Theo Todman's Web Page - Notes Pages

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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:-

1. 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:-
     1. Duolingo: see Duolingo (also Duolingo).
     2. 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.
     3. More Theoretically / Sociologically:
        • World Atlas of Language Structures: For WALS Online, see World Atlas of Language Structures (WALS) Online.
        • Ethnologue: see Ethnologue.
     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.
2. Amharic (Ethiopic): Categorised List.
   • "Obolensky (Serge), Zelelie (Debebow) & Andualem (Mulugeta) - Ethiopic - Amharic Basic Course (Vols 1 + 2)"
   • "Lonely Planet, Kebebe (Tilahun) & Aberra (Daniel Aboye) - Ethiopian Amharic (Lonely Planet Phrasebook)".
3. Anglo-Saxon: Categorised List.
   • "Rask (Erasmus), Thorpe (Benjamin) - A Grammar of the Anglo-Saxon Tongue, from the Danish of Erasmus Rask".
4. 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".
5. Aramaic: Categorised List.
   • "Marcus (David) - A Manual of Babylonian Jewish Aramaic",
   • "Stevenson (W.B.) & Emerton (J.A.) - Grammar of Palestinian Jewish Aramaic".
6. Armenian: Categorised List.
   • "BYKI - Transparent Language Online: Armenian",
   • "Andonian (Hagop) - Beginner's Armenian".
7. Chinese: Categorised List.
   • "Tan (Moon) & Wang (Haitong) - Chinese Express: Talk Chinese"
   • "Newman (Richard) - About Chinese"
   • "Scurfield (Elizabeth) & Song (Lianyi) - Mandarin Chinese Conversation"
   • "Lamping (Alwena) & Yu (Feixia) - Talk Mandarin Chinese Pack"
   • "Berlitz - Mandarin Chinese Guaranteed"
   • "T'ung (P.C.) & Baker (H.D.R.) - Chinese in Three Months (Hugo)"
   • "Greenwood (Elinor) - Easy-peasy Chinese: Mandarin Chinese for Beginners"
   • "Zhang (George), Li (Linda M.) & Suen (Lik) - Chinese in Steps: Volume 1"
   • "Xie (Yanping) & Li (Duan-Duan) - Schaum's Outline of Chinese Vocabulary"
   • "Ross (Claudia) - Schaum's Outline of Chinese Grammar"
   • "Zhang (Pengpeng) - The Most Common Chinese Radicals"
   • "Li (Shujuan) - What's in a Chinese Character"
   • Also, some on-line links:-
     → For a sophisticated (and free!) translation service, follow Link.
     → BBC Chinese (follow BBC Languages: Chinese)
     → BBC Chinese News: all in Chinese characters, so no use yet! But you can toggle to an English translation. Follow Link.
     → See also "BBC - BBC Chinese Language".
8. Coptic: Categorised List.
   • "Walters (C.C.) - An Elementary Coptic Grammar of the Sahidic Dialect" (the worst grammar I’ve ever come across)
   • "Layton (Bentley) - Coptic in 20 Lessons: Introduction to Sahidic Coptic with Exercises and Vocabularies", which is better focused
   • "Layton (Bentley) - Coptic Gnostic Chrestomathy: A Selection of Coptic Texts with Grammatical Analysis and Glossary"
   • The NT in Coptic, ie.
     → "Horner (George William) - The Coptic New Testament (Sahidic and Thebaic): Volume II - the Gospels of Luke and John",
     → and other volumes by Horner in Sahidic and Bohairic in electronic form.
   • An interlinear English / Coptic Gospel of Thomas (follow Link).
   • A Blog on Coptic resources (Link).
9. Danish: Categorised List.
   • "Koefoed (H.A.) - Teach Yourself Danish".
10. Dutch: Categorised List.
    • "Shetter (William) - Introduction to Dutch - A Practical Grammar",
    • "EuroTalk - Talk Now! Learn Dutch: Beginners", to help with pronunciation.
11. Egyptian (Ancient): Categorised List.
    • "Gardiner (Alan) - Egyptian Grammar" (rather forbidding)
    • "Collier (Mark) & Manley (Bill) - How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs: A Step-by-step Guide to Teach Yourself Hieroglyphs".
12. French: Categorised List.
    The following each come with 3 CDs:-
    • "Overy (Ronald) & Lecanuet (Jacqueline) - French in Three Months"
    • "Overy (Ronald) & Lecanuet (Jacqueline) - French - Advanced"
    I’ve probably a bunch of stuff hidden in the garage, but from the conversational perspective,
    • "Page (Brian) - A Vous La France!" and
    • "Moys (Alan) - France Extra"
    are the most appropriate. Eventually I should look at
    • "Cousin (Pierre-Henri), Knight (Lorna Sinclair) & Robertson (Lesley) - Collins French School Dictionary and Grammar: French-English and English-French",
    • "Ferrar (H.) - A French Reference Grammar", and
    • "Mauger (G.) - Grammaire Practique du Francais d'Aujourd'hui: Langue Parlee, Langue Ecrite".
13. German: Categorised List.
    • "Tenberg (Reinhard) & Ainslie (Susan) - Deutsch Plus". Excellent.
    The following each come with 3 CDs:-
    • "Martin-Wunscher (Sigrid) - German in Three Months"
    • "Martin-Wunscher (Sigrid) & Martin (John) - German - Advanced"
    I also have:-
    • "Friedlander (Ann) - German in Three Months" (an older edition – 1979), and
    • "Sutton (Peter) - Let's Talk German".
14. Greek (Koine / New Testament): Categorised List.
    • "Dobson (John H.) - Learn New Testament Greek"
    • "Wenham (John) - The Elements of New Testament Greek", together with
    • "Wenham (John) - Key to the Elements of New Testament Greek"
    I also have the following,
    • "Moulton (James Hope) - Grammar of New Testament Greek: Vol. 1 Prolegomena",
    • "Moule (C.F.D.) - An Idiom Book of New Testament Greek"
    • "Perschbacher (Wesley) - New Testament Greek Syntax: An Illustrated Manual"
    • A whole bunch of other books on Classical, New Testament and Septuagint Greek. Those that are catalogued can be accessed via this link.
15. Greek (Modern): Categorised List.
    • "Matsukas (Aristarhos) - Complete Greek Course"
    • "Goodrich (Phillippa) - 'BBC' Greek Phrase Book and Dictionary"
    • "Lonely Planet, Spilias (Athanasios) - Greek (Lonely Planet Phrasebook)"
16. Hebrew (Classical): Categorised List.
    • "Dobson (John H.) - Learn Biblical Hebrew"
    • "Mauchline (John) - Davidson's Introductory Hebrew Grammar"
    • "Mauchline (John) - Key to the Exercises in the Late Professor A. B. Davidson's Introductory Hebrew Grammar"
    • "Eaton (J.H.) - First Studies in Biblical Hebrew"
    • "Fierstone (Clive) - 20 Introductory Lectures in Biblical Hebrew"
    • "Lambdin (Thomas) - Introduction to Biblical Hebrew"
    • "Williamson (H.G.M.) - Annotated Key to Lambdin's Introduction to Biblical Hebrew"
    • "Landes (George M.) - A Student's Vocabulary of Biblical Hebrew"
    • I have a number of other books on Classical Hebrew, mostly uncatalogued.
17. Hebrew (Modern): Categorised List.
    • "Reif (Joseph A.) & Levinson (Hanna) - Learn Hebrew Fast with Master Language"
    • "Bialik (Hayyim Nahman) - Sirim (Poems)",
    • "Glinert (Lewis) - Modern Hebrew: An Essential Grammar",
    • "Lyttleton (Zippi) & Wang (Tamar) - Colloquial Hebrew: The Complete Course for Beginners",
    • "Raizen (Esther) - Modern Hebrew for Beginners: A Multimedia Program for Students at the Beginning and Intermediate Levels".
18. Hindi: Categorised List.
    • "Snell (Rupert) - Hindi"
    • "Snell (Rupert) - Beginner's Hindi Script"
    • "Snell (Rupert) - Beginner's Hindi"
    • "Snell (Rupert) - Hindi Dictionary"
    • "Bhat (S.R.) - Matriculation Sanskrit Grammar" (for the classical background)
    • A Hidustani Grammar somewhere about that I’ve lost track of.
19. Italian: Categorised List.
    • "Berlitz - Italian Guaranteed",
    • "BBC - Italianissimo: Beginners Teacher's Edition",
    • "Freeth (Mariolina) & Checketts (Giuliana) - Contatti 1: A First Course in Italian",
    • "Geddes & Grosset (Publishers) - Italian-English, English-Italian Dictionary",
    • "Liguarama - Italiano: No Knowledge - Course Material",
    • "Linguarama - 'No Knowledge' Italian Class Notes",
    • "Lonely Planet - Italian (Lonely Planet Fast Talk)",
    • "Goodrich (Phillippa) - 'BBC' Italian Phrase Book and Dictionary",
    • "Wilkes (Angela) & Shackell (John) - Italian for Beginners".
20. Japanese: Categorised List.
    • "Berlitz - Japanese Guaranteed"
    • "Seward (Jack) - Easy Japanese: A Guide to Spoken and Written Japanese"
    • "Gilhooly (Helen) - Beginner's Japanese Script"
    • "Kardy (Glenn) - Kana De Manga: Fun, Easy Way to Learn the ABCs of Japanese"
    • "Lammers (W.P.) - Japanese the Manga Way: An Illustrated Guide to Grammar and Structure"
    • "Elisseeff (Serge), Reischauer (Edwin O.) & Yoshihashi (Takehiko) - Elementary Japanese for College Students: Part I - Japanese Text"
    • "Elisseeff (Serge), Reischauer (Edwin O.) & Yoshihashi (Takehiko) - Elementary Japanese for College Students: Part II - Vocabularies, Grammar and Notes"
    • "Elisseeff (Serge), Reischauer (Edwin O.) & Yoshihashi (Takehiko) - Elementary Japanese for College Students: Part III - Romaji Text".
21. Latin: Categorised List.
    • "Mount (Harry) - Amo, Amas, Amat … and all That: How to Become a Latin Lover" (a simple refresher),
    • "Cambridge School Classics Project - Cambridge Latin Course: Book I", the first of 5 volumes
    • "Cambridge School Classics Project - Cambridge Latin Course: Unit III", the first edition of volume 3.
    • "Mountford (James) - Kennedy's Revised Latin Primer"
    • "Smith (William) - A Smaller Latin-English Dictionary"
    • "Richards (John F.C.) - Essentials of Latin: An Introductory Course Using Selections From Latin Literature"
    • I have doubtless a lot of other material hidden away
22. Persian: Categorised List.
    • "Farzad (Narguess) - Complete Modern Persian".
23. 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)
24. Russian: Categorised List.
    • "West (Daphne) - Russian".
25. Sanscrit: Categorised List.
26. Spanish: Categorised List.
    • "Focus Multimedia - Teaching You Spanish",
    • "Berlitz - Spanish Guaranteed", and
    • "Berlitz - Spanish Premier"
    Supplemented by:-
    • "Utley (Derek) & Serarols (Maria Assumpta) - BBC Espana Viva - Spanish for Beginners",
    • "Kattan-Ibarra (Juan) - Teach Yourself Basic Spanish" and
    • "Gordon (Ronni L.) & Stillman (David M.) - The Ultimate Spanish Review and Practice".
    I also have three of my daughters’ books, ie:-
    • "Sanchez (Almudena) & Longo (Aurora) - Talk Spanish",
      "Stacey (Mark) & Gonzalez Hevia (Angela) - Teach Yourself Beginner's Spanish" and
    • "Kettle (Luz), Placencia (Maria Elena) & Gonzalez (Mike) - Suenos World Spanish 1" (including the CDs)
27. Swedish: Categorised List.
    • "McClean (R.J.) - Swedish: A Grammar of the Modern Language".
28. Syriac: Categorised List.
    • "Al-Kfarnissy (Paul) - Grammar of the Aramaic Syriac Language",
    • "Robinson (Theodore) - Paradigms and Exercises in Syriac Grammar", which I see has been updated, with a key. They are a tad expensive, so will see how I get on with the old material first.
29. Thai: Categorised List.
    • "Lonely Planet - Lonely Planet Thai Phrasebook & Dictionary",
    • "Becker (Benjawan Poomsan) - Thai for Beginners", and
    • "thailanguagewiki - Thai Language Wiki".
30. Turkish: Categorised List.
    • "Celen-Pollard (Asuman) & Pollard (David) - Turkish (Teach Yourself Complete Courses)"
    • "Swift (Lloyd B.) & Agrali (Selman) - Turkish Basic Course (Vols 1 + 2)", from the FSI (as noted above).
31. Yiddish: Categorised List.

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In-Page Footnotes:

Footnote 1: I’ve probably got a lot more, but these were particularly interesting.

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Table of the Previous 8 Versions of this Note:

Date	Length	Title
18/10/2011 19:10:34	8581	Languages - Materials for Use
06/07/2011 23:13:55	5000	Languages - Materials for Use
18/12/2010 19:58:05	4462	Languages - Materials for Use
15/02/2010 21:46:05	4468	Languages - Materials for Use
03/01/2010 21:24:29	4385	Languages - Materials for Use
16/11/2009 10:22:05	4119	Languages - Materials for Use
08/07/2009 22:29:17	6505	Languages - Materials for Use
03/05/2009 13:26:24	6371	Languages - Materials for Use

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Note last updated	Reference for this Topic	Parent Topic
14/10/2016 22:14:53	850 (Languages - Materials for Use)	Status: Languages (2025 - March)

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Summary of Notes Citing This Note

Brief Thoughts on Language & Languages

Status: Languages (2025 - March)

To access information, click on one of the links in the table above.

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Authors, Books & Papers Citing this Note

Author	Title	Medium	Extra Links	Read?
Todman (Theo)	Brief Thoughts on Language & Languages	Paper		Yes

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Text Colour Conventions

1. Blue: Text by me; © Theo Todman, 2025

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