Learning a New Language Using Open Source? 74
cmstar asks: "It's been several years since my High School Spanish courses and I'm finding myself quite a bit rusty. Add to that a new found desire to learn Japanese, and I find myself on a quest to find a good cheap set of language learning/teaching software. There are plenty of commercial packages available, but I'm poor. A quick check of Google and Sourceforge didn't produce any immediate results. I know speaking with a native is usually the best way to go about this, but with little time or money, and something portable that I could use at home and work, in my spare time, would be handy to freshen up on my skills and learn something new. Any suggestions?"
Better yet (Score:3, Interesting)
Translation doesn't help you learn. (Score:1)
But there are a couple of open-source mozilla plugins that may be of some help:
Moji [mozdev.org]
rikaixul [mozdev.org], my own project which was functional a year ago but noone's touched in some time.
Jim Breen [monash.edu.au] runs a really great list of online resources for Japanese, most of which are at least free-beer if not free-speech.
While you're on-li
I dunno about Japanese, but... (Score:5, Informative)
Also, browse around Wikipedia. They usually have good language resources.
But if you're starting fresh and trying to learn on your own...I dunno, that's probably not going to work so well. I'd recommend taking a couple semesters (or the equivalent) of the language before going on your own. Bad habits can be hard to break.
Re:I dunno about Japanese, but... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:I dunno about Japanese, but... (Score:2)
Re:I dunno about Japanese, but... (Score:2)
Re:I dunno about Japanese, but... (Score:1)
Japanese? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Japanese? (Score:2)
Pokemon, DragonBall, Yugioh!, and many others do seem quite devoid of story and laking in decent animation quality.
but there are a lot of gems:
Miyazaki's Spirited Away, Castle in the Sky, and Kiki's Delivery Service are all excellent movies not by virtue of their origin, but by their direction, production, and yes, their stories.
Metropolis (though somewhat lacking in what most would consider "good animation", including myself) is a compelling movie simply on t
Re:Japanese? (Score:2)
Despite Pokemon and Dragonball-Z, Japan act
Re:Japanese? (Score:1)
He (as do I) wants to learn something that most people consideres very hard. You have to commend him for that.
Wikibooks (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Download (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Download (Score:2)
I have used Pimsleur's courses to learn several foriegn languages, and they have an amazing "stick rate." The main reason is due to the scientific method Pimsleur uses to teach the language:
A new word is introduced. Then, mixed in with other words, the new word is repeated after 10 seconds, 30 seconds, 1 minute, 2 minutes, 5 minutes, etc. The other words of course follow the same pattern, so it'
Re:Download (Score:2, Informative)
English -- Japanse -- English Babelfish (Score:5, Funny)
Re:English -- Japanse -- English Babelfish (Score:4, Funny)
For example:
Because it is not impolite, but it translates your post from bablefish and japenese and is high. As for me what' where my experience of the fish is earlier description; Only general gist of s mean the fact that it is not to give - I obtained from your post, that' concerning entirely; S. There is a preliminary examination button.
Re:English -- Japanse -- English Babelfish (Score:1)
Considering the translation abilities of Babelfish regarding Japanese, I would expect no less. You know, like
OSS and Freeware (Score:1)
I guess that's why there are all kinds of free compilers, development, and admin tools. But when it comes to Language Learning Software (and other less-than-typical techie tools like A
Re:OSS and Freeware (Score:2)
Re:OSS and Freeware (Score:1)
Why use the word open-source? (Score:5, Insightful)
Why refer to the term open source if you meant free of charge? Not sure whether the source would do you any good here.
As for free language courses, Google search for free language courses produces just that [word2word.com].
Re:Why use the word open-source? (Score:2)
It does have some perl questions under "java web programming" (wtf?) that are answered with code that starts:
use warnings;
use strick;
It would be funny if it wasn't so sad.
yes I am bugging you because your sig is bugging me.
Is it your site? If so fix it, if not why embarrass yourself by advertising it.
Re:OT: TechInterviews.com (Score:2)
Therefore, read through those answers before your next interview and don't go in sprouting some sort of freakish actualities. Think:
Best of luck!
Re:Why use the word open-source? (Score:1)
I just noticed your reply, should've read it on Sunday.
The questions are sent to me from various sources, mostly by e-mail, I will correct this one, I cannot check all of them for correctness.
Resources (Score:1, Informative)
http://www.katzbrown.com/kiten/About/
Then, don't worry too much dedicated apps - it's easy enough to adopt flash card programs to build and solidify your vocab.
And then, use your browser / audio streamer to make the most of what the web has to offer. Simply looking at the front page of a newspaper every day will help.
Of course, setting your box up to handle foreign characters is an e
Library (Score:1, Informative)
Library? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Library? (Score:3, Insightful)
Try a textbook (Score:5, Informative)
There are very few good Japanese textbooks, it is known to educators as an "infrequently taught language." The people who have written good Japanese textbooks have spent years developing their work, usually in conjunction with other instructors at a university, do you really think they're likely to give it away for free? Japanese textbooks are notoriously expensive since they're usually printed in Japan and imported at unfavorable exchange rates. But still, the best money I ever spent was the $90 introductory textbook set for my first Japanese class. I used it for four semesters, and still use it occasionally for reference.
Japanese instructors are notoriously technophobic, and advancements in computer aided instruction have been very slow. Good instructors are too busy updating the existing learning systems to modern standards to bother with computerizing them too.
There are a few gadgets that will help certain areas, like kanji flashcard gadgets. I've used many of them, but none of them are much better than conventional methods (i.e. flashcards). And flashcards aren't going to teach you the whole language, it is just a reinforcement for a small subset of your primary studies. Electronic dictionaries are freely available online, but this is only going to speed up your word lookups, again, it's merely a support activity, not a primary learning tool.
The best tool to learn Japanese is a structured study plan, either with a teacher, or with a textbook with a graduated series of exercises that build up your knowledge according to planned curriculum. You can't just go at this by stumbling through native language materials like comic books and trying to figure it out as you go along.
Re:Try a textbook (Score:1)
Re:Try a textbook (Score:2)
But ultimately, nothing will perfect your pronounciation except continual contact with native speakers. You will naturally adopt the pronounciation and speech patte
I'm in the same boat (Score:5, Informative)
Except, my sister gave me a "deluxe" language training software package. Windows-only, of course, which defeated the idea of learning with my Powerbook. But after I installed it, I tried it for about twenty minutes before I got sick of the pathetic interface, dog-slow loading times (they do their best to prevent you from loading it on the hard drive, too) and the overall horrible audio tracks and pixelated graphics. If anyone's seen the sort of drivel produced out of Toolbook 2.0 -- along with the associated media from the time when that program was popular -- that's the sort of product my sister paid $50 for. I gave up, went online, and started doing my own searching.
My personal approach to learning Japanese isn't driven out of any specific need -- just a deep-seated curiosity (and one I've had before I'd ever played video games or watched anime, mind you.) I decided I'd learn the alphabets first, adding kanji slowly, until I could safely go purchase a few kids' books written almost entirely in hiragana and katakana. It's worked, so far. My friend is taking courses the traditional way, through a community college, and though his speaking abilities are obviously better at this stage, he's got some serious dependence on romaji.
My single greatest resource for learning the characters has been, oddly enough, the Microsoft and Apple IMEs. I used a word processor to make myself worksheets and practice writing the characters. Five minutes and 100 sheets of "appropriated" office paper later, I had a stack of worksheets to practice with that beat any of the ones I found online or as samples in books. Best of all, if I needed more practice with a specific group, I could just print more of the same worksheet whenever I wanted it.
As for online references, someone compiled a great list [manythings.org] of them already. In particular, my favorite from that list has been Takasugi Shinji's [airnet.ne.jp] site, written from the perspective of a linguist. It's also got a great java applet that helps you memorize the kana alphabets -- allowing you to switch fonts to get a greater familiarity with writing styles.
In short -- I've not found any particular free-as-in-beer resource for language learning, and I don't think there's likely to be any because such courses are usually subjective. Perhaps it's something MIT and OpenCourseware can tackle in the future. In the meantime, IMEs are your best friend, and try to avoid getting dependent on romaji. :)
Re:I'm in the same boat (Score:2)
Let me re-phrase that for you (Score:3, Insightful)
You might want to shell out a few bucks for a quality language course.
Re:Let me re-phrase that for you (Score:2)
For OS X (Score:1)
Lingoteach (Score:3, Informative)
GPL language teaching, with audio and all. And it does 900 words of spanish. And some German and others.
See kuro5hin... (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/2/26/175722/72
Part 2:
http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/3/25/32218/182
--Robert
Japanese can not be taught sight-unseen (Score:1)
Just getting the ra ri ru re ro sounds correct is difficult with a teacher for most. It's something in between a L and a R sound on the 'r', but there isn't a real analog in english to it. To try and learn it without someone who's ear is accustommed to it... That's just not going to happen.
Seriously, if you check your local community college
Re:Japanese can not be taught sight-unseen (Score:2)
Lingoteach (Score:2, Informative)
It has some 900 words and sentences in Spanish, English and German with audio, and you can go any way you would like to go (Spanish->German, English->Spanish, or whatever).
It has many more Languages that have only written content and no audio.
It's XML based, so you can add your own content, and it uses OGG Vorbis for sound encoding (so it does not use patented stuff). It has various modes to learn, to test yourself and to practice as well as plugin capabilies
Re:Lingoteach (Score:1)
JWPce worked for me (Score:2, Informative)
One of its most useful features is the ability to highlight a Japanese word and get not only the pronunciation but an English translation as well.
All about JWPce [ucla.edu]
Anime and Manga (Score:2, Informative)
There are two ways you will probably speak like if you do this: like an old Japanese man, or like a young Japanese girl. For the confused, neither of these are desirable unless, of course, you are one.
For the serious Japanese student, unfortunately you will have to fork out some money for a decent book with some sort of
Re:Anime and Manga (Score:2)
Pronunciation is going to
Re:Anime and Manga (Score:1)
I've just finished watching Fruits Basket, there were lots of non-old men/boys there. Are you saying they were speaking like young Japanese girls? Or is it just that majority of animes feature mostly young females and old men? Recalling Full Metal Panic, Fushigi Yuugi, Cowboy Bebop, Wolf's Rain, Witch Hunter
one more program (Score:2)
Nobody has mentioned Pythoñol [sourceforge.net] yet. It's not Japanese, but I figure the people trying to learn Spanish probably ask the same questions. Pythoñol is open source, runs happy on Linux (and runs not quite so happy on other platforms), and talks to you if you can figure out how to install festival [ed.ac.uk].
Hope this helps someone.
Re:one more program (Score:1)
German Dictionary, Hyperdictionary, and Phonetics (Score:2)
For those studying German, I have a German-English Dictionary [michael-forman.com], German-English Hyperdictionary [michael-forman.com], and an overview of German Phonetics in SAMPA [michael-forman.com] online.
Additionally, for students of the English language, I also have an English phonetic transcription program [michael-forman.com] that will output phrases in IPA, SAMPA, CMU, HTML, and LaTeX format.
Michael. [michael-forman.com]
For Japanese specifically... (Score:2)
Basic Japanese (Score:1)
Slime Forest [lrnj.com] is a fun, simple NES-style RPG that teaches kana (the alphabet) and 200 of the most important kanji.
It's LGPL, too!
Good site for teaching yourself Japanese (Score:1)
Slime Forest Adventure (Score:2)
some thoughts: (Score:2, Interesting)
the grammar/vocab/sylabaries/kanji can all be brute forced, that's not a problem (other than the obvious common learning problems, but we'll ignore these and assume you have the motivation and intelligence to brute force these)
the hard parts are pronounciation, listening comprehension, and cognitive/production skills. without
Japanese..RPG (Score:2)
Also, some people put sticky labels with the foreign words on their stuff. And it may sound "babyish" but flash cards are pretty useful for learning Kanji. J-List [jlist.com] sells sets of flash cards, and loads of other Japanese goodies too
I've been trying to learn Japanese for a while now, but I haven't had much time to, what with final year of uni.
Key to learning another language well: Motivation (Score:1)
Being a former Spanish teacher, my experience in my own learning and in the teaching of others of Spanish is that the main key to learning another language well is motivation.
I learned Spanish well one because I could and two it really tickled my fancy to learn another language. Eventually I met hispanics while attending LSU, in Baton Rouge. That really whet my apitite for mastering the new tongue. Finally, throw a hot latina in the mix and that's all she wrote. Just ask my Honduran wife. :P
Tooting My Own Horn (Score:2)
LiveDictionary [mikeash.com] is a program for Mac OS X that lets you look up words in Safari by just pointing at them with your mouse. It supports lots of bilingual dictionaries, including Japanese. It can be a great way to learn vocabulary, or to help you understand a web page that's in a language you're not very good with (which is why I wrote it in the first place), or just to understand the occasional unknown word when you're browsing in your s
Learning japanese (Score:1)
It won't teach you to speak Japanese though. I don't think software are much help with conversation. Have you though of trading English conversation with a native speaker?
Re: (Score:2)