tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6715770376115140778Sun, 07 Mar 2010 22:44:32 +0000http://www.streetsmartlanguagelearning.com/noreply@blogger.com (Albeca LLC)Blogger146125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6715770376115140778.post-6123659196936267691Fri, 05 Mar 2010 08:57:00 +00002010-03-07T15:45:44.403+09:00video contentEnglishIf you're learning English and wondering where you can get video with subtitles, look no further than your friendly neighborhood YouTube. Google is launching some new features on YouTube that will make for some good language-learning resources for those whose target language is English. In particular: For selected English video content, YouTube is implementing automatic captioning. For all http://www.streetsmartlanguagelearning.com/2010/03/youtube-videos-automatically-captioned.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Vincent)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6715770376115140778.post-1938363130537561916Sun, 21 Feb 2010 10:01:00 +00002010-02-21T19:49:29.352+09:00ChineseRosettaStoneYou might recall that Michael Phelps did a stint as the spokesman for Rosetta Stone. Did you also know that Rosetta Stone and Phelps managed to uncover something about Chinese that has eluded linguists, scholars, and even the Chinese themselves for millennia?Watch the latest business video at video.foxbusiness.comThe highlight starts at 0:53:Interviewer: And, Michael, I understand you used [http://www.streetsmartlanguagelearning.com/2010/02/rosetta-stone-teaches-michael-phelps.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Vincent)6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6715770376115140778.post-8095733844703217603Wed, 17 Feb 2010 13:56:00 +00002010-02-18T01:16:36.242+09:00native-speaker tutorChatRoulettespeakingChatRoulette has been generating quite a bit of buzz over the past week or so. The concept is quite simple; you video chat with randomly selected people, and if you don't want to chat with any particular person, you just press F9 to get hooked up with another random person. It's the brainchild of some 17-year-old Russian kid who's now getting courted by U.S. investors.The idea has great http://www.streetsmartlanguagelearning.com/2010/02/if-there-weren-so-many-frickin-naked.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Vincent)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6715770376115140778.post-8629143373765295679Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:33:00 +00002010-02-03T00:41:08.988+09:00Haitian CreoleTransparent LanguageiPhonelanguage learning for disadvantaged groupsBykiThis is one time when I'm happy to recycle a quote from a press release:Transparent Language Inc. announced today the release of free versions of their Haitian Creole language software based on the British Red Cross Emergency phrase list. The language learning company has added the 62 common medical questions and statements from the British Red Cross to its Haitian Creole Byki software. In the http://www.streetsmartlanguagelearning.com/2010/02/kudos-to-transparent-language-for-what.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Vincent)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6715770376115140778.post-8104590417448532301Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:24:00 +00002010-02-03T00:27:39.661+09:00musicSpanishScore one for the Hattiesburg American, a newspaper serving Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and its community columnist, Cindy Burleson, because they got us the answer to this pressing question. And I quote:Rico Suave suggests language learning aids you in finding a future husband or wife by simply "increasing the size of your selection pool."I don't think we can deny Mr. Suave's point. Indeed, given http://www.streetsmartlanguagelearning.com/2010/02/what-does-rico-suave-think-of-language.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Vincent)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6715770376115140778.post-980793481397474368Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:18:00 +00002010-02-03T00:20:31.090+09:00BabbelLang-8BBC LanguagesLivemochaeducationiPhoneLingQiTalkiTellMeMore.comRosettaStoneThe New York Times last week ran an article by Eric Taub entitled "The Web Way to Learn a Language". For the most part, the article is an uncontroversial list of some of the better known language-learning resources on the web, followed by a grab bag of a few lesser-known, language-specific resources plus a few iPhone apps.That the article is an incomplete list of the numerous resources availablehttp://www.streetsmartlanguagelearning.com/2010/01/ny-times-web-way-to-learn-language-is.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Vincent)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6715770376115140778.post-6099116913248550764Tue, 02 Feb 2010 14:54:00 +00002010-02-03T00:30:33.927+09:00LivemochaRosettaStoneIn a post aptly entitled "Why Livemocha is better than Rosetta Stone" (hat tip: Kirsten Winkler), Livemocha explains just that. Here's how Kirsten sums it up:Reason 1: Livemocha offers hundreds of hours of free courses in over 30 languages.Reason 2: Livemocha lessons include revision of speaking and writing exercises by native speakers.Reason 3: Livemocha has a community of over 4 million membershttp://www.streetsmartlanguagelearning.com/2010/02/livemocha-lays-down-smack-on-rosetta.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Vincent)8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6715770376115140778.post-2354511965994869152Tue, 26 Jan 2010 15:37:00 +00002010-01-27T01:00:18.450+09:00educationRosettaStoneThat's the title of an article by David Behling, a professor at Waldorf College, cunningly designed to pull in people like me looking to shoot down a ridiculous argument. Unfortunately Professor Behling is pulling a fast one on us, because he comes down firmly on the side of learning languages.I of course agree with that sentiment, but there's a few places where I can't quite agree with what he'shttp://www.streetsmartlanguagelearning.com/2010/01/learning-foreign-languages-why-bother.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Vincent)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6715770376115140778.post-2330817690880769805Sun, 24 Jan 2010 04:04:00 +00002010-01-24T15:43:45.769+09:00Lang-8native-speaker tutorLivemochaeducationLingQWe in the language-learning blogosphere are generally not impressed by university-level language programs. Some of us have even gone so far as to envision a brave new world of institutional language learning where entire language departments get the boot and students take advantage of native speakers, study abroad, and the multitude of resources available to them to learn their language of http://www.streetsmartlanguagelearning.com/2010/01/why-didn-my-university-teach-languages.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Vincent)8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6715770376115140778.post-7893547119045008619Sat, 09 Jan 2010 04:19:00 +00002010-01-09T13:25:24.827+09:00The study this time comes from Portland State University. I can't say the results surprise me, although they did surprise those conducting the study.Link: Longitudinal Study of Adult Learning [Kentucky Educational Television] (via The Linguist on Language)http://www.streetsmartlanguagelearning.com/2010/01/another-study-tells-us-that-studying-on.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Vincent)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6715770376115140778.post-69747951700063250Sun, 03 Jan 2010 21:38:00 +00002010-01-04T07:22:28.685+09:00ChineseEnglishAh, hyperbole. Remember when Japan was going to take over the world in the 1980s? Somewhere between my G.I. Joes and Transformers, I recall my dad insisting on not buying Japanese automobiles back then. Of course, he didn't buy a single automobile during the 1980s—he rode that good ol' American 1978 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme right into the ground—but his attitude left enough of an impression to http://www.streetsmartlanguagelearning.com/2010/01/china-pwnage.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Vincent)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6715770376115140778.post-1757022320948938691Sun, 03 Jan 2010 21:07:00 +00002010-01-04T06:24:50.624+09:00ageBarbara Strauch of the New York Times writes that the brain doesn't get worse at learning during middle age, but rather it learns differently:The brain, as it traverses middle age, gets better at recognizing the central idea, the big picture. If kept in good shape, the brain can continue to build pathways that help its owner recognize patterns and, as a consequence, see significance and even http://www.streetsmartlanguagelearning.com/2010/01/middle-aged-nope-not-too-old-to-learn.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Vincent)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6715770376115140778.post-2793644901210668527Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:06:00 +00002009-10-28T22:46:00.947+09:00There's an interesting post over on Language Fixation talking about just how much is involved in learning a language, which was inspired by an interesting post on GlobalMaverick talking about the mess between being a beginner and being fluent. There's three points I'd like to focus on from these posts: quantifying language learning, diminishing returns in language learning, and wanderlust (to newhttp://www.streetsmartlanguagelearning.com/2009/10/quantifying-language-learning.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Vincent)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6715770376115140778.post-655657519476620405Tue, 13 Oct 2009 23:32:00 +00002009-10-14T10:42:21.019+09:00Barack Obamavideo contentaudio contentEnglishThere's an interesting article in The New York Times saying how Japan is gaga over learning English from Obama's speeches. They apparently even go gaga when they can't really get what he's saying; he's just that moving. While that's fun and all, the most interesting part of the article was this little tidbit: The publishers [of learning resources using Obama's speeches] are trying to tap into a http://www.streetsmartlanguagelearning.com/2009/10/japan-foreign-language-teaching.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Vincent)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6715770376115140778.post-6797835615199504660Mon, 12 Oct 2009 04:16:00 +00002009-10-18T09:15:27.917+09:00FarsiwritingEnglishHere's an interesting anecdote about a 75-year-old Iranian guy crowsourcing a Farsi-English translation in the Geneva airport. Sounds like he's doing a pretty good job of getting it done that way, but perhaps someone should tell him about how to get his foreign-language writing corrected online for free.http://www.streetsmartlanguagelearning.com/2009/10/75-year-old-iranian-guy-crowsourcing.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Vincent)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6715770376115140778.post-7559855051948642907Sat, 10 Oct 2009 06:17:00 +00002009-10-10T20:27:57.951+09:00textual contentPortuguesedictionariesaudio contentContinuing my series on free online dictionaries (previously covering Japanese, Chinese, and Spanish), after the jump you'll find my favorite, free, online Portuguese-English dictionaries. Read more... WordReference.com: Like with Spanish, WordReference.com comes in first on my list of Portuguese-English dictionaries. However, its Portuguese dictionary is not as good as its Spanish dictionary http://www.streetsmartlanguagelearning.com/2009/10/best-free-online-portuguese-english.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Vincent)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6715770376115140778.post-4775750667863210203Sat, 10 Oct 2009 05:55:00 +00002009-10-10T15:15:50.520+09:00textual contentJapaneseI'm pretty sure this is not a great idea: Waikato University PhD student Michael Walmsley is working on a project which will help language learners build their foreign vocabulary by reading texts online where some of the words have been replaced with words in their target language. Read more... My big problem with this is that it'll keep learners away from actual exposure to the target language; http://www.streetsmartlanguagelearning.com/2009/10/learning-by-mixing-target-language.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Vincent)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6715770376115140778.post-6032498195994702664Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:36:00 +00002009-10-08T01:46:53.102+09:00textual contentdictionariesSpanishaudio contentMy series on free online dictionaries (previously covering Japanese and Chinese) continues. Today I've got my favorite, free, online Spanish-English dictionaries for you, after the jump. Read more... WordReference.com: WordReference is my first choice in Spanish, and it's often the only choice I ever need. Not only does it provide you free access to a few different traditional (read: dead-tree) http://www.streetsmartlanguagelearning.com/2009/10/best-free-online-spanish-english.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Vincent)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6715770376115140778.post-4945414307592568483Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:54:00 +00002009-10-16T04:12:54.828+09:00Lang-8LivemochaSnapvinespeakingI've already given you the low-down on how to get your foreign-language writings corrected online for free. Now I'd like to turn to how to get your audio recordings corrected for free. Unfortunately, your options here are still pretty limited. As far as I can tell, there are only two places where you can submit recordings and get them corrected by native speakers, neither of which are close to http://www.streetsmartlanguagelearning.com/2009/10/get-your-foreign-language-audio.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Vincent)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6715770376115140778.post-3095530520785126287Tue, 06 Oct 2009 13:55:00 +00002009-10-07T12:37:59.920+09:00textual contentdictionariesChinese charactersChineseaudio contentContinuing my series on free online dictionaries (for Japanese, see here), today I present you with my favorite, free, online Chinese-English dictionaries, after the jump.Read more... nciku: Nciku is my first stop when looking up a Chinese word. I've found that they simply cover more of the words I need than the other dictionaries on this list. They often supply numerous example sentences, which http://www.streetsmartlanguagelearning.com/2009/10/best-free-online-chinese-english.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Vincent)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6715770376115140778.post-7806805728313238274Tue, 06 Oct 2009 13:32:00 +00002009-10-06T22:44:31.241+09:00video contentspeech recognitionspeakingEnglishCentralGoogleRosettaStoneEnglishGoogle Ventures, Google's venture capital arm, has invested an "undisclosed amount" of its $100 million in EnglishCentral, Inc., an English-language learning website where learners can watch popular videos (such as a clip from Forest Gump or a Red Bull ad) and then get graded on how well they pronounce the words spoken in the videos via EnglishCentral's "unique speech recognition platform".This http://www.streetsmartlanguagelearning.com/2009/10/google-getting-into-language-learning.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Vincent)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6715770376115140778.post-1888559824306501157Tue, 06 Oct 2009 13:01:00 +00002009-10-06T22:37:08.686+09:00bleeding-edge technologyBen Taskar at Penn State has a computer learning language by watching TV, listening to audio, and reading texts. Sounds like a better language-learning program than most people get exposed to.Link: Machine Learning by Watching and Listening [PhysOrg.com]http://www.streetsmartlanguagelearning.com/2009/10/exposure-is-great-way-to-learn.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Vincent)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6715770376115140778.post-3145195234121049913Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:37:00 +00002009-10-06T22:36:43.725+09:00Rocket LanguagesAs I've pointed out before, Rocket Languages has been conducting a pretty blatant (yet successful) astroturfing campaign. I thought that they might have been getting a bit worried when the New York attorney general started looking into the practice in other industries. But now they'd better be worried; the U.S. Federal Trade Commission will start cracking down on astroturfing as of December 1 of http://www.streetsmartlanguagelearning.com/2009/10/is-ftc-about-to-give-rocket-languages.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Vincent)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6715770376115140778.post-784395910901418876Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:45:00 +00002009-10-06T02:52:39.974+09:00When you're learning a language, there's a level of skill that I like to refer to as "the danger zone". To show you where it comes into play, I would say that your ability in a language roughly progresses as per the following graph. You start with the obvious beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels. After that, you get to proficient, where you can use the language to get done whatever it is http://www.streetsmartlanguagelearning.com/2009/10/danger-zone-skill-level-in-language.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Vincent)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6715770376115140778.post-806489619295465488Sat, 19 Sep 2009 21:51:00 +00002009-09-20T08:01:52.565+09:00children's language learningAn article in the New York Times entitled Birth Order: Fun to Debate, but How Important? discusses language learning and birth order. Here's the money quote:Frank J. Sulloway, a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of “Born to Rebel: Birth Order, Family Dynamics, and Creative Lives”(Pantheon, 1996), points out that second-born children tend to be exposed to http://www.streetsmartlanguagelearning.com/2009/09/best-language-learning-environment-for.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Vincent)0