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Deep Language Product Discounts on Rosetta Stone, Michel Thomas, Pimsleur, more

Free Language has just released a sweet new tool for language product discount seekers!

Free Language now brings together the absolute best deals from across the web on language education products including language software, DVDs, Rosetta Stone, Michel Thomas and Pimsleur products and more.

Visit the new shop and find amazing deals: http://shop.freelanguage.org

411 reads

By chapman - Posted on May 29th, 2009

Another Large List of Multilingual Language Learning Links and Resources: Podcasts, Courses, Lessons...

It's been a while since I've updated with the latest from Free Language. So here goes, in no particular order...

908 reads

By chapman - Posted on October 22nd, 2008

Aspect in Slavic Languages w/Specific Examples using Polish Perfect vs Imperfect Verbs

One of the things I can across quickly while learning 55 common Polish verbs is the concept of aspect in Slavic languages. I found an excellent explanation on Wikipedia with, luckily for Polish learners, explanations of what perfect vs imperfect aspect is all about using examples using Polish verbs.

From Website

Imperfective verbs mean:

actions in progress, just ongoing states and activities, with significant course (in opinion of the speaker);
activities posing the background for other (perfective) activities, ex. czytałem książkę, gdy zadzwonił telefon 'I was reading the book when the telephone rang';
simultaneous activities, ex. będę czytać książkę, podczas gdy brat będzie pisać list 'I will be reading the book while brother will be writing the letter';
durative activities, lasting through some time, e.g. krzyczał 'he was shouting', będzie drgać 'it will be vibrating';
motions without a strict aim, ex. chodzę 'I am walking here and there';
multiple (iterative) activities, ex. dopisywać 'to insert many times to the text', będziemy wychodziły 'we will go out (many times)';
non-resultative activities, only heading towards some purpose: będę pisał list 'I will be writing the letter';
continuous states, ex. będę stać 'I will be standing'.

Perfective verbs mean past or future, but not present activities – an activity which is happening now cannot be ended, so it cannot be perfective. Perfective verbs mean:

states and activities which were ended (even if a second ago) or which will be ended, with insignificant course, short or treated as a whole by the speaker, ex. krzyknął 'he shouted', drgnie 'it will stir';
single-time activities, ex. dopisać 'to insert to the text', wyszedł 'he has gone out';
actions whose goals have already been achieved, even if with difficulty, ex. przeczytałem 'I have read', doczytała się 'she finished reading and found what she had sought';
reasons for the state, ex. pokochała 'she came to love', zrozumiesz 'you (sg.) will understand', poznamy 'we will get to know';
the beginning of the activity or the state, ex. wstanę 'I will stand up' (and I will stand), zaczerwienił się 'he reddened';
the end of the activity or the state, ex. dośpiewaj 'sing until the end';
activities executed in many places, on many objects or by many subjects at the same time, ex. powynosił 'he carried out (many things)', popękają 'they will break out in many places', poucinać 'to cut off many items';
actions or states which last some time, ex. postoję 'I will stand for a little time', pobył 'he was (there) for some time'.
Learn more on Wikipedia.

Tagged: polish • aspect • aspect in slavic languages • grammar • grammatical aspect • imperfect • imperfect aspect • language • learn • perfect • perfect aspect

1058 reads

By chapman - Posted on June 30th, 2008

55 Common (High-Frequency) Polish Verbs found on the Swadesh List

Embedded below you will find a game to learn 55 of the most commonly-used Polish verbs from the Polish Swadesh List.

This was taken from a Quizlet set I just made to help me learn these common verbs and test my brewing theory of action-oriented language learning. I like using Quizlet because it is free, quick, currently has non-intrusive ads and, perhaps most importantly, allows me to share with anyone else work that I do to create language-learning materials.

As I will be heading to Poland within a week or two, I have kicked into high gear to learn as much as possible before getting there. It is a challenge to test out my own ideas on picking up languages quickly for practical use, ideas developed over a period of years while learning the four languages I speak with relative fluency and bits and pieces of others I am not yet terribly proficient in.

At any rate, included with the Polish are International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) transcriptions of the words being learned for quick pronunciation reference. There are other ways to learn and practice at Quizlet if you visit a Quizlet setthis set's page. If you are into learning lots of languages, I recommend learning the IPA.

Tagged: polish • action-oriented language learning • actions • common polish verbs • flashcards • free • free polish flashcards • games • high-frequency polish verbs • international phonetic alphabet • ipa • language learning • languages • learn • lists • milton swadesh • phonetics • polish flashcards • polish language games • polish swadesh list • quizlet • swadesh • verbs

2462 reads

By chapman - Posted on June 30th, 2008

Transparent Language Free Word of the Day Web Widgets in Italian, German, Russian and Others

My goal is to use this blog successfully for personal language-learning endeavors. To create spaces where I can study and learn. Out of this I hope for a new theory of language learning to develop, something along the lines of the action-oriented language learning stuff I have written here only briefly about.

I found the Transparent Language's free Word of the Day Web widgets, I dug the mix of features, including audio, example sentence and past/present/future conjugations. I'm currently working on Italian, German and Russian (among others that aren't available as widgets) so I have those here. The widgets are also available in French, Spanish, Portuguese, Irish, ESL and Leet.