Looking For Input - Language Podcasts

In terms of foreign language study I have a big passion about 2 areas in particular:

1. Endangered languages - Preserving the knowledge of languages on the verge of extinction for future generations.

2. Non-Romanized scripts - I love studying how to write in languages that have non-Roman scripts for example Russian, Georgian, Arabic, Hebrew, Armenian, Amharic, Tibetan just to name a few.

I'd really like to develop podcasts in either or both of the above areas. I'm just in the "thinking about it" phase right now and would love feedback from anyone. I suppose some questions I would have are:

1. For scripts (#2) the main emphasis would be videos showing how to write it and maybe some grammar about how to put words together. Do you think it's critical to have a native speaker read any words/sentences learned? The problem is in many cases I'm probably not going to have a way to find native speakers so I'm wondering if I just write a transliteration if that will suffice. I'd hate to offend anyone with really rotten pronunciation on my part.

2. What languages are you interested in learning more about? Should I focus on various groups or just go all over the place for the sake of variety.

I'd love to know any thoughts or suggestions you have. If you like drop me a line at khegerberg@yahoo.com. If you post a comment to this blog please make sure you include your e-mail address in the comment. I often find the comments come up as anonymous so I have no way of responding to you and don't want you to think I'm a snob and ignoring you.

Thanks,
Kim

The Upper Inlet dialect of Dena’ina - Lessons

If you're interested in Native American languages here is an interesting site that has lessons in
Dena'ina which is spoken in the Cook Inlet area which is that bit of land tucked between SE Alaska and the Canadian Yukon. All FREE - looks pretty interesting:

http://qenaga.org/sava/index.html

Lithuanian Literature

I found an interesting site for Lituanian Literature:

http://anthology.lms.lt/texts/texts.html

All FREE texts from way back when to present day. A pretty good collection. The front page is in English but all the texts are in Lithuanian and it doesn't appear they are translated into anything else. But if your Lithuanian is pretty good this should be an interesting resource for you.

For those just starting out in Lithuanian like myself check out the podcast "Lithuanian Out Loud" on iTunes. I highly recommend it. A nice slow and easy pace for those of you like me who are just curious what it's all about.

Icelandic Sagas

This is a really great site:

http://www.sagadb.org/index_az

It has all the old Icelandic Sagas in both Icelandic and in several cases English and other translations as well. This is the best and most concise site I have seen for Icelandic literature. All FREE and from the looks of it a very comprehensive collection. Enjoy!

Breton Language

I've always had a somewhat romatized fascination with Brittany. Something about those light houses amidst the wild seas. Anyway - I found a really neat site- all FREE about the language of Breton which is native to Brittany.

http://www.kervarker.org/index.php?newlang=english/

looks pretty interesting and has forums, language lessons etc.

The Latest In Language Podcasts

I'm sure there are many of you out there just like me that troll iTunes constantly looking for great new podcasts. Finally we're starting to see some pretty good ones for foreign language buffs. Here's a rundown of what I've come across:

Hungarian
1. Lets Learn Hungarian - I really like this one. All FREE with transcripts. They give you a small dialogue every two weeks and go through it in depth. It's a really difficult language and this has beena fun way to learn it.

Lithuanian
1. Lithuanian Out Loud - Looks pretty good. FREE transcripts on line and episodes running at about 20 minutes each.

Ukrainian
1. Ukrainian Podcast - This one looks pretty good too. FREE transcripts available and from what I've seen they are very thorough with not only dialogue but grammar points as well.

Welsh
1. Learn Welsh Podcast - Just ran across this one. I'm excited - I've been looking for a Welsh podcast for a long time and this one looks pretty good. It has FREE transcripts as well.

Hebrew
There are 2 great Hebrew podcasts out there with REAL Hebrew. What completely annoys me is despite the shows being free the transcripts and quizzes etc. require you to be a "member" and it isn't cheap. Seriously guys if I had to pay for every podcast I was interested in I'd be broke. Education should be free- it's about enlightening the world isn't it? Make your living at your day job.
1. Learn Hebrew Pod - $25 for 2 months.
2. Hebrew Podcasts - $16 for 2 months.

German
1. Pukka Germa - An interesting concept that teaches REAL German. Just like Hebrew the only rotten thing is to get a transcript or any quizzes they want you to pay $15 for 3 months.
2. Deutsche Welle - They have a TON of stuff on iTunes. It's all pretty good and transcripts are FREE.
3. Slow German - You can't be a beginner for this one but it's an interesting show. A German lady talks about contemporary issues. Free transcripts - the only difficulty is they are only in German so if you're German isn't intermediate to advanced you might have a tougher time with it.

Spanish
1. Rolling R's - I really liked this one. It used to be free videos (no transcripts required). Now they want you to pay for even the videos. A shame. It's $40 for 6 months.

Russian
1. A Spoonfull of Russian - It seems to have stopped now sadly but this was a really good podcast for beginners in Russian.

I'm still hunting for a great Russian podcast I haven't really been excited about anything I've seen yet.

French
1. French For Beginners - A French teacher in London puts this one on although sadly it looks like there haven't been any new episodes in a while. She is a great teacher and there are free full transcripts with exercises on the website. Episodes are a little on the long side at around 15-20 minutes and I admit sometimes you can get a little bored but overall it is a pretty good series.

2. The French Pod Class - A massive effort with hundreds upon hundreds of free resources done by a Frenchman. There are exercises, transcripts, sample texts etc. He's done a tremendous job but to be honest I've had a really hard time sticking with the podcast. It's almost like there is too much information. Shows consist of vocabulary, dialogue, grammar, a book or movie review and several intermissions of French music. In terms of podcasts I'm an advocate of less is more and a little at a time is less overwhelming.

3. Learning with French-Podcasts.com - A great concept with a French lady interviewing other French people about a variety of topics. You get FREE transcripts. They have all French versions and then a French/simultaneous English translation audio version. I love the concept - just hate the topics - stamp collecting??? Kind of boring - sorry. Lets hear about contemporary Paris?

What I'm not impressed with:
1. The Coffee Break Series
2. The One Minute Series

These are both massive ventures that are literally clogging up half of iTunes now. A lot of people like them but I'm not much of a fan. It just seems like people reading "survival phrases" out of guide books. Not really compelling stuff and I don't think it gives you a feel for the complexities and beauty of language. Yeah I'm a linguistic snob I know I just love culture what can I say?

Russian and Other Languages Vocabulary Worksheets

This is a great site for building your Russian vocabularly. It has FREE worksheets where you can practice translating common words from Russian to English and vice versa. There are over 400 worksheets. A very useful and easy to use tool for building basic vocabulary.

http://www.happychild.org.uk/freeway/russian/index.htm#freeworksheets

They also have sheets for French, German, Spanish, Italian, Romanian, Bulgarian and Polish.

Vladimir Vysotsky

I've always been a big fan of Vladimir Vysotsky. For those of you who have no idea who I'm talking about - he is a very famous Russian singer, often referred to as a bard or folk singer. Although he passed away some time ago his work is still very popular. He has a really unique voice that may be an acquired taste for some - but personally I find it very compelling.

Anyway, I found a site that has a large number of his songs in both Russian and English translation. I'm curious to study the meanings of his songs and am excited to find this site to help me out:

http://www.wysotsky.com/0002/000.asp

Multiple Language Site

Here's a great free site that has several languages:

http://www.languageguide.org/

Spanish, French, German, Russian, Hebrew, Portuguese, Arabic, Italian, Chinese and Japanese.

Aside from extensive picture dictionaries with sound (as you guide you mouse over the picture) the French section also includes a grammar part and sample readings (all with sound). The Spanish section also includes a grammar review.

A very extensive and helpful site for building vocabularly - check it out.