DemiPuppet Newbie United States Joined 6589 days ago 19 posts - 55 votes
| Message 1 of 10 12 March 2015 at 4:04pm | IP Logged |
I did some more digitizing of missing FSI language audio from official US government tapes using Audacity: Amharic Basic Course. OK, the Amharic courses weren't really missing since they were already available at the Indiana University site:
www.iu.edu/~celtie/catalog1.html
But these are recorded at a higher bit rate and may sound slightly better:
kanbox.com/f/tS0Rq (Amharic Volume 1, 1.0GB)
kanbox.com/f/NE0Rr (Amharic Volume 2, 184.5MB)
I've also included pictures of the tapes used for encoding as well as the PDF text volumes. I added a few key words to the PDF properties of volume 1 and 2. Volume 2 now has its original cover attached.
6 persons have voted this message useful
|
Ericounet Senior Member France yojik.euRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5437 days ago 157 posts - 414 votes Studies: English, German, Russian
| Message 2 of 10 12 March 2015 at 5:22pm | IP Logged |
hi,
downloading :)
I'll put this on the server asap.
Thanks
Eric
2 persons have voted this message useful
|
Juаn Senior Member Colombia Joined 5347 days ago 727 posts - 1830 votes Speaks: Spanish*
| Message 3 of 10 12 March 2015 at 5:31pm | IP Logged |
If it is possible to you, please add the Sinhala language next which to my knowledge is not available anywhere online and for which there are very few leaning materials.
Also, the first volume of the Modern Written Arabic course is incomplete and of poor quality.
1 person has voted this message useful
|
DemiPuppet Newbie United States Joined 6589 days ago 19 posts - 55 votes
| Message 4 of 10 13 March 2015 at 5:26pm | IP Logged |
Sorry, I don't have any audio for Arabic Volume 1 or Sinhala.
Based on catalogs, it looks like the US government used "Colloquial Sinhalese" written by Gordon Fairbanks et al:
http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112101562442;vi ew=1up;seq=8
The books were published by Cornell University in 1968 and are probably covered by copyright:
http://www.worldcat.org/title/colloquial-sinhalese-sinhala/o clc/716140912
The books and audio can be purchased directly from Cornell. They also have a newer textbook that looks interesting:
http://sap.einaudi.cornell.edu/publications_textbooks
BTW, when I originally copied the Sinhala Basic Course book, I was not sure about the copyright status of the photos; so I left them out. It looks like the copyright experts at the Hathi Trust have ruled the entire three books to be in the public domain. For now, you can use the online version with pictures. I'll add the pictures back into the PDF version:
http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015009360218;vie w=1up;seq=7
3 persons have voted this message useful
|
Juаn Senior Member Colombia Joined 5347 days ago 727 posts - 1830 votes Speaks: Spanish*
| Message 5 of 10 21 March 2015 at 10:36pm | IP Logged |
Colloquial Sinhalese by Fairbanks in two volumes and the FSI Sinhala Basic Course by Bonnie MacDougall in three volumes are distinct texts by different authors.
If audio for the FSI Sinhala Basic Course can be made available, it would be a great service to the language learning community, as resources for learning this fascinating and important language are very scarce.
Edited by Juаn on 21 March 2015 at 10:38pm
1 person has voted this message useful
|
DemiPuppet Newbie United States Joined 6589 days ago 19 posts - 55 votes
| Message 6 of 10 22 March 2015 at 4:04am | IP Logged |
As far as I know, no audio was ever created for Bonnie MacDougall's "Sinhala Basic Course". It is not listed in the catalog of audio available from the US government. It's possible that someone else has made a recording, but I'm not aware any.
The US government also used "Colloquial Sinhalese" by Fairbanks. Audio for that course was listed in the government catalog and may now be purchased directly from Cornell. I looked through the first volume. Unfortunately, the book does not use the Sinhala writing system.
1 person has voted this message useful
|
Juаn Senior Member Colombia Joined 5347 days ago 727 posts - 1830 votes Speaks: Spanish*
| Message 7 of 10 23 March 2015 at 12:47am | IP Logged |
Again, audio most certainly does exist for the FSI Sinhala Basic Course, and like other FSI courses, it could be purchased at a very considerable price for a while from various sellers.
1 person has voted this message useful
|
Random review Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5785 days ago 781 posts - 1310 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin, Yiddish, German
| Message 8 of 10 23 March 2015 at 1:32am | IP Logged |
Juаn wrote:
Again, audio most certainly does exist for the FSI Sinhala Basic Course, and like other FSI
courses, it could be purchased at a very considerable price for a while from various sellers. |
|
|
I really wanted the Sinhala audio a few years ago when I was working with a load of Sri-Lankans, it is a
massive gap; but if the U.S. Government doesn't sell it, it can't be put on the site, whether it exists or not.
You may have more luck making the request in Uzbekistan FWIW.
1 person has voted this message useful
|