), French (1,2,3 and above) Italian Marostica, una città incantevole, As well as German, Chinese, Japanese, ESL/EFL, Tagalog, Russian & Latin

Internet Activities for Foreign Language Classes

Getting Started....the Web in the Classroom

How to Write Activities for The Web

Reading Strategies For Web Activities

Internet Options in the Classroom (hardware, software, one computer, no Internet connection)

Web Lesson Evaluation Form

Favorite Teacher URL's - Use these web sites to write your own Internet activities. There are 480 links to authentic documents on the web. They include Geography, Newspapers, Foods, Sports, Music, Literature, Museums, Artists, Leisure, History, Holidays/ Celebrations, Weather, Search Engines, and Comics.

Sample Web Lessons

The following Internet-based lesson plans were created for foreign language classes by participants in the Technology Workshops of the California Foreign Language Project and the California Language Teachers Association. These sites were designed to be used as worksheets for the students to complete while accessing the corresponding reference web sites online. Teachers may print out the sheets, copy them, and distribute them to the students. (For your convenience, each web address on the online worksheets is also a link to the corresponding reference page.)

How To Speak Japanese Politely in Japan

2008-10-16T19:36:00.000-07:00

By Takanori Tomita

If you are visiting to Japan for business, and try to speak in Japanese, you need to be careful. Being polite is very important in Japan, especially for business.

In Japanese, using the plain/informal verb form is fine when you are having conversation with your mates. However, Japanese business mans may think that you are rude or unsophisticated. Knowing what level of formality is appropriate is an important part of speaking Japanese.

So today, this article tell you how to speak politely in Japanese and explain about the polite/neutral verb form.

Making the polite/neutral verb form is very easy!!

All you have to remember is the following four verb endings:

1 For affirmative present verbs, add - Masu

2 For negative present verbs, add Masen

3 For affirmative past verbs, add Mashita

4 For negative past verbs, add Masen deshita.

For example, "eat" in Japanese is "Tabe" and if adding these to the end of the verb, it will be

Tabe Masu (eat)

Tabe Masen (don't eat)

Tabe Mashita (ate)

Tabe Masen deshita (did not eat)

"Tabe" is verb, and adding Masu, Masen, Mashita and Masen Deshita makes difference.

So when you are asked a question like "Did you eat Japanese food yesterday?" in Japan,

and if you want to say "I ate Japanese food yesterday" in Japanese.

Kinou, Nihon Shoku o, Tabe Masen deshita.

"Kinou" means "Yesterday", and "Nihon Shoku" means "Japanese Food"

But, you can just say "Tabe masen deshita" in a conversation and still right. You can also listen to this Japanese audio lessons as well.

Takanori Tomita's website - Learn to speak Japanese language

Masu, Masen, Mashita, Masen deshita - http://learn-japanese.podomatic.com/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Takanori_Tomita

Learn Japanese Language

2008-10-16T19:34:00.000-07:00

- Did You Know That There Are 3 Different Japanese Symbols?

By Takanori Tomita

Especially for those who have started to learn Japanese, you should know the difference between three different Japanese symbols or writing form called:

1 Kanji

2 Hiragana

3 Katakana

Japanese people use 3 different Japanese Symbols

About Kanji Symbols: Normally, many Westerners think that kanji symbol is the only writing form we use in Japanese. It is true that we use kanji symbols more than hiragana or katakana symbols when writing something in Japanese. However, unlike Chinese people who use only Kanji symbols, we mix up all Japanese scripts.

About Hiragana symbols: Hiragana symbols are normally used by supporting Kanji symbols' meaning. For example, if you write "I love You" in Japanese, you would use the kanji symbol for Love, but the rest of characters are written with Hiragana symbols. Of course, we just use only Hiragana symbols to write a word or phrase in Japanese as well.

About Katakana symbol: Finally, Katakana symbol is often used to represent foreign words, or names which have adopted into the Japanese writing system. Therefore, if you can read the Katakana symbols, you can normally work out what a word or phrase means in English. Nowadays, the majority of companies write their names both in English and Katakana symbols.

Each Japanese symbols are used something like this in Japan.

If you travel to Japan, you would see how each Japanese Kanji Symbols, Hiragana and Katakana symbols are used.

For example, Japanese Magazine normally use 80% of Kanji symbols, and 10% of Hiragana and Katakana symbols.

This picture is a part of a Japanese Magazine. In this case, they use Kanji symbols and Katakana symbls for the title. But, otherwise, they used all 3 Japanese symbols.

Because this page of the Japanese magazine is talking something about the name of the company in Unites States which is foreign name, they used the Katakana symbols for its name.

Takanori Tomita, a Japanese translator who is specializing in Japanese symbols. He lives in Tokyo, Japan. This article is (c) Takanori Tomita 2006. Permission is given to reproduce this article in whole with the URLs correctly hyperlinked.

For more information about Japanese symbols, please check Learn Japanese Language and Symbols

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Takanori_Tomita

How to Speak Japanese in Two Months

2008-10-16T19:32:00.000-07:00

By Andrew Takuya

Have you always been wanting to go Japan but were worried that you could not understand a single word? Are you able to speak Japanese with your Japanese friends, colleagues or clients? Are you going to work in Japan? You thought of learning how to speak Japanese but due to your busy schedule, you do not have the time to learn. You may have thought that learning to speak Japanese can be time consuming, difficult and expensive. Do you know you will be able to speak and understand basic Japanese in two months time if you are serious in learning how to speak Japanese.

Learning a new language can a challenging task. To fully understand the theory and culture of Japanese is also amazing. So, if you want to speak Japanese language in two months time, you need to prepare a few things.

- A good Japanese language guide that include translation, transcript, audio and explanation of Japanese culture.

- Set aside some time to learn Japanese every day.

- A Japanese serial drama.

To really understand the Japanese language, you need to set about an hour of time aside everyday. This is to make you understand the Japanese Culture and learning the right ways to speak and write Japanese. When you learn Japanese language on your own, you may meet up with some difficulties in remembering or understanding the words. Hence, being able to get some help from some Japanese teachers, natives or friends would greatly help to correct your ways of learning how to speak Japanese. After a month of learning, you should start to watch Japanese serial drama in their language, find those with subtitles that you can understand. If possible, you can get a few friends to learn together so that all of you will be able to motivate and practise speaking Japanese language with each other.

Do you want to know how to say goodbye in Japanese? Get a free 6 days e-course on How To Learn Japanese in two months time.

You can order your food and do your shopping in Japan at ease when you are able to speak Japanese. CLICK HERE to learn Japanese Language and have great fun in Japan.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Andrew_Takuya

How to Learn Japanese Online Through the Kana

2008-10-16T19:31:00.000-07:00

By John Hubert

Knowing how to learn Japanese online is no easy task. There are a myriad of online courses out there that claim to be the best, but just how effective are they all? Obviously unless if you've tried them all out, knowing the answer to this question can be difficult.

Japanese is a fundamentally difficult language for native English speakers. It is grouped as one of the languages that is most unlike English, compared to other more similar anglo-saxon or latin based languages, therefore learning it can be extremely difficult for the complete novice.

The thing to understand if you want to learn Japanese, is that you must first learn the kana. The kana consists of both the Hiragana and Katakana alphabets, and mastery of these two forms of writing is essential to developing a good understanding of Japanese.

The Hiragana is used predominantly for native words which don't have a Kanji, or for words which are preferably written in Hiragana. As a new student trying to learn Japanese, it's important you master the Hiragana to be able to read and write basic forms of Japanese. Once you learn the hiragana, you'll start to notice that you can read some more basic Japanese words and phrases.

The next kana you'll want to learn is known as the Katakana. The katakana is used more for loan words and foreign words, and for writing in emphasis. The katakana is important to learn as it will allow you to communicate and read foreign words in Japanese with ease. You may even find yourself picking up the Katakana quite easily, since a lot of the imported Japanese words are from American or other English speaking countries. Whilst they take on slight modifications, you should be able to recognise these modifications with appropriate training and practice.

Some words in Japanese are also a little more complex to understand than others, however one of the great things about Japanese is that its quite phonetic. The way you read a word is the way it sounds, and once you learn and master the basic kana characters, you'll be able to quite easily read these characters aloud, in any word, and get the correct pronunciation first time, without having to hear it. Of course in saying there, there are some simple rules you must follow, however learning these rules is quite straight forward.

So whilst your goal of trying to learn Japanese online won't be an easy journey, know that starting off with a simple goal, such as trying to learn the kana, is what will allow you to see slow and steady progress each and every day to your eventual acquisition and understanding of the Japanese language.

John Hubert is a researcher of the Japanese language and runs a site on how to Learn The Kana. This site explains in details various ways on how to Learn Japanese Online.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Hubert

Why Learn Italian?

2008-10-13T17:06:00.000-07:00

By Andrew J Smith

I have lived in Italy for ten years and now speak the language fluently. Unbelievably it was surprisingly easy to do and I always thought I was bad at languages.

To help others my wife (a language teacher) and I have put together a brief guide on what we have learned through our experience. Our hope is that our advice will assist you in learning Italian easily and quickly.

Why learn Italian?

Because the Italian language is without any doubt one of the most beautiful languages on earth, a language that seems to capture the extraordinary essence and spirit of Italy. Learn Italian and you will find your time in Italy so much more enjoyable.

Italians really appreciate foreigners making an effort to speak Italian, no matter how poor the attempt, you will find Italians will encourage you.

How to Start Learning Italian?

First the good news is that learning Italian is easy. I spoke very little Italian on arrival in Italy. I did a great CD course - details available at the bottom of the page - and I followed this with a course at the Dante Alighieri School.

I am now completely fluent and I can assure you I am far from a genius so if I can do it anyone can. It takes perseverance and it obviously helps if you can spend time in Italy but this is not essential.Let's Begin

We will start with the best books and computer/CD courses and then move on to some of the language schools that we recommend.

http://www.my-italy-piedmont-marche-and-more.com/learn-italian-cd.html

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Andrew_J_Smith

Practice to Speak Italian

2008-10-13T16:30:00.000-07:00

By Shareen Aguilar

The Italian language is one of the widely spoken languages in the world. Its descendants have scattered to all four corners of the world but most of them are now living in the United States. But still, many English speakers try diligently to speak the Italian language and it’s interesting because despite the numerous Italian speakers, the struggle to speak the language is still there.

It’s not a very difficult thing to do though. Learning the Italian language to speak it fluently and use it as a conversation tool in a daily basis can happen to anyone. But the attitude of wanting every Italian language lesson to be covered in, let’s say, a matter of 6 months is extreme. Every person who has gone on learning Italian can attest that speaking fluently a foreign language takes years. And the anticipation to get it over with doesn’t contribute to effective learning either.

When learning the Italian language, which also applies to other foreign languages, one has to be dedicated enough to learn and understand each area which comprises the language. Next to this is the undying trait a student should always have – the willingness to practice.

Practicing takes you as far as you can go. You can learn the Italian language but it doesn’t completely answer the question of being able to use the language for practical reasons. You will have to put everything you are learning to practical purposes, the sooner the better.

Think of it this way, if you are exposed to everything Italian everyday, you will definitely be able to get a good understanding of the language. But don’t forget, your interest should always be there. If you are not interested in pursuing how to learn Italian, studying it in the first place will be completely useless.

Remember, the more you know about the Italian language, the easier for you to adjust to it. The idea is to absorb Italian essentials everyday. If you learn Italian for hours during every weekend, it’ll be difficult to retrace the previous lessons. Don’t try to hurry up on things. It’s more important if you take a few minutes of your time everyday to learn 2-3 Italian words and apply it throughout the day. Practice, practice, and practice makes a lot of sense.

Shareen Aguilar is a writer for Learn Italian Program which has Memory Improvement Books and Memory Game Software for better Italian language memorization.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Shareen_Aguilar

The Best Way To Learn Italian

2008-10-13T15:58:00.000-07:00

By Jack Jimmy

Italian is a very popular language in Europe, it is spoken by around 63 million people most of whom live in Italy. If you intend to spend a lot of time in Italy whether by living there or by travelling there frequently, you would want to learn Italian. There are several ways available today for anyone who wants to learn Italian and you would need to find the one that is best for you as what works best for one Person might not work well for another.

Formal language classes are one of the most popular methods of learning Italian, but these can be expensive in some cases and not every city has colleges that teach this language. Another method is the use of self study programs like audios and tape recordings this is good for those who know how to learn things on their own and feel they can keep up with the lessons without having any problems.

Immersion is another good way to learn how this language, this usually involves being in an area where the language is used as the primary language and here it does not have to be Italy, it can be other countries like San Marino that have Italian as their primary language or areas in a city were most people speak Italian. This is a good way because you would get the opportunity of learning and practicing the language in its natural setting.

Finally, you can use language learning software that is mostly available online to learn the language. When trying to get this learning software, try to get one that comes with audios, books and games to make learning easier. Any of the above could be your best choice or you could even decide to combine two. However, the key to learning Italian lies is in your interest and willingness to do so.

You can find one of the best ways to learn Italian by Clicking Here Now.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jack_Jimmy

How To Speak Italian

2008-10-13T15:53:00.000-07:00

By L. Moses

Ciao! Italian, one of the romance languages, is also one of the most beautiful languages to roll off the tongue. Around the world there are about 60 million native speakers and about 110 million who speak Italian as a second language. If you're considering joining the ranks of Italian speakers around the world, then there are a few tips to help you become as fluent as Michelangelo.

Learn How to Speak Italian from the Pros. When taking on any new adventure whether you're learning to parachute, paint with watercolors, or learn a new language seek the best expert in the field. Why? Well if you're parachuting then its for safety reasons however for less risky adventures like learning to speak Italian, accessing expert knowledge will help you learn faster. You'll skip over the things that cause most folks to stumble or give up and make a beeline for success.

To find an expert for learning to speak Italian, look for language programs and software that has won awards and that utilizes the latest technology. Free language programs are often full of holes and offer incomplete and even incorrect pronunciations. If you want to speak Italian fluently, seek instruction from a top notch program.

Incorporate all aspects of a language into your Italian learning program. You don't just read in a language, right? You speak it, hear it, and probably even dream in it. When you're learning a new language, find a program that enables you to learn the language on all levels. This means finding a language learning program that incorporates audio, textbook, and even speaking or voice activated technology so you can hear yourself pronounce the words and you can participate in conversations.

Jump in with two feet. Learning a language takes enthusiasm and participation. It would be great if you could simply listen to a few tapes and walk away speaking as if you were born in Italy, however that is just not going to happen. To really learn to speak Italian, embrace a program completely. Listen to the audio, do the workbook exercises, and enjoy the talking and conversation exercises. Learning a language, especially one as enjoyable as Italian, can be fun.

The world-class foreign language program can be found at http://www.advantagelanguage.com Start speaking Italian today!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=L._Moses

Slow Down With Italian Words

2008-10-13T15:50:00.000-07:00

Learn to Speak Italian and Its History

2008-10-13T15:35:00.000-07:00

By Matthew So

Like the Spanish, the Italian language is again described as a language of romance. Spoken by over 60 million people. Obviously it is mainly spoken in Italy, Sicily and the Vatican city. However, in Switzerland, Italian is classed as a official language with it being in the top four main languages.

We often think of Italian as a old language and that is because it is. It is the only 'romance' language that keeps its contrast between long and short consonants. Contrasting between long and short consonants was used in the language of Latin that is why we consider Italian as been a old language.

Italian is considered to be similar to the Spanish language however deistically the French language is more similar. French has a similarity of 89% to the Italian language and the Spanish language is behind that with a similarity to the Italian language of 82%. It is affectionately called il parlar gentile (the gentle language) by its speakers.

Here are some simple phrases that will help you get around in Italy and speak the Italian language. Just like Spanish and French you must never pronounce your 'H' and never pronounce the 'S' at the end of a word. The brackets are there if the word/phrase is hard too pronounce and you should read it like you would do in English. Try and use a Italian accent with it.

Hello---Ciao

Goodbye---Arriverderci

Thank you---Grazie---(grat.zee)

Yes---sì---(sea)

No---no

My name is---mi chiamo---(me. key.arm.o)

I'm sorry, I don't speak Italian---Mi dispiace, non parlo italiano---(me.dis.pee.art.chay.non.parl.o.Italiano)

Where is the toilet?---Dove è il bagno?---(Du.vay.e.eel.banyo.)

Welcome---Benvenuto---(ben.ven.uw.toe)

Do you speak English?---Parla Inglese---(parl.a.in.glese)

The hotel---Une albergo---(une.al.berg.oh)

where is?...---Dov'e---(Dov.aay)

Its a great language don't you agree? One should be very happy and i strongly advise you to learn a language weather it be this one or French or Spanish. Its what suits you at the end.

To learn Italian quickly and easily. For Spanish and French!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Matthew_So

How Taking an English Class Online is Different

2008-10-11T18:46:00.000-07:00

By Ling L. Tong

Take your English lessons in a different format when you take an English class online. This idea appeals to many adults who do not want or are unable to attend regular classes. You won't have the benefit of a live instructor, but in many ways this is a good thing. When you attend class and you don't understand the lesson, you may be fearful of asking questions or of asking the instructor to repeat the instruction. With the online English classes, you can repeat the instructions as often as you like to make sure you understand the lesson.

The best way to learn English is to immerse yourself in the language and you can do this when you take a class in English online. This is because all the lessons are presented in English along with a listening presentation focusing on the structure being presented in the lesson. You have practice exercises to complete and when you feel you are ready you can take a quiz on the lesson. In a regular class, the instructor usually has a schedule to follow and presents the quiz to all students at the same time. In an online course, you can choose when you want to take the quiz.

In a regular class in English, there will likely be many students with different native languages. It would be impossible for the instructor to speak all of these languages to offer further clarification. In the online classes, you have access to a dictionary in which you can translate English words into your own language and this makes learning English a whole lot easier for beginners. Simply click on the dictionary link and enter the English word that you don`t understand and choose your language to receive the translation that you will understand.

It is very difficult for Chinese speaking people to learn English, but with an English course for Chinese online this makes learning the language an easy task. The first unit starts off with learning common phrases in English and shows these phrases written in the Chinese language. If your native language is Arabic, you can still benefit from taking course in English online. Just about every language in the word is represented in the online dictionary.

You do get a chance to read English passages and books when you take such an online course. You can do this at your own pace and according to your individual interests. This means you won`t have assignments or reading that you have to complete by a certain date and you can take your time. Plus, you can read the passages aloud in the privacy of your own home and not feel any sense of embarrassment at having to speak in front of strangers. You can take your own notes and review any or all the lessons at any time.

If you do encounter difficulties, you do have access to an instructor who will answer your questions. There is also a community of English learners with whom you can correspond and this will enhance your learning how to write English passages in addition to the instruction and exercises provided on the site.

If you are interested in taking an English class online you should visit 1-Language It is a great place to learn English for free and offers lots of free ways to learn the English language.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ling_L._Tong

What to Look For in an Online English Course

2008-10-11T18:34:00.000-07:00

By Ling L. Tong

When you want to learn English online, you will find many free courses online. What you have to be careful of is that many of these online English courses only give you a few free lessons and then you have to sign up and pay for the rest of the lessons in the course. If you already know some English the free lessons can be beneficial to help you refresh your knowledge or determine whether or not you need to start at the beginner level.

You do need to find a course that encompasses the four processes of a language ?listening, speaking reading and writing. Courses that only give you information and explanation of concepts are of little use because you don't get a chance to practice what you learn in the lessons. This means you need to look for interactive courses in which you can complete the practice exercises for each lesson and then find out how many of your answers are correct. This gives you a chance to review the lesson to understand your mistakes. You can take the practice exercises as many times as you wish until you get all the questions correct. Then you can move on to the quiz on the lesson and feel a sense of accomplishment when you achieve a high grade.

In addition to having explanations of the lesson printed on the computer screen, there should be a link to where you can hear these explanations spoken. This way you can read along with the speaker and get a chance to learn the pronunciation of the words. There should be a listening component to the course in which you have to listen to a speaker read a short passage or conversation and then you answer questions on what you listened to. This will make sure you understand what you hear.

Some of the online courses have a component in which you can speak and read passages in English and receive feedback on your speech. However, these are mainly found in courses for which you have to pay a fee. In the free online courses, you can read passages on your own and record yourself. Then you can compare how well your pronunciation is to that of the speaker.

Most of the English courses online have news clips written in English that you can read to gain knowledge of what is happening in the world. You can also read English books online as well as paly word games that will really increase your vocabulary skills. Each lesson should have a list of the main vocabulary covered in that lesson. It would be extremely helpful if you find an online site that includes a dictionary so that you can translate the words in English to words of your own language. This will really aid your learning.

It is best to start at the beginning so that you learn English at a slow pace.

Don't try to rush through the lessons and make sure you thoroughly understand them before you move on to the next lesson. Although you can choose lessons in any order, it is also best to take them in sequence because the skills of one lesson build on the ones you achieved in the previous lesson.

If you want to take an online English course you should visit 1-Language This site offers a free online English class as well as lots of other ways to study English.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ling_L._Tong

Yes! You Can Learn English For Free

2008-10-11T18:27:00.000-07:00

By Ling L. Tong

When you can learn English for free, you can stay at home and take the online classes in your spare time. This means you don't have to give up your job and move away from your family to attend school or to live in an English speaking country. The speed with which you will learn English depends to a large extent on your motivation for taking such a course. Whether you need to learn English in a short period of time for your job or you just want to learn the language for travel purposes and your own interest, you will find all the resources you need for your education in an online course.

The best advice for learning English is to not rush the classes. Take advantage of everything offered and take your time to ensure that you fully understand all the details of grammar and increase your vocabulary. There will be times when you find some of the concepts harder than others, but you shouldn`t let yourself get frustrated. This will only cause you to give up. When you get stuck on a concept, take a break and come back to it at a later time or seek help from the online experts who will gladly help you with any questions that you may have.

You have to recognize your capacity for learning a new language and know how you learn best in order to make the most of your English language learning. Think about the processes you have used in the past to help you learn a new skill in your own language and apply these same processes to learning English. You also have to think about your reasons for learning the language. Even if it`s a hobby and something you always wanted to do, you should enjoy the experience and make it a fun activity for you. Take advantage of the games offered online to help you enjoy the course.

Set achievable goals for each step of the way. This will enable you to approach the learning in small steps and when you achieve each step you will feel a sense of accomplishment. With an online course in English you can set your own schedule and the fact that it is offered online means you can log on to the course at any time of the day or night. You can fit the classes around your availability instead of trying to attend classes at specific times.

If you are easily distracted, remove any of these distractions before you start your online classes each time you sit down at the computer. Let others in your household know that this is your study time so they won`t interrupt you. Make sure that you have a pen and paper handy so that you can take notes.

Some people learn best by listening and this is one facet of an online course in English. If you don`t want to interrupt others around you, use headphones and record yourself speaking the language so that you can play back the recordings to determine how well you are doing.

If you want to learn English for free you should visit 1-Language This site offers a free English class as well as lots of other ways to study English.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ling_L._Tong

Learn American Sign Language

2008-10-07T17:06:00.000-07:00

By Sunil Tanna

American Sign Language ("ASL") is the a sign language used by the deaf and hard-of-hearing communities. It is the most widely used sign language in the United States, with perhaps 2 million people knowing the language. ASL is also used in English speaking parts of Canada, parts of Mexico, and a wide variety of other countries around the world, including many African and Asian countries. ASL is however quite different from British Sign Language ("BSL") which is used in the United Kingdom. This because ASL is in fact closely related to modern French Sign Language - ASL and French Sign Language actually share about 60% common vocabulary.

American Sign Language traces its roots back into the 19th century. Many people attribute the development of the language to Reverend Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, who was the first principal of the American School for the Deaf (known as the time as "The Hartford School for the Deaf").

In many homes containing a deaf child, parents use ad hoc sign languages to communicate with their children. However, ASL is taught formally in secondary and postsecondary schools in the United States, and thus provides a method of communication which the whole community can understand and use to communicate with each other. If however you missed the opportunity to learn ASL at school and wish learn it now, or if you simply want to brush on your skills if they have perhaps become rusty, then the Internet may the answer - you can for example download Internet courses that teach American Sign Language.

Discover How to Learn ASL

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sunil_Tanna

Baby Sign Language - An Introduction

2008-10-07T16:37:00.000-07:00

By Tim Rohweder

Baby sign language is increasing in it's popularity. Baby sign language is where you teach your infant, or young child, to use sign language to communicate. This is often taught before the infant is able to verbally communicate.

Anyone who has seen Meet the Fockers probably remembers the scenes with baby sign language. Jack teaches his young grandson to communicate through baby sign language in the movie. There has been some controversy over whether or not baby sign language can be detrimental to the verbal developments in a baby, but the research has actually shown the opposite to be true. Baby sign language can be instrumental in speeding up the process of the baby learning to verbally communicate.

Baby sign language should be and normally is the same as American Sign Language. This way your baby learns proper sign language that will be of benefit to them as they continue to grow and will be able to communicate with those who are hearing impaired.

Many people give credit for the advancement of baby sign language to a few members of the staff at California State University and University of California. They conducted research that showed the many benefits of baby sign language. Joseph Garcia, an interpreter for American Sign Language, found out in his research that starting to show signs to a baby at six to seven months old will generally enable that baby to be able to communicate through baby sign language by the time they are eight to nine months old.

There are several words and phrases that you will be able to teach your infant through baby sign language. A few of them are more, eat, sleep, help, dirty, cold, again, thank you, toothbrush, and many more! Imagine the fun and joy of being able to communicate with your preverbal infant through baby sign language!

There are different ways to teach your baby sign language. Many parents find success through purchasing DVDs to teach their baby sign language. There are also books and flashcards that work quite well. The important thing is diligent repetition so that the baby will learn to associate the sign with what it is that they desire to express. Baby sign language is a fantastic opportunity for your child. Many parents have experienced how amazing it is to be able to communicate with their infant through baby sign language and testify of it's benefits.

Interesed in teaching your baby sign language? Click here

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tim_Rohweder

Learn Sign Language Easily

2008-10-05T16:23:00.000-07:00

By William Dean

Sign Language Learning Benefits

Some people might argue that if a person knows one language, then why should they learn a language that is designed for deaf people. There could be 1000 different reasons for learning another language. For example:

1) If two people know sign language then they can have conversations with each other no matter how high the level of background noise.

2) After studying American Sign Language you can become a sign language interpreter or get a raise in your job after learning another language.

3) You might already be interpreting sign language but for job purposes you need to get certification.

4) Person may learn American sign to increase knowledge and ability to communicate in a unique way. you can communicate to your deaf friend too.

5) Maybe you just love sign language because it's very much a visually oriented language.

6) In a study done by researchers and it was made clear that teaching a baby sign language has many advantages too, like babies are actually able to be taught simple sign language before they have the ability to speak.

7) Scientific studies have shown that children who learn sign language at a young age have on average a higher IQ of 8-13 points.

8) Learning American Sign Language will raise people awareness and sensitivity about the deaf community and you feel yourself more responsible.

These days There is an ever growing interest in learning a sign language and for more information about teaching American Sign Language to your baby, yourself or young child I recommend learning through this great Sign Language Learning Software.

Learn Sign Language Here

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=William_Dean

British Sign Language- What Exactly is British Sign Language

2008-10-05T16:20:00.000-07:00

By George Spence

BSL, or British Sign Language to give it the full title, is the name of the sign language which is used in England and the United Kingdom. It is the number one choice of communication for the (as yet) unknown number of the population of deaf people in the whole of the United kingdom. As an estimate, it is believed that there are anything between 70,000 to a quarter of a million deaf people in the United Kingdom, but that is just a guess. More realistic figures would suggest that there are nearer to the lower amount than there is to the higher amount.

British Sign Language is a type of spatial sign language as the movement it uses of the hands, face, body and head makes use of the space around the person who is signing. Also forgotten about are the many thousands of people who are not deaf but also use British Sign language every day. These peole could be interpreters, relatives and friends of the deaf who need to communicate with them and any other people who use it as they are in contact and need to communicate with members of the deaf population.

Although many countries such as England and the America share the same and speak the English language as the prominent spoken language of their respective countries, British Sign Language is different to other sign languages such as American Sign Language (also known as ASL). The finger spelling aspect (where the signer spells out each individual word) of British Sign Language is different to finger spelling in American Sign Language as British Sign Language users will use two hands to spell words where as American Sign Language users just use one hand.

Even more confusing is that even though England and Northern Ireland are both part of the United Kingdom, the respective countries use different types of sign language. Northern Ireland Sign Language (otherwise known as NISL)is based on British Sign Language so it would not be entirely impossible to communicate between the two different variations of sign language.

If you're thinking of learning British Sign language, you may start to think that it may be more difficult than you first thought but don't be alarmed. There are a few easy ways of getting started with British Sign language. Find out more at British Sign Language DVD

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=George_Spence

Learning How to Read Spanish

2008-10-05T15:17:00.000-07:00

By John Janson

The Spanish language has greatly influenced the world in terms of usage. Learning how to speak Spanish is important, but not only that, it doesn't stop there. Learning to read Spanish is as important as well.

Learning how to read Spanish is also as remarkable as well. When you are traveling in different places, you can find Spanish posts anywhere in the street. The internet also, has millions of Spanish articles, blogs and websites. Learning how to read them will generally help you on a lot of things.
You can learn how to read Spanish in a variety of simple ways:

1. Buy a dictionary that is Spanish-English. In this way you can easily look up meanings and how to correctly read Spanish words. It's better to purchase a handy dictionary so you can just bring it anywhere that you like.

2. There are online programs that have audio lessons, simply click on the audio and listen to how the particular word is being read or pronounced. You can listen to them repeatedly until you got the correct pronunciation.

3. Gather a lot of Spanish articles and stories. It can be a Spanish book, novel, newspaper or magazine. Try reading the entire article without the aid of the dictionary or audio sources. Now after reading it without the dictionary, read it again, and this time you can check in the dictionary or audio source if you had read and pronounced them correctly. Read again the entire article, taking note of your previously wrong pronunciation. This time read them correctly. If possible, read them as many times as you can until you feel that you are now reading them all correctly. And also try to read them without the help of a dictionary.

4. You can buy a Spanish textbook. It can provide you additional help. You can find the basics of how to learn to read and write Spanish. Go through the pages and understand them. If you are still confused, you can use your dictionary for added support. Reading the lessons in the textbook over and over can help speed up the learning process.

5. Have a notebook where you can write newly encountered words. You can place the meaning next to the word and read them several times a day.

6. Watching Spanish movies and videos can also help a lot in the learning process. It will give you an idea on how the words are being spoken. There are a lot of Spanish video lessons online; you can just choose which one suits you. Watch them repeatedly as desired.

These are the ways on how to read and speak Spanish correctly. These are great and helpful tips especially for those who are just beginning their Spanish lessons. Online learning of the Spanish language is much easier because it has a lot of strategies to help you learn the language quickly and without the worries and hassles. Learn to read and write Spanish and learn it the easy way.

May these tips help you to learn how to read Spanish. Then reading Spanish online or offline will be much more easier.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Janson

How to Learn Spanish Online - The Best Options For You

2008-10-05T15:13:00.000-07:00

By Frank Cruz

If you want to know how to learn Spanish online in the most effective ways then you'll want to read this article. We'll look at different methods available and why learning online is the way to go if you want to learn Spanish fast.

Learning online has a lot of benefits compared with learning in a group/class environment. One of these benefits is the opportunity for the beginner to get a grasp of Spanish without feeling intimidated. Here are some of the common online methods.

Online video lessons

Private language tutoring has always been an expensive method of study. With the Internet and fast connections we are now able to take private lessons from the comfort of home. All you need to get started is a web cam. There are plenty of web sites around that offer cut-price one-on-one Spanish lessons.

Spanish language forums

A fantastic way to increase your Spanish skills and keep up with everything Spanish is to be a member of the unlimited number of online Spanish learner forums. Most experienced members are only too glad to provide assistance to beginners just starting out with Spanish.

Online memory training

A great new way to memorize Spanish words fast is through online memory building. Using untapped memory techniques you can find yourself memorizing Spanish words at a rate of 100 new words per hour. This method is great for beginners or those cramming for exams who need to do vocabulary building fast.

Whatever method you choose, the perfect online Spanish learning solution is only an Internet click away.

To implant 100 Spanish words into your mind in the next hour visit http://www.SpeakSpanishFast.org

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Frank_Cruz

Tips on How to Learn Spanish Online For Free

2008-10-04T19:03:00.000-07:00

By Tim Gorman

Some online Spanish tutoring programs can cost anywhere from $100 to $500. Attending a traditional campus course could cost much more. However, with the increased demand for Spanish speaking adults in the work place or through everyday communications has increased the demand for people to seek Spanish tutoring programs to enhance their communication skills. After all, it is the second most spoken language in North America and the World.

If cost the high cost of Spanish tutoring courses is currently out of your budget, there is hope. It is possible for you to find a quality online Spanish speaking program online for free. All you need to do is to type in, "Free Spanish Course" in your internet browser's search box and an array of free Spanish courses will populate. Many of these free programs include downloads that you enable you to listen to audio right away.

You can also do a specific search for Spanish tutorial downloads. There are websites that offer downloaded courses for free. Once you find one of these sites, you will be able to download your course directly from your computer to listen through your speaker; your mp3 player, or a CD to immediately begin your tutoring session.

Another way to learn Spanish is to search for an English / Spanish translation dictionary online. Choose keyword phrases or terms that are often used should be your starting point. You might want to look for phrases such as, "My name is Bob" "How do I find a Taxi?" You might even be able to find a list of most common terms to use when traveling. If you are a creative communicator, you can use a few keywords in a way that will hold you over until you are able to purchase a more advanced program.

Using a free Spanish course may give you a head start in your new language venture, but remember, you get what you pay for. Some of these programs might not have the best features like multiple teaching methods or fun interactive games. Also, you may even find some free Spanish games that are absolutely useless. If you find one that you don't resonate well with, just do another search and choose a program that will enable you to gain the best benefits.

Make learning to speak Spanish fun and easy with a quality Spanish speaking course. See immediate results with the top Spanish speaking course currently being sold on the Internet.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tim_Gorman

Sticky Subject - Expanding Your Vocabulary

2008-10-04T19:00:00.000-07:00

By Nathalie V. Fairbanks

You know how it goes. You go to your language class and learn useful things: how to introduce yourself, talk about your hobbies, your work, your family. You've probably learned a lot of grammar and could sing a song about the past subjunctive or some other obscure grammatical treasure. Yet... you get home and can't even say: "Where are my keys?," nor can you name the most common objects.

A fun and easy way to remediate here is to write the name of objects on Post-it® notes and stick them on every object that you'd like to be able to name around your home.

If your new language has them, make sure you add an article to identify the gender. An even better strategy for your brain to retain the gender is to use different colors of Post-it® notes for different genders:

- blue for masculine - red for feminine - green for neuter

Now, you're not trying to connect a written word with an object - that's almost like looking at a textbook!

What you want is to connect the sound of the word as you say it to the object by looking at it. Pronouncing the word correctly is obviously crucial, so check a "speaking dictionary" to listen to it a few times or ask your teacher.

Now what?

1. Point and name.

Put yourself in the place of a 2-year-old. Point at an object and say the article and the name ("the computer"). Think of how happy small children are when they learn a new word. They'll drive you bananas repeating the same word over and over again! That's how we learn, even as adults... So repeat every step a few times.

2. Make a sentence.

Get into it a bit more and make a sentence. Start with something simple, such as

"This is a computer." "This is a desk."

3. Take it up a notch.

Have a little fun: add an adjective to describe your noun.

"This is a fast computer." "This is a large desk."

4. Add complexity.

Challenge yourself and change the sentence, so it does more than just state that something's there:

"I see my large desk." "Show me the fast computer."

Depending on the language you are learning, this can open up a whole new can of worms -- "the computer" being a direct object and the "me" an indirect object...

But this is how you will need to use these words in everyday life, so start practicing in small units. The possibilities of variation are endless -- use your imagination!

Realize that the more involved you can get with your statements, the easier it will be for your brain to create a network of information that it can easily scan and retrieve the word you need when you need it.

The worst you can do is to sit down and repeat word pairs such as

der Schreibtisch - the desk (German) le livre - the book (French) el gato - the cat (Spanish), etc.

This is "dead" information that will end up floating around in your brain without anything to connect to -- no context, no emotion, probably no real interest, either.

Make your statements as relevant to your life as you can. When you get stuck because you're missing some grammar or structure to say what you want, go ask your teacher. That's what we're here for!

Nathalie Fairbanks publishes "Language Learning Express," an e-zine for language learners who want to learn a language fast! Get your FREE subscription and your FREE e-book featuring 7 Language Learning Secrets now at http://www.SpeakEZLanguages.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nathalie_V._Fairbanks

ESL Games

2008-10-04T18:50:00.000-07:00

The Benefits of Games in Your ESL Lesson Plans

By Kelvin Nikkel

Teachers have turned to games now-a-days in order to try to supplement their ESL classroom lesson plans. Their reason for doing so is to add to the lesson in such a way as to benefit the students more. The benefits are a more co-operative group dynamics and it has been shown that the students actually retain the new material longer and with better comprehension. How do these benefits make students retain this new material longer and with better comprehension??

Games and their Benefits

There are a multitude of benefits ESL teachers can get out of including games in their ESL lesson plans. This is just a small list of benefits many teachers have experienced:

1 Encourages students to speak spontaneously

2 Motivates students

3 It's fun

4 Helps reinforce the lesson just taught

5 Helps with reviews of past lesson(s)

6 Focus is on the student with the teacher just orchestrating

7 Allows the entire class to participate

8 Easy to prepare the game

9 Can be modified to fit ANY age group or grade

It has been well demonstrated in many ESL teachers classrooms that with the inclusion of games in the lesson plan, students actually look forward to what will happen next. After a while with the same teacher, if the teacher follows a regular routine of lesson, game, lesson, game, etc..., then the students usually will pay close attention to the lesson in anticipation of the game that follows. This helps the teacher in many ways such as the students are motivated, focused, behaved, and anticipating to have fun learning English.

But in order for a teacher's inclusion of games in their lesson plans to be successful, there are some things that should be remembered!

1 The game MUST be appropriate to the lesson. In other words, it MUST be more than just fun. It should be relative to what the students just learned. If the lesson was on animals, then you don't play a game that focuses on countries.

2 Try to pick a game that would keep everyone involved. Games work best when all the students are interested and involved.

3 The game should be a friendly competition. Students would compete as a team usually.

4 It should allow the students an opportunity to try out the word/phrase/lesson just learned. The more practice the students get, the faster their English will improve.

Students quickly pick up ANYTHING when they are having fun. Learning English is no different. Children like to play, so why not include some fun games in the lesson plans?

There are a multitude of resources for finding fun games that could be incorporated into ESL lesson plans. Searching on the internet for "ESL games" will produce thousands of sites available. Many are good and original, and have a lot more than just games on them. Another source of games would be any of the games you played when growing up. Try adapting some of them to your particular lesson plan.

If you are REALLY interested in teaching ESL overseas then you owe it to yourself to check out ESL Resource World. There is VERY IMPORTANT information there to help make your decision one you won't regret. Check out ESL Resource World today!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kelvin_Nikkel

Teaching a Child ESL

2008-10-04T18:40:00.000-07:00

6 Methods to Get Through to Students Learning ESL

By Kelvin Nikkel

Teaching a child ESL can be a HUGE task, whether teaching ESL one on one or in the classroom setting. Especially when taking the language barrier into consideration. Sometimes it is easy but other times it can become down right impossible. But there is always a way around it. How?

The novice ESL teacher will just have to FIND ways around it or they can ask a more experienced teacher. The latter is preferable. Whereas the experienced teacher has his own bag of tricks up his/her sleeve to get through to the student(s). There are 3 categories of students. They are as follows:

The student that doesn't want to learn. The student that doesn't want anyone else to learn so they are disruptive.

The student who wants to learn but has a hard time understanding because of the language barrier.

Some methods of getting through to them will work for all three types of students. Others are more specialized and will work for only one or two types of student. Listed below are various tried and true methods that some experienced teachers have used.

1 In the classroom, making teams helps in the way of peer pressure. If the one team is trying and one student is not because of Student type 1 or 2 above, the rest of the team gets on their back to participate better. Works great in that you don't have to do any disciplinary actions. The students do it for you.

2 When a student is disruptive in class, make them the captain of their team! That gives them an important role to perform in the team so he/she is more likely to pay attention and keep the team focused.

3 Assign a disruptive student to be the teachers' helper or score keeper.

4 When someone is disruptive or doesn't want to co-operate, give points to the other team. Never take points away unless it is part of a game.

5 For the student who wants to learn but is having difficulty, try spending a few moments with him/her to slowly go over the material until they understand it all.

6 For a type 3 student, you could assign a student who is quick to learn the lessons as that student's helper. But the helper must agree to try to only speak English. Not just translating.

7 Try to dummy down your lesson a bit so he/she understands it.

Try to remember one thing from your own education through out the years. Chances are that if YOU don't understand something, that others may not understand as well. So the chances of more than one student not understanding the lesson you are trying to teach are pretty good. The rest of the students are probably just too proud or embarrassed to say anything.

One thing you should NEVER do in an ESL classroom is show anger or openly discipline a student in front of the others. Especially with Asian students. If a teacher embarrasses a student in front of others, they lose face and then that student will be all the harder to get back into the groove of things.

There are other methods available. The only limit is your imagination.

If you are REALLY interested in teaching ESL overseas then you owe it to yourself to check out ESL Resource World. There is VERY IMPORTANT information there to help make your decision one you won't regret. Check out ESL Resource World today!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kelvin_Nikkel

Italian Naming Conventions

2008-09-28T07:58:00.000-07:00

Traditionally, Italian parents have chosen their children's names based on the name of a grandparent, choosing names from the father's side of the family first and then from the mother's side. According to Lynn Nelson, author of A Genealogist's Guide to Discovering Your Italian Ancestors, there has been a strong custom in Italy that determines how children are named:

the first male is named after his paternal grandfather the second male is named after his maternal grandfather the first female is named after her paternal grandmother the second female is named after her maternal grandmother Nelson also points out that: "the subsequent children could be named after the parents, a favorite aunt or uncle, a saint or a deceased relative."

What's in an Italian last name? Ask Leonardo da Vinci. Piero della Francesca. Alessandro Botticelli. Or Domenico Ghirlandaio. They were all great artists of the Italian Renaissance, and their surnames paint a picture too.

Historically, many Italian last names were based on where a person lived or was born. Leonardo da Vinci's family was from Vinci, a town in eastern Tuscany—hence his last name, meaning "from Vinci." Ironically, during his lifetime, he was referred to solely by his first name. The sculptor Andrea Pisano, best known for his panels on the bronze south door of the Florence Baptistery, was originally named Andrea da Pontedra since he was born in Pontedra, a village near Pisa. He was later referred to as "Pisano," indicating the town famous for the Leaning Tower. The single-named Perugino was from the town of Perugia. One of the most popular Italian last names today, Lombardi, is tied to the region of the same name.

A Barrel of Laughs

Ask most people to name a work of art by Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi and they'd be hard-pressed to name even one. But mention some of his famous works that hang in the Uffizi, such as The Birth of Venus or The Adoration of the Magi, and they'd probably recognize Botticelli. His name was derived from his elder brother Giovanni, a pawnbroker, who was called Il Botticello ("The Little Barrel").

Another Florentine artist from the fifteenth century with a colorful last name was Giuliano Bugiardini, which literally means "little liars." Maybe his family was known for their story–telling skills. There are many other richly imagined, descriptive Italian last names, such as Torregrossa (big tower), Quattrochi (four eyes), Bella (beautiful), and Bonmarito (good husband).

Mr. Smith

Some Italian last names are related to a person's occupation or trade. Domenico Ghirlandaio, an Early Renaissance painter noted for his frescoes, probably had an ancestor who was a gardener or florist (the word ghirlanda means wreath or garland). Another Florentine painter, also famous for his frescoes, was known as Andrea del Sarto, but his real name was Andrea d'Agnolo di Francesco. His moniker del sarto (of the tailor) was derived from his father's profession. Other examples of Italian surnames related to jobs include Contadino (farmer), Tagliabue (ox-cutter or butcher), and Auditore (literally meaning "a hearer, or listener" and referring to a judge).

Johnson, Clarkson, Robinson

Piero di Cosimo, an Early Renaissance painter, adopted his last name as a patronym—that is, his last name was based on his father's name (Piero di Cosimo—Peter son of Cosimo). Piero della Francesca, whose masterpiece fresco cycle the Legend of the True Cross can be seen in the 13th–century church of San Francesco in Arezzo, had a matronymic surname. That is, his last name was based on his mother’s name (Piero della Francesca—Peter son of Francesca).

Left to the Wolves

Italian last names typically arose from geographic location, description, patronym, or trade. There's one other source that deserves mention, though, especially considering how prevalent the last name is. Esposito, literally meaning 'exposed' (from the Latin expositus, past participle of exponere 'to place outside') is a Italian surname commonly denoting an orphan. Typically, abandoned children were left on church steps, hence the name. Other Italian last names derived from the practice include Orfanelli (little orphans), Poverelli (little poor (people)), and Trovato/Trovatelli (found, little foundling).

Complete Italian Learning Suite 9

2008-09-28T06:57:00.000-07:00

Complete Italian Learning Suite 9 is a good product, though I would not recommend it to a beginner. If however, you took some Italian in high school or college and you want to brush up, work at your own pace, and improve rapidly through a wide variety of learning approaches, this suite may just fit your need. Complete Italian Learning Suite is a convenient, complete package that includes enough elements to keep you busy for months. It is particularly good for those who would be put off by an “all communicative and in-the-foreign-language-only or no-English-at-all” approach. Yes, English is (extensively) used in this language learning package. All dialogs and communicative exercises conveniently display an English translation below each Italian phrase. Whatever is being spoken in Italian will appear as text in a “karaoke-style” dialog box (color coding will signal what word is being read at that moment, thus allowing you to follow and read along) and everything will also be translated into English at the same time.

Complete Italian Learning Suite 9 comes equipped with one DVD that contains the PC software, and four audio CDs containing the audio program. This solution is particularly good for those who, for example, commute to work every day. If you can spend only limited time at your computer practicing Italian and yet want to maximize your results, Complete Italian Learning Suite could be what you need.

User Interface Rating

What's Hot:

The graphic interface for Before You Know It and ItalianNow is fairly simple and easy to navigate, albeit decidedly more dated-looking than other competing products. If you are not that much of a technology geek, you will not be put off by the late-1990s audio-visual look of this software package.

The user interface of Lexicon and LinguaMatch appears even more dated, but you should still be able to figure it out after some experimentation.

Price to Value Rating

What's Hot:

At $119.95, Complete Italian Learning Suite is a competitively priced entry to the crowded market of Italian learning software. Considering everything that is included and offered, this is an attractive and nicely priced package. Users who own an iPod or similar device would welcome the option to extract individual dialogs and spoken exercises for transfer to their MP3 players, thus being able to listen and practice on the go.

Installation & Setup Rating

What's Hot:

Insert the DVD in your computer, select “Install Learn Language Now," and the two main components, Learn Language Now and Before You Know It Italian, will be installed. [see Image 5] You can then install Lexicon, LinguaMatch, and Global Writer at a later date, either all at the same time or individually, as is appropriate to your needs.

The DVD needs to be in the drive only for LinguaMatch; all other programs reside completely on your PC hard drive.

What's Not:

Up to four separate software installations are required if you want the complete suite on your PC. A more modern installer would give the user the option to install them at once, thus saving time and preventing confusion.

Product Features Rating

What's Hot:

LanguageNow is fairly easy to use. After a welcome screen, there’s a guided tour and a link to BYKI. [See Images 6 and 7] Once inside, you will find three tabs: Immersion Environments, Reference Tools, and Getting Started.

The four Environments are basically virtual opportunities for interaction with native speakers. [See Image 9] Opening up one of them presents the user with a video framed by a number of dialog boxes. Then four tabs appear at the top of the screen: Theater, Reading, Activities, and Pronunciation and Conversation. One begins from the Theater mode by viewing the video while reading Italian subtitles, find a translation, and a word reference. You can click any word at any time and a native will read that individual word. Reading appears to be just a “remix” of the Theater mode, with the text more prominently displayed. Subtitles in Italian and an English translation appear below the video; all the while you can click the text to get more information on grammar rules and learn about the meaning of individual words. [See Image 1] Activities feature word games such as puzzles and crosswords. There are three different pronunciation exercises, two of them in context and one focusing on single words. Conversation has you completing parts of dialogs, following the actors around Italy. Don’t be frightened, as cues for your lines will be given, and you will be guided in providing the correct answer. Fundamental Italian teaches you grammar and structure foundations. Survival Phrases is a nice inclusion, a sort of pocket phrasebook containing things to say in commonplace situations.

If you feel the need to rely on English, then the nicest feature is the translating provided for every conversation. You can skip forwards and backwards, repeat sections of the passage, concentrate on the meanings of individual words or phrases, and so on.

Each video dialog is based on commonplace situations. This is probably overall the most useful feature of the program. Another nice little feature is the inclusion of language games for each section.

What's Not:

While it is a good that Complete Italian Learning Suite offers a variety of learning styles, it feels as if the various elements don’t really interconnect with one another. I’m also concerned about the level of the language and its progression. The Before You Know It program is fairly good. However, do you truly see yourself playing around with flash cards as an adult? Since, according to the manufacturer, you’re supposed to “master” the flash cards program before moving on to ItalianNow, if your answer is “no,” then I would consider buying another product.

The video dialogs are fairly complex and there is no sense of “building up skills.” I don’t know how a beginner would be able to acquire simple structures without feeling completely overwhelmed by the initial complexity and pace of the dialogs. When I was using the video program in my college courses, it simply would not work for beginners. They found it stressful and difficult to follow. Another issue is the “second-rate” acting job. Present-day theory about teaching languages holds that interaction in a foreign language sho
Performance Rating

What's Hot:

Complete Italian Learning Suite doesn’t require a fast or powerful computer. It performs well even on older PCs. It requires Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows Vista, or higher, and a DVD drive. It works well on my older (five-year-old) PC.

What's Not:

Voice recognition is good, but still at times imperfect. Like similar packages, the program can be a bit “unforgiving,” and you should pay little attention to the voice recognition graphs, because they are simply not accurate.

Also, a microphone is not included. While this keeps the price low, you will need to purchase one.

Help & Support Rating

What's Hot:

The best thing about Transparent Language products is the variety of extra activities, information, and support offered on their website. Visit transparent.com and you can get a Free Word of the Day, your daily chance to expand on your vocabulary and learn more about real Italian culture. You can also get language tests and activities online for free. From their sister site BYKI.com, you can download free word lists for your virtual flash card program.

In case you were to experience technical issues with your software, you can count on excellent, fast consumer service response from Transparent Language. A call to their technical support line (603-262-6300) was answered within two minutes on a busy, pre-holiday Tuesday afternoon. Unfortunately, they don’t provide a toll-free number and are only available between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern time. However, they can also be reached via email at support@transparent.com, or you can go to www.transparent.com and click "Technical Support."

The Five Programs Rating

What's Hot:

Complete Italian Learning Suite 9 contains five premium products: Before You Know It Deluxe, Learn Italian Now, the Everywhere Italian audio course, the Lexicon Translation Dictionary (LinguaMatch Panoramic Phrasebook), and Global Writer. The company values this suite at $200, for just $119.95.

But does the suite deliver? In this section we'll look at each individual program, how they work as a whole, and whether they are hot, or not:

Before You Know It is an interactive flash-card program. Each item is organized by themes (adjectives, nouns). You can hear each item pronounced by native speakers and play a variety of association, connection, and memory games.

Learn Italian Now/LanguageNow is an interactive video program. The first two parts follow the adventures of 40-something Piero and Gabriella, who decide to write a travel guide for Italy. [See Image 3] You’re not expecting great acting from a language learning software package, right? Good, because you will not find any here. However, the interactive video program is moderately funny and should keep your interest. I’m familiar with this, as the infamous adventures of Piero and Gabriella came as a supplement to a couple of popular college textbooks I have used in my courses. The interaction is cheesy, but the premise of the video program is good, and so is the chance for a virtual guide of Italy. Well, maybe not all of it, just some key locations--they must have overrun their budget as they never made it to Sicily, for instance.

Everywhere Audio is a progressive, theme-based audio program. Although “old-school” in its premise, it’s exactly like those language learning records (yes, vinyl) that I would listen to as a kid in the 1970s. The program performs well for its created purpose of listening to key words, sentences, and phrases on a given topic. Word and phrases are first given in English and then translated into Italian. Then it is up to you to repeat along with the speaker. This system is designed with long commutes, workouts at the gym, or jogging in the park in mind. Anybody with an iPod or similar device should be able to digitize this program and listen to the audio files on the go. It features all native speakers with a variety of regional accents who speak clearly and are easy to follow. As simple and “mechanical” as it may sound, it works well within the context of learning without written text or visual clues. Grammar notes are provided in a plain, clear, and accessible English form. With a bit of self-discipline and effort, you could effectively expand your vocabulary and improve your pronunciation. Repetita juvant, as the Romans would say; that is, “repeating is good for you!”

Global Writer is a dedicated word processor that supports Italian and can help you with your spelling and phrasing in Italian. It will point out spelling issues and guide you in improving your writing skills. However, it is quite dated and not as flexible as other present-day word processors.

What's Not:

Of the five programs, I found the most fault with LinguaMatch.

LinguaMatch/Lexicon is a multilingual, interactive dictionary. However, while it translates words from English, German, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish to any other language from the list, it’s limited to one meaning for each translated word. And the words are provided out of context (no examples are given, just the bare word itself). This can create a number of problems. For example, if I want to translate “to play” from English to Italian, the only translation you get is giocare (to play with toys or games), while other words such as suonare (to play an instrument) are nowhere to be found. If one types “libreria,” a fairly common everyday word with multiple meanings, the only translation provided is the most uncommon one (“bookshelf”).

Suggested Features

I would like to see more of an effort made to integrate the various components into one simpler, more cohesive package. It’s time to ditch the terrible acting of Gabriella and Piero and look for alternatives. It is also time to update the individual software components, along with the video program. It’s beginning to look and feel dated.

Conclusion

Complete Italian Learning Suite Premium is a fine product but I would not recommend it for true beginners to the language. There are other offerings on the market, although more expensive and maybe not as complete, that are actually more intuitive and easier to follow for beginners, as they do a better job of integrating different learning styles into a single interface. As usual with this type of software, there were a few frustrating moments with Speech Recognition.

If you took some Italian in the past, then it would be fairly easy to pick up more Italian and use this method in the way that best reflects your interests and needs. The person who gets this product will learn about real, authentic Italian culture, including traditions, idioms, and cultural differences.

Portugal’s Cuisine and Cultural Influences

2008-09-28T06:29:00.000-07:00

Expedition, cuisine, and music are only a few features of Portugal’s history, but characteristics that are still connected to its culture today. What past events shaped its country and its peoples? History points to early settlers contributing to the diversity of Portugal’s culture, as well as its cuisine.

Prior to becoming a kingdom under the rule Alfonso I, in 1139 Portugal was inhabited by a range of settlers that included the Celts, Romans, and Arabs, to mention only a few. Which all had a share in laying the foundation of Portuguese culture.

Additionally, in Portugal’s history were the many maritime navigators that played a vital role in what Portugal has become today. One important figure is Vasco da Gama; he and his crew spent a great length of time at sea accompanied with great adversity, with what reward? They became the first Europeans to reach India by sailing around the southern edge of Africa. Unfortunately, these accomplishments were not without consequence, as many lives were lost during these remarkable voyages.

Since the days of Da Gama’s laborious voyage there have been great strides in technology. Yet with advanced knowledge and far less life threatening consequences, it would still be a demanding voyage today. Da Gama’s voyages were neither the beginning nor the end of Portuguese sea explorations that lead to a changed world.

Another principal figure of the early Portuguese empire was the navigator Prince Henry. He was credited for the beginning of the worldwide European explorations. Henry was not only a promoter… but also a participant in conquering the Muslim port on the North African city of Ceuta, Spain, in 1415.

He saw this as a new opportunity of profit in the African trading routes--hence possibilities to expand the Portuguese empire.

Early explorers discovered something else in addition to wealth--new foods. Upon returning to Portugal they brought back with them these newly discovered fruits, nuts, and plants from lands around the globe. This came from lands such as Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Madeira and the Azores--lands eventually coming under Portuguese control.

Portuguese food is an important part of their culture. The menu typically consist of simple ingredients, emphasizing fish, meat, olive oil, tomato, and spices, it features hearty soups, homemade bread and cheeses, as well as unique blends of meat and shellfish.

Portugal…a birthplace of famous wine. The Portuguese wine is part of the ancient traditions introduced to the region by Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Greeks, and mostly the Romans. Exportation of wine from early times continues to be an important export for the economic welfare of the country today.. Portugal produces wide assortment of wines with distinctive characteristics--hundreds of varieties. The Oxford Companion To Wine describes the country as having "A treasure trove of indigenous grape varieties". It’s interesting to note that eight percent of the land in Portugal is dedicated to this ancient old art producing some of the world's best wines.

As with most cultures music has a vital role in history. Through music people can express the deepest of their emotions--love, anger, sadness. Interestingly, this defines Portugal’s unique, nostalgic type music, Fado. The very name denotes the expressing of sentiments or emotion. It’s believed by some that this unique music is the result of the blending of Portuguese sailors, African Slaves and Arabic influences. A music that is still popular today.

The inspiration of early settlers, sea explorers and peoples of lands that came under Portugal’s control are visible in its culture today, in everything from art and architecture, music, food and dance. All mirroring events in history that shaped the country and its peoples.

Desiree C. was a contributor to this article

Introduction to Subject Pronouns in Spanish

2008-09-21T15:42:00.000-07:00

Article by Eric Vogt

Published on Sep 4, 2008

Since subject-verb agreement is linked to thorough understanding of the subject pronouns and their English "equivalents" it is important to get beginning students off on the right foot. This is the first of two lesson plans dealing with this topic.

The first hurdle for English-speaking students of Spanish is to understand the concept of subject-verb agreement. Although subject-verb agreement is a feature of English, it’s only apparent in the present tense, where the final –s is used to designate the third-person singular: I run, you run, but he, she and it runs.

Subject-verb agreement is addressed in a lesson on this channel – for students as well as teachers. This lesson plan, like all the others, is written to give teachers a new angle on a topic they are all familiar with, offering a method for teaching subject-verb agreement to the whole class as well as through a class activity in pairs or small groups.

In Spanish, the problem is expanded to all six grammatical persons. By grammatical persons is meant the three persons of the singular and the three of the plural. The best way to introduce this concept to students is to ask them what a first-person narrative is. Most high school students are familiar with this term and will answer correctly. After getting a basic definition of first-person narrative that they all understand, define the idea of grammatical subject as the doer of an action – not the topic of a sentence. Give an example or two. Then define the first person as the person speaking in his or her own name – I. Next, ask them what they would guess the first-person plural is in English (we).

At this point, draw a grid on the board, one vertical line with two parallel horizontal lines crossing it at right angles and write I in the upper left-hand corner, labeling the left column singular and the right column plural. Write we in the upper right-hand corner, immediately to the right of the corner in which you wrote I.

The next step is to ask them what they suppose second person might mean. Depending on the group, you can almost always lead them to work from the person speaking of him or herself as the doer, as first person, to the second person being the person spoken to, as the doer of an action: you.

The next step requires paying special attention to their reaction in order not to lose any of them. Ask them what the plural of you is, in English. Of course, it is also you. Write you in the middle spaces, left and right, below I and we, respectively. Depending on how certain and secure they seem, you might ask them how two people talking to each other know whether you is being used to refer to only the one listening or to the person listening and others.

Continue in like manner, asking questions to elicit the correct definitions of third person – as the person or persons spoken of by two others, or more.

Label the rest of the paradigm in English and practice with a few English verbs in the present tense, being sure to point out that the third-person singular in English has a different form.

Finally, tell them that they are ready for some important news and tell them that in the Spanish present tense, verbs have a unique ending for each of the six persons. Tell them that making these endings match the subjects in the boxes is called subject-verb agreement.

At this point, you can either draw another grid and put in the corresponding Spanish subject pronouns or write them in the same boxes with their English translations. I prefer the latter.

The next activity can be done in five minutes or less. Tell them to tell you what the Spanish subject pronoun would be for a series of subjects, all by pointing: to yourself, to yourself and someone else, to someone you’re looking at, to someone you’re not looking at, but pointing to as you look at someone else, at two people you point at together and look at, etc.

How to Teach...

2008-09-21T15:38:00.000-07:00

How to Teach Verbs That Are Irregular in the Present Tense - Part 1

Article by Eric Vogt

Published on Sep 21, 2008

When students begin to gain confidence with the regular verbs in the present and start to feel comfortable with the concept of conjugation, they can be thrown for a loop by any irregularity. This is the first of three lesson plans, to be taught in order, following the earlier one about the regulars.

Single vowel to Diphthong: e>ie and o>ueStudents who are familiar with the conjugation pattern displayed in the six-hole grid, described in the article on teaching subject pronouns, will learn irregular verbs much more easily than those who do not know this pattern. This is a good moment to tell all you teachers out there that if the textbook you are using displays all six forms in a vertical column, I suggest you change texts as soon as possible. No pattern can emerge from dsiplaying the conjugation of a vertically.

The first step to take when introducing any irregularity is to review the regular pattern and refresh their minds. You'll need a short list of regular -ar, -er and -ir verbs (to refer to, not to hand out).

Next, draw the grid on the board, leaving its boxes empty. The next step is to model the review exercise. Say a pronoun in Spanish (e.g., ellos), then an infinitive (e.g., hablar), then say the form: hablan, followed by the translation: they speak. Keep them on their toes with an oral review using four or five verbs, but asking randomly for nearly all the forms.
&If a student doesn't answer after no more than two seconds, say "demasiado lento" or some such phrase and call on someone else. After five minutes of rapid review, put the conjugation of one of the regular verbs in the grid.

Then tell them that not all verbs are quite so perfect in their conjugation, but that even so, they do form patterns. Tell them that such verbs are called irregulars. Reassure them that the irregularity has nothing to do with the verb endings for now (that is, in the present tense), but rather in the stem of the verb. Ask someone if he or she can tell the class what the stem or root of a verb is. Don't let them start with an example, push the student to define it. Thus, to say habl- is not enough (how would the pronounce that, anyway, without an ending?!).
&After that brief review and reinforcement -- which should take no more than 10 minutes -- they are ready to learn two types of irregulars for today: those that change the e of the stem to ie and those that change an o of the stem to ue.

The model verbs should be pensar and poder. Using these verbs gives you an opportunity to show them that the change has nothing to do with whether the verb is an -ar, -er or an -ir verb, but that it simply is a feature of certain verbs. In most textbooks, the irregularity is noted in the glossary, in parenthesis, or should be. Again, if your textbook doesn't show the irregularities, then switch textbooks as soon as your school's budget will allow. Tell students to always learn their vocabulary with these notations: e.g., pensar (ie); poder (ue). Be sure to test them for that detail in written quizzes.

Finally, write the full conjugations of each in their respective grids and tell the class that you are going ot model the pronunciation and you want them to see if they can hear a pattern as well as see one. As you pronounce each one, stress the ie and ue a bit more than usual. If no one hears that the placement of the stress is not in the stem when you come to the nosotros and vosotros forms (where the change does not occur), then use a pointer and say them again.

Finally, tell them that these verbs are called shoe or boot verbs -- draw a shoe or boot shaped box to enclose only the persons and numbers that show the irregularity (i.e., all but the nosotros and vosotros forms).

Cultural Body Language Differences

2008-09-21T15:20:00.000-07:00

Article by Laura Jean Karr

Published on Aug 15, 2008 Cultural body language differences are an important aspect of non-verbal communication. What can be seen in one culture as a compliment is often taken as an insult in another culture. In this article we are going to look at a brief sampling of mistranslated body language.

As a general rule, body language is believed to comprise up to 90% of our total communication. Studying certain patterns of movement allows us to communicate non-verbally within our own cultural groups. It is important to understand that one culture set of acceptable body language gestures or movements may not be translated with the same meaning in a differing culture. For example a handshake can denote a greeting and respect in one culture but that may not be the case in another culture where a handshake maybe taken as an insult. Body language is in fact the most mistranslated form of human communication in our world today and that is solely based on simple cultural differences.&Here, we are going to take a look at the most common mistranslated cultural body language differences in order to help you become more comfortable the next time you visit another country.

Shaking Hands

In America, the cultural gesture of shaking hands upon greeting is considered the norm when doing a person-to-person introduction. In fact in America, to refuse a handshake is considered a very rude gesture. In Saudi Arabia, you can shake a man’s hand after meeting him but you cannot shake a woman’s hand at all in greeting. Under the Sharia Laws, it is immoral for a woman to greet any man in public other than her husband. So, to keep yourself and someone else out of trouble in Saudi Arabia, leave the handshake gesture alone unless a man extends his hand to you first.

A-OK

The OK hand gesture in America and England, is quite popular and considered a general gesture that denotes an agreement of sentiment. This gesture in Brazil however is the equivalent of using your middle finger as a gesture here in America. The OK hand gesture is also taken as an insult in most Latin American countries, Austria and France.

Thumbs-Up

The Thumbs Up gesture can be the equivalent to the OK gesture and is widely used within America and England. Once again, though in a large amount of cultures around the globe giving a Thumbs Up gesture is a very large insult. According to Joel Sherzer, a linguistic anthropologist, using the Thumbs Up gesture anywhere in the America’s excluding the United States is a horrible idea. Using this gesture can be denoted as a sexual insult and be seen as in correlation with the middle finger meaning.

The above is just a small sampling of what simple body language gestures can be interpreted as in different cultures. If you do intend to travel abroad the best course of action is to take the time to understand the culture of the country you are going to. You may also want to keep your body language in check, to avoid offending anyone until you get the chance to observe their culture better. Human consideration can be the best body language tool you have.

Kid Speak

2008-09-20T17:19:00.000-07:00

Best language software for kids under 12.KidSpeak is an immersion-type program with plenty of interaction and a relaxed, repetitive training style. Available in nine languages, KidSpeak includes more than 40 activities and 700 vocabulary words, as well as instruction in basic sentence structure, math and telling time in a foreign language. Experts say KidSpeak has a relaxed pace and attitude that kids find less stressful than other language software.

For more information click here.

eLanguage Learn to Speak Deluxe

2008-09-20T17:16:00.000-07:00

Language software for travelers.Designed primarily for travelers, the Learn to Speak series has focused vocabulary lessons and a strong emphasis on speech recognition technology. Although it is not comprehensive and does not lead to fluency, Learn to Speak allows learners to personalize learning and practice conversing in a real-world environment, preparing them for travel conversations. Reviewers at Learning Village, LearningWare Reviews, SuperKids Educational Software Review and PC Magazine all rave about the ability to carry on conversations with characters in the software.

For more information click here.

Instructed Second Language Vocabulary Learning

2008-09-15T15:34:00.000-07:00

Norbert Schmitt

University of Nottingham, UK, Norbert.Schmitt@nottingham.ac.uk

This article overviews current research on second language vocabulary learning. It concludes that a large vocabulary is necessary to function in English: 8000—9000 word families for reading, and perhaps as many as 5000—7000 families for oral discourse. In addition, a number of word knowledge aspects need to be learned about each lexical item. Taken together, this amounts to a substantial lexical learning challenge, one which many/most learners fail to meet. To facilitate adequate vocabulary learning, four vocabulary learning partners (students, teachers, materials writers, and researchers) need to contribute to the learning process.

Vocabulary learning programs need to include both an explicit, intentional learning component and a component based around maximizing exposure and incidental learning. The four learning strands (meaning-focused input, meaning-focused output, language-focused learning, and fluency development) suggested by Nation (2001) provide a structure by which to integrate intentional and incidental vocabulary learning. The overriding principle for maximizing vocabulary learning is to increase the amount of engagement learners have with lexical items. All four learning partners need to acknowledge the incremental nature of vocabulary learning, and to develop learning programs which are principled, long-term, and which recognize the richness and scope of the lexical knowledge that needs to be mastered.

CALICO Software Review

2008-09-14T16:17:00.000-07:00

Le Chandail de Hockey and The Hockey Sweater

Laurey Martin-BergUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

The Le chandail de hockey and The Hockey Sweater programs are a pair of interactive CD-ROMs directed at learners of French or English as a second language, respectively. The intent of the authors was to use an animated film based on a popular children’s story to teach second language reading and listening skills to young and new Canadians, and to introduce a significant aspect of Canadian culture to those audiences by expanding on the context of the story (hockey). The film is accompanied by other texts and cultural realia (a song, hockey cards, 12 pages from a 1946-47 department store catalogue), as well as interviews recorded specially for the CD-ROM with Roch Carrier, the author of the story, and Marcel Dargis, a Quebec folk artist. The pair of CD-ROMs is the winner of the 2007 Best Educational Award bestowed by the Digital Media Association of Alberta. It has been positively reviewed in Contact (a publication of Teachers of English as a Second Language, Ontario) and in Language Learning & Technology, where Catherine Caws of the University of Victoria wrote that “the interactive nature of this learning tool will help learners of French as a second language develop a better appreciation of the culture in which this story is rooted. The cultural notes are rich but not overwhelmingly detailed, well presented, yet simply organized” (p. 36)

EVALUATION

Technical Features:

Instructions for installing the CD-ROM are located on the back of the title page and trouble shooting information is found on the website (http://www.editions3d.ca/hockey). Installation is relatively simple and straightforward in spite of minor distractions such as being warned to close all Windows programs before installation and a suggestion to upgrade to the most recent version of QuickTime, even if the one already on the computer meets the program specifications. The program is somewhat slow to load but runs smoothly once it does. There are no delays in loading video clips, and one can move quickly from one section to another. This reviewer tested the program on 10 different occasions on two different PC platforms and never had any problem with crashes or stalls. Navigation is generally straightforward, once one gets into the program; however, it is not necessarily self-evident that to enter the program one should click on the picture of the hockey jersey shown on the first screen, rather than on the name of the program. Once in the program, a menu includes a “To Begin” button, and it is quite important that users not bypass this step since on the “To Begin” page learners select their level and receive a customized set of general directions and suggestions for working through the various “periods” in the program. A tool bar at the top of the screen allows users to select periods, and, once in a period, a drop-down menu allows them to choose a level. A tool bar at the bottom of the screen allows users to access the dictionary and notebook functions as well as help screens for each activity. The reviewer would also highly recommend that, when using the program for the first time, learners avail themselves of these help screens because they contain not just suggestions for using the material but, in essence, the directions for the activity, including how to register responses in some types of activities. For example, in the listen and match activities, users click on a speaker icon to hear the cue and then drag the icon to a box by the appropriate picture to respond. Without this information, learners might assume that they should click on the number next to the speaker icon to get the cue or try to respond by typing the item number in the box, leading to frustration and a sense that the program is not working.

Likewise, for the cloze activities, learners need to know that they must either use the tab key to navigate from one blank to the next or erase all of the asterisks that fill the “blank” before typing in the appropriate word. If any asterisks remain, their answer will be shown as incorrect during the verification phase, even if it is, in fact, correct.

Activities

Each CD-ROM is organized in the form of a hockey game, with first, second, and third periods. There are also sections entitled “zone” and “encounters.” The first period is a listening and observing phase as learners watch and listen to the entire (10 minute) animated film, as well as selected clips excerpted from the film.

Exercises presented in this period can be done by learners with limited literacy skills and include matching pictures to spoken words or sentences and oral multiple choice. The second period combines listening and reading as the text is presented side by side with the film. In this period, exercises are geared to three levels, named in keeping with the hockey context: PeeWee (false beginners), Junior (intermediate), and Pro (high intermediate to advanced). Within each level, activities include matching exercises (words to pictures and definitions), written comprehension questions, cloze activities, and plot puzzles, which ask learners to put sentences in order. The third period links listening, reading, and writing, as ideas from the film are expanded with additional texts related to hockey (e.g., hockey cards of famous players and a song that reflects the sport’s popularity) and other aspects of Canadian heritage (e.g., pages from the Eaton’s department store catalogue to illustrate fashion at the time of the story). “Zone” is a tasked-based, creative section with extended activities encompassing all skills areas. For example, learners are asked to create a “dream team” with players presented in the hockey cards from the third period and then to explain their choices, first orally and then in writing. Finally, “encounters” present biographies of the author of the story, the animator of the film, the translator of the story (from French to English), and a Quebec artist, as well as interviews with the author and the artist and a visit to the artist’s gallery to see some of his works depicting life at the time of the story. A multimedia dictionary is always available to learners, who need only to click on any word in the film’s script to gain access to the word’s definition, its pronunciation, and, where appropriate, a contextualized illustration. The dictionary also includes synonyms, antonyms, homonyms, and derivatives. Additionally, there is a notebook function with which students can take notes that they can then save to disk or print.

Learner Fit

The activities are varied and pedagogically sound, especially in the first two periods and for the first two skill levels. There is a good progression between the levels in terms of moving from a focus on individual words to whole sentences (or groups of sentences) and from responses that echo what is said verbatim in the film or the question to responses that synthesize and extrapolate. The Pro level is more problematic. First, except for the length of the cloze passages and the frequency of use of some vocabulary items in the matching and cloze activities, many of the activities at this level do not seem to be significantly more challenging linguistically than their counterparts at the Junior level. There are other issues as well that are likely to make the Pro level a less positive and productive experience for learners. For example, the “hockey” activity that is part of the second period is not based on material from the film/story and requires detailed knowledge of hockey’s history—which is not presented until the third period. The help screen for this activity does mention that, if necessary, learners can seek information to help them answer the questions in the “stars” section, but there is no link nor even any mention of where that section is located. The “clothing” activity in the second period is problematic in a different way since many of the items in this matching activity (e.g., middy shirt, helmet, and sweater with reindeer pattern), while historically relevant (i.e., representative of the time of the story), do not appear in the film and are not words that the target audience (young Canadians and new Canadians) are likely to know or need to know.

The activities in the third period are not ranked by skill level, and many are too long (14 pages of text about hockey, its history, and its famous players) and/or too difficult for learners at the PeeWee level and may be too arcane for young learners (e.g., texts on the symbolism of the rocking chair or the metal stove). There is, nonetheless, something for everyone in this period: pictures, bios, and stats of hockey greats; a 1970’s song accompanied by printed lyrics; a replica order form from the Eaton catalogue; short texts discussing various aspects of Canadian cultural heritage; and an opportunity to hear the author read the first paragraph of the story. However, effective use of the CD-ROM’s “third period” would require considerably more advanced planning and direction from the instructor (facilitated by the Teacher’s Guide) than the earlier periods. Likewise, the “encounters” section with its bios and interviews may be too difficult for PeeWee and even some Junior learners. Non-Canadians who are unfamiliar with the sounds of Quebec French may also find the artist Marcel Dargis a bit difficult to understand. Nonetheless, the gallery visit requires only minimal literacy skills and provides a visually satisfying introduction to Canadian folk art and a particular period in Quebec cultural history.

During a given “period,” the activities for any given skill level can be completed in any order and repeated as desired. For all of the matching activities the visual cues reshuffle, making repeat visits to those activities more interesting. Each activity has “verify,” “erase,” and “start over” options, and, for the listening comprehension activities, useful hints are provided if students mark an incorrect answer. Most of the activities are designed to be done individually, although the “dream team” activity from the “zone” section could be done in pairs or groups, providing speaking practice, which is otherwise found only in the Let’s Talk section. (There are 40 questions on the English CD-ROM; for the French version, the questions are provided only in the Teacher’s Guide).

Given the film’s subject (a young boy who idolizes hockey’s great Maurice Richard) and era depicted (1940s), the material is quite male centric. There is only one female character in the film—the main character’s French-speaking mother who does not understand the problem when the hockey jersey she has ordered for her son from the Anglophone Eaton’s department store catalogue turns out to be from the hated Toronto Maple Leafs, not the adored Montreal Canadiens. Nonetheless, one of 14 pages in the third period introduction to hockey’s history is dedicated to women’s hockey, and five of the 31 “stars” featured in the hockey cards are female. Also, since many male students complain about the overly feminized content of most introductory French courses, having a supplement that appeals to them could be a plus.

Teacher Fit

This CD-ROM is successfully learner centered (Fromer, 1997; Kern, 2000): learners can progress at their own pace (Tucker, 2000 ), repeat activities as needed/desired, and challenge themselves by trying activities at a higher level. In addition, learners do not just receive information or practice certain language skills, they also do things like create a “dream team,” which promotes discovery learning (Noblitt, 1995) and which reflects an interactive rather than a passive conception of the liberal arts (Lanham, 1993). There is enough structure to provide learners with a sense of direction and accomplishment and enough variety to keep them interested and engaged.

The program offers a high level of linguistic and cultural authenticity (Beatty, 2003). In fact, the real strength of the CD-ROM is its integration of culture and language learning (Schofer, 2002). In addition to its target audiences, American high school and college students in beginning and intermediate French or ESL courses would enjoy the content and benefit from the listening and reading skills practice presented in an integrated cultural context. Even for those with little knowledge of Quebec or of hockey, the material is accessible and engaging: as author Roch Carrier points out in his interview in the “encounters” section, Le chandail de hockey/The Hockey Sweater raises questions about cultural and personal identity that transcend the particular group (young boys) and era (mid-twentieth century) depicted. For more advanced learners, the CD-ROM is also a wonderful resource for cultural exploration as it presents varied and in-depth information on Quebec cultural heritage and the sport of hockey within the unifying context of the animated film. It could thus be integrated into a wide variety of courses at different levels, either as a stand-alone curriculum unit or as a supplement to enhance reading skills or cultural knowledge, as well as to provide a window onto the French language in its multidialectal richness (Auger & Valdman, 1999).

There is a certain gender bias—or at least certain gender stereotypes (that young males are obsessed by sports and women cannot or do not understand this obsession)—inherent to the story on which the CD-ROM is based, but the authors of the CD-ROM have done their best to work around that by including female hockey players in the “hockey stars” cards.

The Teacher’s Guide does not speak to the program’s theoretical or methodological assumptions. It does, however, provide a print copy of all of the content from the CD-ROM, with additional marginal notes, suggesting topics for discussion, games, possible group and individual research projects, and related web sites.

SUMMARY

The Le chandail de hockey/The Hockey Sweater programs represent a visually appealing, linguistically and culturally authentic learning tool and cultural supplement. The popular and engaging story/animated film on which it is based provides an accessible context for practicing language skills and exploring hockey and related aspects of Quebec’s cultural identity. The CD-ROM allows learners to proceed at their own pace and to work at their own level, providing opportunities for them to challenge themselves when and as they wish, and offering regular and useful feedback beyond the mere indication that an answer is correct or incorrect. This reviewer has taught the story and shown the film in courses at both the beginning and advanced intermediate levels and welcomes the addition of this program to her collection of instructional tools.

SCALED RATING

Implementation Possibilities: 4Pedagogical Features: 4Sociolinguistic Accuracy: 5Use of Computer Capabilities: 5Ease of Use (student/teacher): 5/4Overall Evaluation: 4.5Value for Money: 4.5

REFERENCES

Auger, J., & Valdman, A. (1999). Letting French students hear the diverse voices of Francophony. Modern Language Journal, 83, 403-412.

Beatty, K. (2003). Teaching and researching computer-assisted language learning. London: Pearson Education Limited.

Caws, C. (2007). [Review of Le chandail de Hockey CD-ROM]. Language Learning & Technology, 11, 29-37. Retrieved April 2, 2008, from http://llt.msu.edu/vol11num3/review2

Fromer, J. (1997). Cognition, context, and computers: Factors in effective foreign language learning. In J. Muyskins (Ed.), New ways of learning and teaching: Focus on technology and foreign language education (pp. 199-223). Boston: Heinle.

Kern, R. (2000). Literacy and language teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Lanham, R. A. (1993). The electronic word: Democracy, technology and the arts. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Noblitt, J. S. (1995). The electronic language learning environment. In C. Kramsch (Ed.), Redefining the boundaries of language study. Boston: Heinle.

Schofer, P. (2002). Text as culture: Teaching through literature and language. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt.

Tucker, H. (2000). The place of the personal: The changing face of foreign language literature in a standards-based curriculum. ADFL Bulletin, 31, 53-58.

PRODUCER'S CONTACT INFORMATION

Authors: Donna Mydlarski, Penthes Verena Rubrecht, Dana M. Paramskas, André Bougaïeff, and Larry Katz

Developer/distributor:Editions3DWeb: http://www.editions3d.ca/hockey

REVIEWERS' BIODATA

Laurey Martin-Berg is a Distinguished Lecturer in the Department of French and Italian and Faculty Affiliate in the Second Language Acquisition doctoral program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She chairs the French department’s second and sixth semester language courses and is the co-author of Paroles, a first-year textbook program, and Images, an advanced intermediate cultural reader.

REVIEWERS' CONTACT INFORMATION

Dr. Laurey Martin-BergDepartment of French and Italian618 Van Hise Hall1220 Linden DriveUniversity of Wisconsin-MadisonMadison WI 53706Phone: 608 262 3941Fax: 608 265 3892Email: lmartinb@wisc.edu

Ranking of Foreign Language

2008-09-08T15:41:00.000-07:00

OpenCourseWare Education Sources

There are many free foreign language courses online, but not all of them are equal in content and quality. Here is a ranking of the best foreign language education sources.

#1 MIT

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology offers more than 100 free foreign language courses through the university's OpenCoureWare program. Offerings range from undergraduate to graduate level and include everything from Japanese and Chinese to German and Spanish. Courses consist mainly of PDF files, but are sometimes supplemented with audio, video and slide presentations.

#2 BBC

The BBC offers extensive foreign language instruction through their website. Some of the languages users can learn include French, Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Portuguese, Greek, Japanese, Welsh, Scottish Gaelic, English and many others. Text, audio guides, video guides, quizzes and games like crossword puzzles actually make learning a complicated language fun.

#3 Open University

All Modern Language Courses

The UK's Open University makes several different modern language courses available to the general public. Course materials include massive amounts of text, as well as multimedia elements. The three main language offerings are German, Spanish and French, but there are additional courses that focus on culture and history in addition to foreign language instruction.

#4 eLanguage School

The eLanguage School offers a huge repository of foreign language learning materials. Users can choose from ten different languages, including Russian, Portuguese, Korean, Dutch and Spanish. Vocabulary lists, videos, audio files and links to other language resources supplement the text-based lessons and tutorials.

#5 Mango Languages

Mango Languages offers foreign language instruction in 11 different foreign languages, including French, Greek, Russian, German and Italian. Registration is required to access more than one lesson, but it is free and fast. Lessons include text, audio and video so users can learn the correct pronunciation for every new word they learn.

#6 FSI Language

FSI Language is a community site that distributes the Foreign Service language program documentation and audio-tapes created and used by the Foreign Service Institute, a U.S. Government training institution. The courses offered by FSI feature extensive text and audio materials. Users can choose from 31 different foreign languages, including Arabic, Finnish, Hebrew, Hindi, Swahili, Thai and many others.

#7 Utah State University

Utah State University publishes courses in languages, philosophy and speech communication through their OpenCourseWare program. Current foreign languages course offerings include first year Chinese I and II. Course materials are comprehensive and include PDFs, audio files, video files and supplementary textbooks.

#8 U.S. Institute of Languages

Spanish

The U.S. Institute of Languages offers a custom Spanish language course that has been used by individuals in more than 130 countries. The course uses a unique teaching method to help users build a larger vocabulary faster. Interactive lessons are meant for Spanish language beginners and focus on grammar, conjugation and word order.

#9 Carnegie Mellon

French

Carnegie Mellon offers an excellent French course online through their Open Learning Initiative. The high-quality video-based course includes a whole slew of interactive features, such as activities and an online tutor. Fifteen lessons in all.

#10 Wikiversity

The Wikiversity Centre for Foreign Language Learning gives users a chance to learn more about a foreign language or culture. Most of Wikiversity's courses, a.k.a. learning projects, consist mainly of text, but there are also links to guide you to additional education resources. Languages include Chinese, German, English, Spanish and many others.

Famous Mistranslations - Bad English

2008-09-07T15:00:00.000-07:00

by Lingo24

Most of us do not associate languages with mirth or merriment. There are, however, times when mistranslations and bad English can have just such an effect.

When we think of foreign languages, a variety of images may come to mind; some of us may remember endless hours spent in classrooms, repetitively practicing verb conjugations, or perhaps some of us will recall sitting in class attempting to be as unobtrusive as possible in order to avoid being asked to translate a particularly difficult text. One thing is certain; most of us do not associate languages with mirth or merriment. There are, however, times when mistranslations and bad English can have just such an effect.

One such instance involved the visit of the US President Jimmy Carter to Poland in 1977. He wanted to say that he wished to understand the Poles desires for the future and that he liked the Poles, however, this was miss-rendered by his translator as “I desire the Poles (carnally)”…his translator was later fired!

Staying with US Presidents, a perhaps more famous incumbent, John. F. Kennedy made a famous speech in Berlin in June 1963. It was in this speech, during the height of the cold war, that he vocalised his solidarity with the people of Berlin, by utterering the immortal phrase “Ich bin ein Berliner”…”I am a citizen of Berlin”. Although at the time the phrase was taken in the spirit that it was meant, it has caused some amusement retrospectively, as Berliner is also a term for a jelly doughnut.

It is not only US presidents that fall foul of mistranslations though; the Soviet President Nikita Khrushchev was famously mistranslated during the Suez crisis in 1956. The French and British, aided by the U.S. were just about to occupy the Suez Canal area when Khrushchev made a speech berating the western powers.

Afterwards, in a back room, he made an off-hand remark to a diplomat which was quoted by an English translator as “we’ll bury you”. This caused an international furore at the time, as it was construed as a warning that the Soviets would, if able, seek the destruction of the western powers.

In actual fact, this was an oblique reference to the core Communist philosophy that Capitalism would eventually destroy itself without any need for active confrontation. The correct interpretation of the phrase, taken in the context of this belief should have been; “We will be there at your burial” i.e. we will outlast you.

Analogous to mistranslation is bad English. Bad English is often hilarious and hugely entertaining…all the more so, if originating from a native English speaker. Here are a few examples from the current US President George. W. Bush.

"There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again."

"I know what I believe. I will continue to articulate what I believe and what I believe — I believe what I believe is right."

"Tribal sovereignty means that; it's sovereign. I mean, you're a — you've been given sovereignty, and you're viewed as a sovereign entity. And therefore the relationship between the federal government and tribes is one between sovereign entities."

"The Holocaust was an obscene period in our nation's history. I mean in this century's history. But we all lived in this century. I didn't live in this century."

Whilst all the examples cited above are undoubtedly humorous, there is another side to them as well. They are illustrative of the type of mistakes that would be unforgivable in the business arena. The image that you project to your clients is intimately linked to what you present to them and how you present it. Part and parcel of that is the quality of the translation.

Your chosen translation agency will have one, and only one chance to get a translation right for you so it is vital to ensure that your agency, their translators and the service that they provide are the best that you can get. The consequences of doing otherwise would certainly not be humorous at all.

Accent Reduction Software

2008-09-06T19:03:00.000-07:00

Helps to Get a 'Virtually' Perfect American Accent

By Christine O'Kelly

Not only in social situations, but also in the business world as well, first impressions are important. It's often difficult for foreign immigrants to blend in the business world due to their foreign accent. When a foreign person speaks with a thick non-American accent it may be difficult for others to understand what they are saying. This accent may be the difference between getting hired for a job, promoted or closing the deal on a large contract.

In an effort to help their employees, many companies are offering software specifically developed to help reduce accents. Anyone that wants to improve their English skills may want to investigate one of these programs. Accent reduction speech software is user friendly so it can be utilized in a home environment situation, but under the supervision of a professional speech therapist the results may prove to be faster and more dramatic.

Software Programs

The typical speech software using the latest online technology will take the student through a series of programmed lessons. Intonation and pronunciation of American specific words are stressed. While video programs are a better choice, some programs come only in audio form. It's better to have a professional speech therapist demonstrate words that are commonly mispronounced. They should teach tongue placement, volume control, sound positioning and more. It's much easier to learn when you see someone audibly demonstrate the correct mouth position rather then simply hear the sound of a word being pronounced.

Practice Makes Perfect

The web cam has become a useful tool in practicing speech and accent control. By capturing a recording of the student pronouncing key words or sounds they then may play back the recording and match it against the correct pronunciation, pointing out areas where improvement is required. This is a good method for at home programs where students see first hand how they measure up. Most speech software programs include pauses or dedicated lessons specifically for practicing accent reduction techniques.

Professional Speech Therapist May Give You An Advantage.

Many people that attempt to reduce their accent enlist the help of a professional speech therapist or vocal coach. A growing number of these professionals are using speech software to improve the quality their speech therapy programs and a client's progress. These software programs encourage the students to practice between the face-to-face sessions. The additional sessions dramatically increase the success rate at which clients progress with their accent reduction.

Some software programs will record the student's session and then it can be sent to the speech therapist or vocal coach. After reviewing the recording the coach can offer objective feedback almost instantaneously. The quick turn around helps to correct errors before they become a habit.

About the Author: Christine O'Kelly is an author for SureSpeak, a leading provider of interactive online speech software solutions used by people wishing to improve their communication skills or master accent reduction techniques.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Christine_OKelly

Rocket Languages

2008-09-06T18:56:00.000-07:00

I have always wanted to learn a new language since I was in high school. I just could not get into the class, it was boring with just memorizing grammar, words and very repetitive. So instead of spending my time efficiently in class, it turned out to be a waste of time. However I still had the passion to learn a new language. I just needed the right tools to learn how to speak a new language, sooner then later. So I finally got recommended to Rocket Languages software. After their 6 day trial, I was hooked! Now I am trying to get the word out to those that want to learn how to speak a new language fast.

So why have you wanted to learn how to speak a new language? Job? Heritage? Loved one? Leisure? No matter what your reason is, I have found the software that I have used, love and know would be the best for you. I am living proof that it works, along with 209,848 others that have bought their software. Why have you not joined yet? Rocket Languages currently offers 7 languages:

-Chinese
-German
-French
-Italian
-Japanese
-Sign Language
-Spanish

I myself chose to learn German (family heritage, as well as historical intrigues) and also Spanish (a lot of people around me speak Spanish) and both of them took no time at all to learn. No more then 9 weeks each. Now most other language software companies could not even begin to try and teach you a new language that fast. Not to mention they do not offer even a faction of the invaluable information Rocket Languages does. Rocket Languages takes all of the hard aspects out of learning a new language and turn them into easy and fun lessons. Learning a new language does not have to be a hard burden anymore!

If you are curious what is included, Rocket Languages packages include:

-Audio Courses

- Interactive GAMES

-Grammar & Culture Lessons

-Members Only Forum (It's like having a 24/7 on call teacher)

-Much Much More!

There is so much more invaluable information that Rocket Languages provides at such a low cost (about 67-74% cheaper then Rosetta Stone and other "renown" companies). You would have to be crazy to not take them up on their exceptional offer. Even if you are not fully convinced they have the best software on the market, then take advantage of their 6 day trial! If you would like more information about their 6 day trial, full software, Rocket Languages and other language software then please check out the review website. It is very informational and summarizes what Rocket Languages sales page says. Removing all of the useless information, testimonials and other like information just giving you the meat!

I have used their software for 2 languages now. I have become very successful with both languages (learning them, and utilizing them to create more profit for me.) If you would like to join me and the thousands of others taking initiative and learning a new language, "Click Here"

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Alex_Sharpe

What is the Easiest Language to Learn?

2008-09-06T18:04:00.000-07:00

Did you ever wonder what the easiest language to learn is? Maybe you are looking to learn another language and haven't decided on which one. You don't want to get bogged down in something too difficult and you'd like a (relatively) easy time of it.

There are a lot of factors that make a language easy or hard to learn. The factor with the greatest impact is what your native language is - the language you grew up speaking. This will always effect how you learn languages. Other factors are - whether you have to learn a new alphabet or writing system, new grammar rules and strange new sounds to make.

It's really a combination of the actual characteristics of the language you want to learn and your own personal experience and learning skills. But if the majority of people agree that one language is easiest to learn, then it probably is. I have a survey on my website and most people seem to choose the easiest language based on what their native language is.

The majority of language learners whose native language is English choose Spanish as the easiest language to learn. Why? For one reason, Spanish is a very regular language. Once you know the rules of pronunciation, you can read almost any Spanish word and pronounce it correctly. And aside for a few new letters (that aren't very difficult), the alphabet is the same.

There are also many cognates between English and Spanish. Much of the vocabulary is familiar, either borrowed from one language to the other, or borrowed from the same source, like Latin.

Another key factor in why people feel that Spanish is easy to learn is the availablity of resources to learn with. The market is flush with products to buy, books and movies are readily available, and the internet has lots of free resources to use. Combined with the fact that Spanish is one of the most commonly spoken languages in the world, it seems that Spanish is everywhere and is somehow easier to pick up.

Bangalore Foreign Language Courses

2008-09-06T17:57:00.000-07:00

Welkomen! Or welcome to the foreign language courses in town. You may wish to learn a foreign language simply for the thrill of mastering a new tongue or for career enhancement. Learning a foreign language has a distinct advantage these days, especially when it comes to professional success. With the world becoming smaller, several jobs in the IT sector actually give preference to someone with basic knowledge of a foreign language, say German or Mandarin. Some institutes even offer a crash course, making you proficient enough to hail a taxi or exchange pleasantries with your business counterparts. We give you a list of some institutes across Bangalore where you can learn a foreign language.

Max Muller Bhavan

If you wish to learn German, the Goethe Institut at Max Mueller Bhavan offers several options, for beginners to advanced levels, from extensive to intensive and even super intensive courses. The regular extensive course for beginners extends to 10 weeks from Monday to Friday. Fees are Rs. 8,000 plus extra for books and CDs. If you wish to take part in international examinations after your course the charges are separate. They also have weekend courses available (Rs. 9,000) that continue for 15 weeks. If you want to learn your German fast enough, then opt for an intensive or semi intensive course. The material is the same. It's just the length of the course that differs. It's always fun to learn a language at an official institute like this as its varied range of programs and cultural activities exposes you to the language even more.

Alliance Française de Bangalore

If a rendezvous with the French language is what you seek, Alliance Francaise is the best place to go. Once again, being a cultural centre, your exposure levels to the French language and culture are at their best here. Classes are offered for beginners at the basic level for two months, from Monday to Friday. You can start with the basic course and then move on to intermediate and advanced levels if you clear the exams. What's more, Alliance also has classes for conversational French. They also have centers in Koramangala and Banashankari. The basic course is available even as a weekend one. Total cost of the basic course is Rs. 3,500.

Academy of English and Foreign Languages

The Academy of English and Foreign Languages has quite a huge repertoire with languages ranging from French, German, Italian, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese etc. In total, they offer 21 foreign languages. The basic level course is of 80 hours duration with 40 hours in the classroom and 40 hours of lab sessions, which are basically practicing and working in the library. The course takes about 10 weeks to complete. Classes are held over the weekend (Friday and Sunday). The course claims to make you proficient in reading, writing, speaking and living and is open to anyone above 14 years of age. They take people in small batches, which is one of the biggest advantages of learning here. Each batch consists of four to five people and the attention given is quite personal. They also have shorter courses available for professionals.

Spanish Academy of India

Wish to say Hola to Spanish? Then opt for a course at the Spanish Academy of India. The beginners' course here lasts for three months or 50-60 hours. They try and adjust the course to the students' timing and convenience. Usually, there are three classes held for a total of six hours a week. The cost of the basic course is Rs. 5,000. They can also teach you to hold a conversation in Spanish, in just 15 days, if you require that.

General Information About Foreign Language Degree Programs

2008-09-05T17:14:00.000-07:00

Studying a foreign language is a practical skill with immediate benefits. As the world becomes more integrated, a global community in terms of culture and business, the need to speak more than one language is growing. Learning a foreign language provides students with the proficiency and comprehension necessary for bilingualism or multilingualism in addition to promoting cultural sensitivity and awareness.

The language a student chooses should be one of interest, but also one that will advance his career. Arabic, Chinese and Spanish are some of the “hot” languages to learn for jobs, since there are more places in the world speaking these languages, thus more places in need of foreign language speakers.

Spanish, French, Portuguese and Italian, also known as the four “romance” languages, are usually offered at every college or university. Other common language courses include German, Japanese, Chinese, Russian, Latin, Korean and Arabic, which are considerably more difficult for English speakers to learn. Different schools offer varying languages depending on how developed the foreign language program is at the school and the demand from the students. The larger the university, the more uncommon languages are offered, such as Vietnamese, Swedish, Thai, Czech, Malay, Greek, Hebrew, Persian (Farsi), Hawaiian, Swahili, Croatian, Turkish, Yiddish, Polish, Irish/Gaelic, Finnish, Dutch or American Sign Language (ASL).

Earning a foreign language degree online is not nearly as doable as it is for other degrees, such as business or information technology, since much of learning a foreign language involves working individually with teachers, in groups and in front of an audience speaking, writing and reading the language. However, there are many free foreign language courses online, which can serve as a class by itself or as a useful study aid. MIT, Open University, Utah State University, the BBC and FSI Language offer OpenCourseWare programs with over 100 free online foreign language courses.

Bachelor Of Arts In A Foreign Language:
Earning a Bachelor of Arts in a foreign language involves proving written and oral proficiency in the language the student studies. Some schools require independent courses or a series of classes related to the language, such as Japanese literature, art history and history courses, plus linguistics and other humanities classes. Choosing another academic field of interest, such as linguistics, business, education or sciences will be of tremendous use in the job market. While there are positions available that strictly involve translating, there are far more job opportunities at companies with foreign clients, in the government or in schools.

Many schools offer ways for students to prove their knowledge of a foreign language before taking the require coursework. If a student has scored high enough on the advanced placement examination for that particular language in high school, the credits can carry over. Other students who wish to continue learning a language they started in high school can take placement tests to see if they can skip ahead to an intermediate level. Some schools offer summer intensive courses that teach at an accelerated pace, which is especially useful for students who want to jump ahead or review the language for the fall semester.

Master Of Arts In A Foreign Language:
A Masters of Arts in a foreign language requires a B.A. in that particular language (e.g. French) and involves more in-depth learning of language theory, aesthetics, medieval literature, modern literature, criticism and cultural studies. Some schools offer combined B.A. and M.A. language-intensive programs, which reduces the time spent in school while still earning a higher degree.

Earning A Higher Degree In Foreign Language:
Earning a Ph.D. in a foreign language requires a master’s degree in the chosen language of study first. All students must pass written and oral examinations and complete a dissertation that presents the student’s knowledge of interdisciplinary expertise, critical thinking and interpretation. Some degree programs offer optional emphases on applied linguistics, specific literary periods or cultural studies.

Coursework For Foreign Languages:
Nearly all the coursework for the first two years is the same when it comes to learning a foreign language: reading, writing and speaking. Many of the assignments come from textbook and workbook combinations that require the student to incorporate all three aspects of learning at the same time. After passing beginner and intermediate levels, many foreign language degree requirements are much like English courses in that they involve reading, analyzing and critical reasoning of select foreign literature.

In order to maintain the high level of fluency needed for jobs, students of foreign language studies must be diligent in their studies as well as outside teachings and extracurricular lessons. Reading foreign newspapers and books, watching foreign films and volunteering language skills at local organizations are great ways to utilize skills outside the classroom. Internships and summer jobs are also ideal for practicing the language in a real-world setting.

Traveling abroad is one of the best ways to gain insight and a deeper understanding of the cultural and social perspectives of another country. Going to school in Germany, for example, fully immerses the student into using German on a daily basis. Also, the experience of going abroad, learning and living in another culture led to overall personal growth and intellectual development and appreciation.

Career Opportunities In Foreign Language:
Career opportunities for foreign language graduates may seem bleak in comparison to more stable job markets in the sciences and business. However, being bilingual is a huge advantage over those who cannot speak a second language, especially for any organization that needs someone who deals with non-English speaking people on a regular basis.

The most common jobs for foreign language degree holders involve work in education, such as teaching at any level, or as a translator communicating between two languages, like from English to French and vice versa. The government always needs interpreters and translators, with jobs in the Department of State, Customs Service and CIA or FBI.

Public relations, journalism, communications, advertising and marketing for businesses, foreign news, museums and TV and film companies are hire foreign language specialists, as do banks, import and export companies, foreign firms and American firms operating in other countries. Of course, travel and tourism jobs in hotel management, airlines and resorts are always in demand of foreign language graduates.

Earning Potential For Foreign Language Careers:
The salary for foreign language degree holders varies greatly depending on the language learned, any other degrees or academics and the field of work. A translator can make anywhere from $37,056 to $50,299 on average, while educators tend to start slightly less at $32,839 to $51,976. Foreign exchange traders can make up to $61,200, whereas speech and language pathologists can earn up to $67,500. Jobs in the private sector, government and nonprofit all vary in salary, but are roughly equivalent.

Lesson Plan: How to Explain TU and Ud.

2008-09-05T16:54:00.000-07:00

Article by Eric Vogt

Even when students understand the concept of conjugation, they can be overwhelmed by the fact that there are four ways to say "you" and moreso by the fact that "usted" is second person in meaning but requires third-person verbs. This lesson shows a way out of the confusion.
When students are faced with the concept of subject-verb agreement and the various subject pronouns in Spanish, the fact that there are four ways to say you in Spanish can be confusing. Unraveling that confusion is much more difficult than avoiding it in the first place.

This lesson plan is designed to help teachers explain how there came to be four forms of you are in Spanish, in the simplest terms and to make them comfortable with the fact that each of them has its own verb ending. By far, the most difficult piece of this puzzle is why usted and ustedes are second-person in meaning but require the verbs in the third-person.

Once students have been exposed to the six grammatical persons and learned the subject pronouns, it is time to address tú and usted. Most students have no problem with the idea of a polite and a familiar form of address. In terms of usage, I usually compare using tú with being on a first-name basis with someone and usted as being on a Mr. or Ms. basis.

In order to explain why usted is second person in meaning but requires third-person verbs, I teach a little history of the language combined with some social history, which I’ll share with you teachers who may not know this.

At one time, a few hundred years ago, Spanish did not distinguish formal from familiar you with a particular pronoun. This was awkward, since tú was acknowledged as an intimate form of address and no person considering him or herself superior in social standing would tolerate being addressed in a familiar way by a servant. Social inferiors therefore, used the expression Vuestra Merced, meaning Your Mercy or Your Grace, in an indirect fashion, as if averting their eyes from their masters.

Of course, if you use Your Mercy as a subject pronoun, it is third person. Consider these expressions in English: “Does Your Grace wish to dine now?” or “Your Mercy eats too little!” Notice that these require third-person verbs in English. Over time, with constant use, Vuestra Merced came to be pronounced as the modern usted. In fact, until very recently, it was common to see usted abbreviated, not only as Ud. but also as Vd.

If students grasp the foregoing, they are usually ready to understand that vosotros is the plural of tú (in Spain) and that ustedes is both familiar and formal plural in the Americas, which comes as a bit of a relief.

Learning a New Language Is Well Worth the Effort

2008-09-05T16:39:00.000-07:00

Article by Renae Haug

Explore the challenges in learning a new language and understand the long term benefits found exploring other cultures.

Learning a new language can be challenging, but don’t let doubts or lack of confidence keep you from taking a shot at it. The long-term rewards that come with speaking a second language are worth every bit of the time and effort you put into it. For instance, listing your ability to read and write in a second language can add a valuable – and perhaps unique – qualification to your resume. Given today’s economy and the intense competition for jobs, it won’t hurt to have such a credential, even if the job doesn’t call for use of a second language. The fact you have taken it upon yourself to learn one illustrates that you’re motivated and capable of learning, regardless of your age.

Once you’ve decided to learn a new language, you’ll need to accept the fact that it will require effort and self discipline. It’s always best to choose a good time to study and stick with it as much as possible. The better your study skills, the easier it will be to learn a new language.

In the early stages of building a vocabulary and linking new words to form sentences, you may be hesitant or shy to use a new language -- fearing embarrassment if you muddle it. But mistakes will happen and everyone makes them. For this reason, many language experts advise their students to keep a sense of humor. Being reluctant to speak the language will only hinder your progress to converse in the language fluently. If you find yourself having extreme difficulty, you can always speak into a tape recorder and literally hear yourself progress by playing it back.

Since each language is unique in grammar, sentence structure, pronunciation and tone, learning to speak in a conversational manner will require furthering your knowledge in these areas as well. Initially learning about the facets of the new language will seem complex and somewhat overwhelming, but your diligence will result in greater comprehension.

There are many helpful tools for learning a new language, but for most people, there are a few ways to ease the process. One method is to become familiar with the culture associated with the language you are learning to speak. As you improve your understanding of a culture, you are more likely to understand that culture’s perception of the world, thus resulting in better comprehension of the new language.

Don’t become discouraged if in your attempts to speak with someone in your new language you suddenly feel you’ve not made as much progress as you thought. Keep in mind there can be many dialects in one language, and expressions can differ greatly. So it could be that you’ve tried to talk with someone who speaks a different dialect.

You’ll also discover that learning more about the culture of the people who speak the language you are learning will greatly enhance the assimilation process. It will also make the learning experience more enjoyable.

Before you are halfway through a language course, you’ll probably wonder what your new skill will be worth in everyday life. Believe it or not, many people plan their vacations based on their desire to utilize what they have spent so much time and energy learning. Communicating for the first time with people in a language you are learning can be an awesome experience.

In some more diverse communities there are language classes offered for little or no charge. Check with your local community center to see if any classes are offered in your neighborhood. Another way is to purchase language learning software.

Why wait any longer to start learning a foreign language. Start now!

Native American Languages and Tribes

2008-09-05T16:33:00.000-07:00

by Renae Haug

Native Americans--A people often grossly misrepresented throughout the centuries as violent and merciless. However, numerous records demonstrate most as a hospitable people with a love and respect for their land--having a unique connection with it.

There is no question about the amazing role Native Americans have in history. One general misunderstanding was there were few Native American languages spoken prior to the arrival of the Europeans. To the contrary, it has been estimated that the Native American languages spoken in the Western Hemisphere were well over a thousand, perhaps close to two thousand. Tribes of the Indian Nation are estimated to be in the hundreds in North America alone.

The number of Native American languages are immense in variety and typically categorized by geographical divisions. The three primary divisions are North America, Central America and South America. Evidence also confirms that Native American languages were highly developed, specifically, in North America.

Due to the immense variety of tribes and languages spoken by Native Americans it would be virtually impossible to provide even a brief description of them all. So I will mention only a few who lived in times past, and a few currently residing in the Americas still speaking their Native tongue.

The Quechuan languages are a family of languages with numerous dialects spoken in South America. A language still spoken there today. An initial requisite was that all learn Quechua, the language of the Incas. Hence, The Incas made their language, Quechua, the tongue of the Inca Empire. “Quechua,“ says the book Quechua, Within the Reach of Everyone, is considered “the most comprehensive, most varied, as well as the most elegant of the dialects of South America.” Quechua is spoken today by millions in countries having connection to the Inca Empire, particularly in the mountains of Peru.

The Algoinquin Indians of North America are the most populous and widespread of the Native groups and speaking several different dialects---in North America. Comanche Indians (an offshoot of the Eastern Shoshoni Indians) also lived in North America between 1800-1900. The Mohawk Indian Tribe is part of the Iroquoian linguistic group, a language family that includes Cherokee. After the American Revolution many of the Mohawks relocated to Canada and are currently living there today, many are also living in the US.

Central America has a large number of natives speaking indigenous languages, such as Mayan, spoken in Guatemala, Mexico and Belize. Mexico is only second to Peru in the number of indigenous languages spoken. To mention only a few of them, Nahuatl, Mazatec and Trique.

However, there is some debate regarding the classification of language families spoken by Native Americans. A number of scholars did agree that there was approximately 60 different language families in North America, in Central America 19 different families, and the greatest number in South America with about 80 language families. These scholars concluded that the groupings had no definite genetic links among them. Where as other scholars asserted that there were genetic links among many of the Native American languages, hence, fewer language families.

The vast variety in Native American Languages created an inability of many Natives to communicate with one another--even for those living within a relatively close proximity of each other. Although, they did have what appears to be a universal language understood among different tribes--Sign Language.

Displacement, pestilence, abandonment resulted in great numbers of the indigenous American languages dying out. Despite this fact, there are some Native American languages that have actually flourished. One most largely spoken is today is Navajo.

Today many of the Native Americans are taking on the challenge to revive languages that have faded with time or virtually died out. If you have an interest in learning a Native American language you’ll be fascinated to know that Rosetta Stone has recently produced language learning software for endangered languages. They are working in conjunction with Native American Teams on this program. The initial software features the Mohawk Language, Inupiaq of the Eskimo language family spoken in Labrador, Canada, and Inuttitut the Native tongue of the Chitimach people. A language thought to have vanished forever.

The knowledge we possess of Native Americans is not just allegorical tales, but the life history and culture of Native America. The extraordinary knowledge they have of nature they’ve shared abroad--it has been instrumental in areas such as farming and medicine. There is no doubt that the efforts made by the tribal leaders to preserve their way of life was rewarding.
For more information on Native American languages please visit the links below:

memory.loc.gov/ammem/award98/ienhtml/tribes.html

http://www.doi.gov/bia/

Language Learning Strategies

2008-09-05T16:10:00.000-07:00

by Renae Haug

Published on Sep 5, 2008 If you are learning a new language or would like to, here are some practical methods that have proved effective for others who have accomplished their goal.

What does the Titanic have to do with the accessibility of foreign language? Technology. Over seven hundred people survived this disaster thanks to the advancement of radio technology--SOS in Morse code. Since the development of this basic code of communication there has been rapid development in the variety of communications systems available.

Over the centuries, people have maintained records or information in various ways. Some of the earliest forms writers used to preserve their work were to make inscriptions on stone, wood or parchment. This gradually progressed from the scroll to the codex (which is the early form of today’s book). These writings were limited in quantity, thus, for the vast majority, copies of the writings were unattainable.

Unlike the days of the distant past, modern communication systems -- computers, radios, video and audio tapes -- have enabled many to learn a foreign language and made it a more enjoyable experience.

In spite of advancements in technology, learning a new language proves true to the expression …“Anything worthwhile takes time and effort”. Not everyone learns at the same pace and a learning method may not produce desired results for everyone-- you will need to experiment with the technique that works best for you.

Learning a new language is a pathway that will broaden your outlook of the world and extend your possibilities. To assist in your advancement of learning your chosen language, you’ll want to complement technical tools with some practical learning methods.

You may already realize that learning a new language will involve more than just learning a new vocabulary…it will necessitate the use of a range of skills. For instance, the language you are learning may have familiar words or letters but have an entirely different pronunciation or intonation and word order than your own language. Developing the skill of imitating the sounds, or acquiring the proper accent, and putting them into practice will enable you to effectively communicate with those speaking your new language.

Initially, you’ll most likely start with the basic vocabulary. Recently, Eric Vogt in his article “How to Enrich Your Vocabulary About Everyday Life” provided some excellent suggestions on how to do this. For instance, labeling household items in each room of your house--providing a walk-through dictionary. There’s no doubt, seeing these items labeled in the new language on a frequent basis is a great memory tool.

Another practical way of learning a vocabulary would be the use of word cards. These can be purchased, but you may choose to make them yourself--since you know what words and phrases will be most valuable to you. This can be easily done by writing the foreign word upside down on one side of the card and writing the word and definition of the word in your native language upright on the back of the card. For words more difficult to learn, word association -- connecting a sound or image -- have proved useful to many to improve retention.

Too, recording yourself speaking the language and playing it back can be a useful memory aid. It can also serve as an analysis of whether you are pronouncing the words correctly and if you are emulating the proper intonation.

Whichever learning strategy works best for you, remember no technique or method can be a substitute for practice and persistence. In addition, interaction with those speaking your new language is very helpful--interchange is very helpful-- and listen carefully as they speak in their native tongue. Furthermore, welcome any correction they may offer to assist you in improving your verbal skills. Happy learning!

Experience the power of a new language!

Why Wouldn't You Learn A New Language Fast?

2008-09-02T20:29:00.000-07:00

I have always wanted to learn a new language since I was in high school. I just could not get into the class, it was boring with just memorizing grammar, words and very repetitive. So instead of spending my time efficiently in class, it turned out to be a waste of time. However I still had the passion to learn a new language. I just needed the right tools to learn how to speak a new language, sooner then later. So I finally got recommended to Rocket Languages software. After their 6 day trial, I was hooked! Now I am trying to get the word out to those that want to learn how to speak a new language fast.

So why have you wanted to learn how to speak a new language? Job? Heritage? Loved one? Leisure? No matter what your reason is, I have found the software that I have used, love and know would be the best for you. I am living proof that it works, along with 209,848 others that have bought their software. Why have you not joined yet? Rocket Languages currently offers 7 languages:

-Chinese
-German
-French
-Italian
-Japanese
-Sign Language
-Spanish

I myself chose to learn German (family heritage, as well as historical intrigues) and also Spanish (a lot of people around me speak Spanish) and both of them took no time at all to learn. No more then 9 weeks each. Now most other language software companies could not even begin to try and teach you a new language that fast. Not to mention they do not offer even a faction of the invaluable information Rocket Languages does. Rocket Languages takes all of the hard aspects out of learning a new language and turn them into easy and fun lessons. Learning a new language does not have to be a hard burden anymore!

If you are curious what is included, Rocket Languages packages include:

-Audio Courses
-Interactive GAMES
-Grammar & Culture Lessons
-Members Only Forum (It's like having a 24/7 on call teacher)
-Much Much More!

There is so much more invaluable information that Rocket Languages provides at such a low cost (about 67-74% cheaper then Rosetta Stone and other "renown" companies). You would have to be crazy to not take them up on their exceptional offer. Even if you are not fully convinced they have the best software on the market, then take advantage of their 6 day trial! If you would like more information about their 6 day trial, full software, Rocket Languages and other language software then please check out the review website. It is very informational and summarizes what Rocket Languages sales page says. Removing all of the useless information, testimonials and other like information just giving you the meat!

I have used their software for 2 languages now. I have become very successful with both languages (learning them, and utilizing them to create more profit for me.) If you would like to join me and the thousands of others taking initiative and learning a new language, "Click Here"

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Alex_Sharpe

Why Most People Fail to Learn a Foreign Language?

2008-09-01T18:46:00.000-07:00

By Bruno Fajou

Remember your foreign language course at school, as they were difficult? This is because the language courses in colleges and high schools are based on methods that are far from satisfactory. Another problem is that too many students are in the classrooms.

Perhaps most people fail because they do not use their natural capacity to learn foreign languages.

A conventional grammar breaks a language and tries to present it in the form of diagrams conjugation and variations in which students must learn by heart shapes, prefixes, suffixes, etc.. This method does not use the natural ability of the brain to learn a language by listening and responding.

Very few people can learn languages with a book, then if you have to take a teaching manual, take Rocket French. Rocket French helps you to become fluent in French quickly and easily from the comfort of your own home. The French natives have pleasant and clear voices. The software is very easy to install and it comes with the Mega French software which contains three nice games (vocabulary, verbs and audio). These three different games will help you tremendously to improve your reading, listening and comprehension skills. Be sure that the program is made by French native speakers, otherwise you will not get the real French accent.

Beginners, intermediate and advanced students will benefit from these courses and software. Just be sure that you choose wisely... What do you really need? Plus, If you learned French at school and you just need to remember, a software may be all that you need.

Do you want to Learn French online?

Bruno Fajou is a French native speaker who teach others. Visit his website today at http://www.learnfrenchexpert.com/.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bruno_Fajou

Welcome to Online Language Review

2008-08-31T18:30:00.000-07:00

I am interested in learning a foreign language at home. There are so many foreign language programs out there it's hard to choose. They ALL sound good... Prices range from $9.99 - $499.. I have been scouring the web for language programs. There are so many out there it's hard to decide which one is going to work best for me. Not having the money to buy ALL of them to compare these programs for myself. I decided to create a site that would give people a place to check out and compare several products in one place. I also plan on creating a forum so that you can post your own personal experiences with the programs you've tried.

Thanks and good luck to everyone in their quest to learn!