Category: Language learning

Learning lesser-studied languages

By Simon

If you want to learn a language that not many people study, it can be difficult to find language courses and other materials. Moreover, courses for regional languages and dialects are often only available in the dominant language of the country in which they are spoken. For example, resources for learning Italian dialects are mostly in Italian, and courses for the regional languages of France, such as Breton, Occitan and Alsatian, are mainly in French.

Recently I’ve had some questions about where to find materials for learning Luxembourgish, and also about Shanghainese, Hakka and a number of other languages of China. I found quite a good collection of links to Luxembourgish materials, and some reviews of Shanghainese courses on Sinosplice. Can anybody suggest other resources for learning these languages?

Are you studying any regional or lesser-studied languages? How do speakers of these languages react when you talk to them in their own language?

Lexicelt

By Simon

Ddoe mi ddes i o hyd i wefan gydag enw lexicelt. Gwefan defnyddiol iawn ar gyfer y rhai sy’n dysgu’r Wyddeleg trwy gyfrwng y Gymraeg, neu sy’n dysgu Cymraeg trwy gyfrwng y Wyddeleg. Ar a gwefan hon, mae geiriadur Cymraeg <> Gwyddeleg, a llyfryn ymadroddion yn cynnwys brawddegau, geirfa ddefnyddiol a ffeiliau sain. Yn ogystal â hynny, mae gwybodaeth am hanes a diwylliant Iwerddon, gwybodaeth i deithwyr, a manylion am y Wyddeleg ar y We.

Inné, tháinig mé ar suíomh idirlín le ainm lexicelt. Suíomh idirlín an úsáideach atá ann don té atá ag foghlaim Breatnais trí mheán na Gaeilge, nó don té atá ag foghlaim Gaeilge trí mheán na Breatnaise. Air an suíomh idirlín seo, tá foclóir Gaeilge <> Breatnaise, agus leabhrán frásaí. Sa leabhrán frásaí tá abairtí, foclóir úsáideach agus comhaid fuaime. Chomh maith leis sin, tá eolas ann faoi stair agus faoi chultúr na Breataine Bige, eolas do thaistealaithe, agus sonraí faoin Bhreatnais ar an Ghréasán.

Yesterday I found a very useful website called lexicelt which contains a Welsh <> Irish dictionary, a collection of phrases for every occasion with sound files for both languages. In addition, there is information about the history and culture of Ireland and Wales, information for travellers, and links to Welsh and Irish online resources. The site is in Welsh and Irish.

Oes llawer o bobl yng Nghymru sy’n dysgu Gwyddeleg?

Do many people in Wales learn Irish?

An bhfuil go leor daoine in Éirinn ag foghlaim na Breatnaise?

Do many people in Ireland learn Welsh?

Fluenz

By Simon

The other day I stumbled on an interesting new language course called Fluenz. At the moment it’s only available for Mandarin Chinese, but a Spanish version is planned.

The course comes on a DVD-ROM and consists about 110 hours of interactive and video instruction. An American instructor, who studied Mandarin in China, explains everything in English on the videos. There are many different exercises, a glossary, and online live support is available.

The emphasis is on teaching you to communicate in Mandarin, so everyday, immediately useful language is used, and words are all written in pinyin romanization. Also included is an audio CD containing audio exercises that compliment the DVD lessons, and a booklet with all the phrases used in English, pinyin and Chinese characters.

A free demo of the course (quite a large file) is available for download on the Fluenz website

The joy of phonemes

By Simon

I’ve been listening to Scottish Gaelic radio all day today. I don’t understand a lot yet, though can get the gist if I concentrate. As I listen, I often repeat some of the words and phrases I’m hearing – it’s a good thing I work at home most of the time, or my colleagues might begin to doubt my sanity. I really like the sound of Scottish Gaelic and enjoy trying to speak it.

Tha mi ag èisdeachd ri Raidio nan Gaidheal fad an là an-diugh. Chan eil mi ‘tuigsinn mòran fhathast, ach tha mi a’ tuigsinn an bhrìgh ma tha mi ag èisdeachd gu cùramach. Tha còrd mòr rium Gàidhlig a’ bruidhinn.

For me, one of the joys of learning foreign languages is getting my tongue round their unfamiliar phonemes. Each language presents me with a different set of phonetic challenges, some of which are more challenging than others. At the moment, for example, I’m having fun wrestling with some pesky Czech consonant clusters.

Which languages do you most enjoy pronouncing?

Language exports

By Simon

The other day I read in an article on the University of Notre Dame website that 51 universities outside Ireland teach Irish and that 29 of them are in the USA. Some of those studying Irish in the USA have Irish roots; others came to the language through an interest in Irish culture. The other countries where Irish language is taught include the UK, France, Canada and Germany. Does anyone know in which other countries it’s taught?

These factoids got me thinking about how languages are exported and promoted outside their original homelands. The most successful language export is obviously English, which has spread to every continent. Other successful language exports include French, German, Spanish, Italian, and increasingly Chinese and Japanese.

What about ‘smaller’ languages like Irish and Welsh? Well, Irish seems to be almost more popular outside Ireland than it is in Ireland. In the USA, Welsh is taught by Cymdeithas Madog, an organization that describes itself as being “dedicated to helping North Americans learn, use and enjoy the Welsh language.” There are quite a few other Welsh societies, some of which teach the language, in the USA and Canada. I understand that Welsh is taught at at least one university in Moscow, and there’s a small Welsh colony in Chubut province of Argentina that’s home to several thousand Welsh speakers.

Does anyone know of any other courses in Welsh or other Celtic languages outside their homelands?

Bangkok Danish

By Simon

According to an article I came across today, language classes in Danish and Swedish are proving popular among quite a few Thai women in Bangkok. Most of these are women have Danish or Swedish husbands or boyfriends and want to be able to communicate better with them. Others are hoping to work with Scandinavian companies or study abroad.

They are being taught, for free, by an teacher of English originally from Denmark who also speaks Thai. His aim is to help Thai people planning to move to Denmark or other countries in Scandinavia to integrate and feel comfortable when they arrive. Language plays a major part in this, but understanding the culture is important as well.

Anecdotal evidence from my friends and acquaintances suggests that it’s often women who learn their partner’s language rather than the other way round. In some cases, the man would like to learn his partner’s language, but usually finds various reasons not to. Does anyone know of any studies about this phenomenon?

‘Ōlelo Hawai’i ‘oe?

By Simon

According to a couple of articles (here and here) I found today, a new PhD program focusing on the Hawaiian language and culture has recently been set up at the University of Hawaii at Hilo. This is apparently the first doctorate in the United States in a Native language. Five students are undertaking research into Hawaiian and indigenous language and culture revitalization. One the things they’re working on is to come up with Hawaiian versions of scientific and technological terms, such as World Wide Web – Punaewele puni honua (network around the world) and photosynthesis – ka’ama’ai (acting through light to produce food).

When people are bilingual in a ‘large’ language like English and a ‘small’ one like Hawaiian, they might be tempted to simply use English words to fill in any gaps in their Hawaiian vocabulary, rather than coining new Hawaiian words. The new terms being created by the PhD students should help with this problem.

Did you know that wiki, as in Wikipedia comes from the Hawaiian word wiki-wiki, which means quick?

Distractions

By Simon

My plan to stick to one language for two days at a time is going quite well so far. Previously I usually only listened to one or two different programmes at a time on online radio stations. Listening to one station all day is interesting as you get to hear a greater variety of programmes and voices.

Yesterday I even listened to a bit of Manx on the website of the Manx band, King Chiaulee. There’s a recording of an interview with the band from Energy FM on the Goodies page and the presenter talks in Manx and English.

Quite often during the day one of my language exchange partners contacts me and wants to chat. While it’s great to practice speaking and writing Mandarin, Japanese and Spanish, or occasionally other languages, it tends to distract me from the Celtic languages I’m trying to concentrate on.

It’s hard work being a polyglot!

Bilingual toys

By Simon

According to an article in The Boston Globe, there has been a significant increase in the sale of bilingual toys in the USA. These are toys the speak words and phrases and sing songs, and which are designed to help young children to learn languages. The most popular language combination is English and Spanish, which doesn’t come as much surprise given that there are nearly 48 million people of Hispanic origin in the United States. There are also toys that speak Chinese, Russian, Korean, Greek, Hebrew and various other languages.

A related article gives more details and mentions that toy manufacturers are bringing out bilingual phones, globes, dolls, books and laptops. A market niche toy companies didn’t expect was the parents of children adopted from other countries, who are keen on toys that speak the languages of their children as this helps ‘bridge the gap between the two countries’.

If kids get an early start with learning languages, and see it as something enjoyable, this bodes well for their future.

Do any of you know if there are any bilingual or multilingual computer games?

My language studies

By Simon

I’ve decided to try a slightly different approach to my language studies. Up till now I’ve been listening to Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Welsh language radio for several hours each almost every day. In the evenings I read novels in either Welsh or Irish, and also learn a bit more Czech. I’ve also been learning songs in the Celtic languages, particularly Irish.

This week I’ll be concentrating on one language for two days at a time. So today and tomorrow I’m focusing on Welsh – listening to Radio Cymru during the day and going through a lesson in Cadw Sŵn in the evening. On Wednesday and Thursday I’ll be listening to Radió na Gaeltachta during the day and studying from Turas Teanga or another of my Irish courses in the evening. Then on Friday and Saturday I’ll listen to Radio nan Gaidhael and study from one of my Scottish Gaelic courses in the evening.

I’ll continue to study some Czech every day, to read Irish, Welsh and maybe even Scottish Gaelic novels, and to learn songs. By the way, can any of you recommend any good novels in Celtic languages, or in French, German, Spanish or Chinese?

Welsh, Irish and Scottish Gaelic are the languages I most want to become fluent in at the moment. My other languages are less of a prioity, though I do get to practise Mandarin, Japanese and Spanish quite often on Skype and MSN.