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Looking for Language Learning Databases | ||
Tags: Library | Language Program | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Links & Internet Resources |  | |
| jdmoncada Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 5035 days ago 470 posts - 741 votes  Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Finnish Studies: Russian, Japanese | Message 1 of 8 21 March 2011 at 6:10pm | IP Logged | ||
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I am a librarian in the USA, and I have a vote on an entire state's public library databases. We are interested in buying language learning databases for the patrons, but we need suggestions of anything that might be out there. Our testing period ends by April 15th, 2011. So suggestions after that will be of no use to us for this fiscal period.
Here is what I know at present: Rosetta Stone used to sell to libraries but does not do that any longer. We will be doing an evaluation of Mango. My library tested locally in January, and it was through Mango that I discovered a love of Japanese. Auralog may sell to libraries, but there is doubt about it. We have tried to contact them, but even the form is difficult. So please, my educated forum members, please share any other options of which you are aware. Thank you very much in advance! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 7157 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes 20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish | Message 2 of 8 21 March 2011 at 7:38pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm a little confused by what you mean by databases for language-learning. As far as I have seen, using a database in learning a language corresponds to using a dictionary or collection of tables for inflection. In this way, this kind of information comes as a simplified database by containing linguistic data that is obtainable in a useful way when the user enters a keyword or partial result in a search field.
Instead of "database", do you mean software or online material that can be used to learn languages? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 5131 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 3 of 8 21 March 2011 at 8:29pm | IP Logged | ||
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Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but it seems you are only looking for computer-based learning programs.
If that is the case and you have, as you say, a vote affecting the entire state's purchases, may I suggest that you look beyond computer-based and also look at other forms of learning, such as audio and good old-fashioned books? I say this as a someone who can't stand being tethered to a computer to learn. I much prefer to have my materials be portable. Just my opinion. R. == 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| jdmoncada Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 5035 days ago 470 posts - 741 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Finnish Studies: Russian, Japanese | Message 4 of 8 21 March 2011 at 9:08pm | IP Logged | ||
Well, you may suggest them, but it does not pertain to my question. Those purchases are done with separate budget and not through my committee. Just because my group isn't directly responsible for buying them should not imply that such a thing is not being done. To my original question, yes, I am looking for computer-based programs. Quite often databases are hosted and searchable on the internet, but it is a trust-worthy collection of specific records. An advantage of a database over an individual book or even one disc of software is that many people can use it at the same time and access it at different points of entry. I will approach this a different way. Which language-learning programs would you love to see your library provide? Not all vendors sell to libraries, and some things aren't available in the USA. But in your dream world, what would you like to find? Again, thanks for help with this. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tractor Tetraglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5454 days ago 1349 posts - 2292 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, Catalan Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 5 of 8 21 March 2011 at 9:51pm | IP Logged | ||
In a dream world I would like to see language learning computer programs that were way better than those few I have tried. This answer probably doesn't help you though… 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| jdmoncada Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 5035 days ago 470 posts - 741 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Finnish Studies: Russian, Japanese | Message 6 of 8 21 March 2011 at 9:53pm | IP Logged | ||
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Well, no, but at least you had a little humor about it. :)
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 7157 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes 20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish | Message 7 of 8 21 March 2011 at 10:21pm | IP Logged | ||
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The only snag I can see with the question is that a lot of the substantial computer-based material for language-learning that I know of is online and already available for free (e.g. fsi-language-courses.org, www.oneness.vu.lt, www.yle.fi/opinportti/supisuomea/). I don't see much need to go to the library to use this stuff unless one's internet connection at home is slow (i.e. dialup) or has exceeded some monthly limit for bandwidth use according to the ISP's allotment.
However if I could have a say in the kinds of language-learning programs available at a library, then I would request the following (these reflect my current preferences and may not suit a lot of visitors to the library). Finnish: Suomen kielen alkeisoppikirja (Lepäsmaa & Silfverberg) Suomen kielen jatko-oppikirja (Silfverberg) Kazakh: - Beginning Kazakh (course on CD-ROM from the Critical Languages Series by the University of Arizona) - Intermediate Kazakh (course on DVD-ROM from the Critical Languages Series by the University of Arizona) Slovenian: - Colloquial Slovene 2nd ed. (Pirat-Greenberg - forthcoming) Ukrainian: - Rozmovliaimo! (DeLossa et al.) - Intermediate Ukrainian (course on DVD-ROM from the Critical Languages Series by the University of Arizona) If I were altruistic and more considerate of the wider population who use libraries to find material to gain basic knowledge in foreign languages, then I would suggest that the library should focus on purchasing appropriate material in series under Pimsleur, Assimil, Teach Yourself, Colloquial or Living Language. I say "appropriate" here since each series is uneven and some languages are presented better in one series over the others (e.g. the library should buy "Teach Yourself Estonian" rather than "Colloquial Estonian" if given the choice). In addition the library shouldn't really spend too much money on several copies of dictionaries or other reference materials - just one or two copies held in the reference stack should be enough. I've never really seen the point of a library lending dictionaries or other reference materials, considering that learners would probably want it for more than a few weeks (i.e. standard borrowing period + renewal period). In other words, learners would either want that reference manual available in the library without the risk of someone borrowing it and never returning it, or if it were that important to him/her, it'd be preferable to buy that reference material so that it'd be easily available. If the budget would permit it (and if the purchasing department were particularly interested in language-learning material), then it should also consider courses outside the mainstream (e.g. "Modern Russian 1 & 2", "Basic Course in Mongolian") or if possible look into obtaining material that's very difficult to find. Real gold mines could be the audio recordings of DLI or FSI courses for which the texts are already available at ERIC or at FSI-language-courses.org, or the texts for audio recordings that are hosted at Indiana University's audio archive. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 5131 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 8 of 8 21 March 2011 at 10:49pm | IP Logged | ||
That's actually a good point, and I'd take it even a step further: Minority languages that happen to be spoken by some (even a small portion) of the local population or some of its recent immigrants. In Minnesota/Wisconsin, for example, a course in the Native American Indian language spoken, or, in the case of recent immigrants, Hmong. But I would think materials of any kind would be difficult to come by. R. == Edited by hrhenry on 21 March 2011 at 10:50pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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