Theo Todman's Web Page - Notes Pages
Status Reports
Languages - Materials for Use
(Text as at 14/10/2016 22:14:53)
The majority of the materials available for my Languages project are listed below. The links to the “Categorised Lists” list everything that I’ve managed to catalogue, including works written in the various languages. The explicit lists show the more interesting (usually fairly recently-acquired) items, in particular the grammars and dictionaries:-
- All: Categorised List
- On-Line: There are lots of on-line resources – many of them free – but the two best ones I’ve discovered are:-
- Duolingo: see Duolingo (also Duolingo).
- Live Lingua: See Live Lingua. In addition to offering 11 language course via Skype (only the first lesson is free!) this site is a portal for three large free collections:-
- Peace Corps Language Courses: See Live Lingua: Peace Corps Language Courses.
- FSI Language Courses: See Live Lingua: FSI Language Courses. I’ve known of this collection for some time, but in general not had time to make use of it. These free language materials are from the Foreign Services Institute – a US Government training programme hailing from the 1960s - 1980s. The material is fully functional, but rather antiquated, and so of poor technical quality – hiss on the old tapes and blobby photocopies. The training focus is on learning (“over-learning”, they say) to speak the languages, not on learning how they work (given that native speakers often have no explicit knowledge of the grammar of their own language). The tapes have no English, so are inaccessible in the absence of the scripts. Some other organisations may be attempting to improve this public-domain material – eg. Thai appears here in the old format as Live Lingua: Free Thai Lessons Online| FSI, but elsewhere as a wiki (Link (Defunct)).
- DLI Language Courses: See Live Lingua: DLI Language Courses.
- More Theoretically / Sociologically:
One day I’ll investigate this lot, and add links for the languages that interest me in the list below.
- Background: See1:-
→ "Dalby (Andrew) - Dictionary of Languages: The Definitive Reference to More Than 400 Languages",
→ "Crystal (David) - The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Language", and
→ "Roeper (Tom) - The Prism of Grammar: How Child Language Illuminates Humanism".
- Linguistics: Click Here for the books and papers referenced in "van Oostendorp (Marc) - Miracles of Human Language: An Introduction to Linguistics".
- A lot of books on the Philosophy of Language.
- Amharic (Ethiopic): Categorised List.
- Anglo-Saxon: Categorised List.
- Arabic: Categorised List.
- "Abdul-Rauf (Muhammad) - Arabic for English-Speaking Students",
- "Asad ( Muhammad), Qur'an - The Message of the Quran: The Full Account of the Revealed Arabic Text Accompanied by Parallel Transliteration",
- "Berlitz - Arabic for your Trip",
- "Berlitz - Arabic Guaranteed",
- "Cowan (David) - Modern Literary Arabic",
- "Elias (Elias A.) & Elias (Edward E.) - Elias' Pocket Dictionary: English-Arabic",
- "Jones (Alan), Qur'an - Arabic Through the Qur'an",
- "Omar (Abdul Mannan), Qur'an - The Dictionary of the Holy Quran: Arabic Words - English Meanings",
- "Qara'I (Ali Quli), Qur'an - The Qur'an: With a Phrase-by-Phrase English Translation",
- "Steingass (F.) - The Student's Arabic-English Dictionary",
- "Wightwick (Jane) & Gaafar (Mahmoud) - Mastering Arabic".
- Aramaic: Categorised List.
- Armenian: Categorised List.
- Chinese: Categorised List.
- Coptic: Categorised List.
- Danish: Categorised List.
- Dutch: Categorised List.
- Egyptian (Ancient): Categorised List.
- French: Categorised List.
The following each come with 3 CDs:- I’ve probably a bunch of stuff hidden in the garage, but from the conversational perspective, are the most appropriate. Eventually I should look at
- German: Categorised List. The following each come with 3 CDs:- I also have:-
- Greek (Koine / New Testament): Categorised List. I also have the following,
- Greek (Modern): Categorised List.
- Hebrew (Classical): Categorised List.
- Hebrew (Modern): Categorised List.
- Hindi: Categorised List.
- Italian: Categorised List.
- Japanese: Categorised List.
- Latin: Categorised List.
- Persian: Categorised List.
- Portuguese: Categorised List.
- "Amery (Heather) & MacKinnon (Mairi) - First Thousand Words in Portuguese",
- "Cook (Manuela) - Portuguese Verbs Explained: An Essential Guide",
- "Cook (Manuela) - Teach Yourself Portuguese",
- "Jacobs (Cristina) - Hand-outs from Portuguese Classes",
- "Kershul (Kristine K.) - Portuguese in 10 Minutes a Day",
- "Living Language - Portuguese Coursebook",
- "Living Language - Portuguese Learner's Dictionary",
- "Nitti (J.N.) & Ferreira (Michael J.) - 501 Portuguese Verbs",
- "OUP - Oxford Essential Portuguese Dictionary: Portuguese-English - English-Portuguese",
- "Prista (Alexander Da R.) - Essential Portuguese Grammar",
- "Taylor (James L.) - A Portuguese-English Dictionary",
- "Thomas (Earl W.) - A Grammar of Spoken Brazilian Portuguese",
- "Whitlam (John) - Modern Brazilian Portuguese Grammar: A Practical Guide",
- "Whitlam (John) - Modern Brazilian Portuguese Grammar Workbook",
- "Whitlam (John), Davies (Vitoria) & Harland (Mike) - Collins Portuguese Dictionary".
- A Number of Websites:-
→ Apprender (Link (Defunct))
→ BrazilMax (Link)
→ Brazzil Magazine (Link)
→ Folha.com (Link (Defunct))
→ Linguasnet (Link)
→ LusoNews.org (Luso News)
→ OGlobo.com (Link)
→ Ta Falado (Link)
→ UOL.com (Link)
- Russian: Categorised List.
- Sanscrit: Categorised List.
- Spanish: Categorised List. Supplemented by:- I also have three of my daughters’ books, ie:-
- Swedish: Categorised List.
- Syriac: Categorised List.
- Thai: Categorised List.
- Turkish: Categorised List.
- Yiddish: Categorised List.
In-Page Footnotes:
Footnote 1: I’ve probably got a lot more, but these were particularly interesting.
Table of the Previous 8 Versions of this Note:
Summary of Notes Citing This Note
To access information, click on one of the links in the table above.
Authors, Books & Papers Citing this Note
Author |
Title |
Medium |
Extra Links |
Read? |
Todman (Theo) |
Brief Thoughts on Language & Languages |
Paper  |
|
Yes |
Text Colour Conventions
- Blue: Text by me; © Theo Todman, 2023