A new collaborative service for language learners with the elements of social networking has now been launched in the form of correctmytext.com. Once registered, the user can submit a text and get it corrected for free by someone who speaks the desired language fluently. Besides, members can request a recorded version of the corrected text to practice pronunciation.
The site is the effort of Dmitry Lopatin, a young scientist and entrepreneur from Russia. As a child, he read a book about the famous 19th century German archeologist Heinrich Schliemann who is famous for finding the gold of Troy and inventing his own method of learning foreign languages. To master a new language, Schliemann would read a book written in a foreign language, comparing the text sentence by sentence with the translation in his mother tongue. Then he would write texts in a foreign language and pay to foreigners to get them corrected, sometimes spending all his money. Within two years, Schliemann taught himself 15 languages, including English, French, Spanish, Dutch, Italian and Portuguese.
Friday, 21 August 2009
Friday, 7 August 2009
Cherokee company helps tribes save endangered languages
Cherokee-owned Thornton Media of Banning, Calif. has created software, free to tribal clients, that allows them for the first time to program their indigenous language onto Nintendo DSi handheld consoles.
The software, called “Language Pal” can program audio recordings in multiple dialects from multiple speakers. It allows the ability to program electronic flashcards, archived recordings, multiple-choice games, and tens of thousands of audio files with searchable database for use on the Nintendo DSi.
“Our approach to language tools has always been to make language learning fun,” said Thornton Media President Don Thornton. “Your kids will be playing with video games anyway, they might as well be learning their language.”
Thornton noted that two keys to language revival are; to teach kids, but also to teach other members of the family to put the language back into the home.
“Your community can have a million speakers but if the kids aren’t learning the language then your language is in trouble. Kids today grew up in a world of handheld devices and video games. Often the technology competes with traditional culture. The technology is not going to go away so we need to use it to help retain our various languages and cultures. Our technologies are adaptable to any tribal language.”
The Cherokee Basic app consists of 467 audio files, including words, common phrases and 84 syllabary sounds. The app also has a “zoom-able” Cherokee syllabary chart. Thornton notes that Cherokee, Okla. dialect is the only language that his company offers for sale. They don’t sell the languages of other tribes simply because their clients make all distribution decisions. “Three of the five speakers are my mom, my grandma and my aunt in Tahlequah, Okla.” The other two are expert speakers from the Cherokee Nation and the Keetoowahs.
“We can produce a whole host of apps for any endangered language. Our upcoming apps include Cherokee Baby Flashcards, Animated Storybooks in Cherokee, How to Write the Cherokee Syllabary (using stroke animation). We can create these apps for any endangered language. The stories we create in the storybooks can be for example ‘Three Little Pigs,’ ‘How the Coyote Got His Tail’ or your tribal creation story. Whether or not tribal members can speak and understand their heritage language has long been considered by United States courts an important indicator of the ‘authenticity’ of the tribe.
The software, called “Language Pal” can program audio recordings in multiple dialects from multiple speakers. It allows the ability to program electronic flashcards, archived recordings, multiple-choice games, and tens of thousands of audio files with searchable database for use on the Nintendo DSi.
“Our approach to language tools has always been to make language learning fun,” said Thornton Media President Don Thornton. “Your kids will be playing with video games anyway, they might as well be learning their language.”
Thornton noted that two keys to language revival are; to teach kids, but also to teach other members of the family to put the language back into the home.
“Your community can have a million speakers but if the kids aren’t learning the language then your language is in trouble. Kids today grew up in a world of handheld devices and video games. Often the technology competes with traditional culture. The technology is not going to go away so we need to use it to help retain our various languages and cultures. Our technologies are adaptable to any tribal language.”
The Cherokee Basic app consists of 467 audio files, including words, common phrases and 84 syllabary sounds. The app also has a “zoom-able” Cherokee syllabary chart. Thornton notes that Cherokee, Okla. dialect is the only language that his company offers for sale. They don’t sell the languages of other tribes simply because their clients make all distribution decisions. “Three of the five speakers are my mom, my grandma and my aunt in Tahlequah, Okla.” The other two are expert speakers from the Cherokee Nation and the Keetoowahs.
“We can produce a whole host of apps for any endangered language. Our upcoming apps include Cherokee Baby Flashcards, Animated Storybooks in Cherokee, How to Write the Cherokee Syllabary (using stroke animation). We can create these apps for any endangered language. The stories we create in the storybooks can be for example ‘Three Little Pigs,’ ‘How the Coyote Got His Tail’ or your tribal creation story. Whether or not tribal members can speak and understand their heritage language has long been considered by United States courts an important indicator of the ‘authenticity’ of the tribe.
Monday, 3 August 2009
Visitors asked how to save Welsh
Visitors to this week's National Eisteddfod at Bala in Gwynedd are being consulted by the assembly government on how to strengthen the Welsh language.
Ministers are seeking powers from Westminster to allow them to introduce legislation on the language. Heritage Minister Alun Ffred Jones said it was "essential" to discuss the action for an effective strategy".
Surgeries and a question and answer session will be conducted and a survey compiled over the eisteddfod week. Ministers say they are committed to confirming official status for the Welsh and English languages, providing "linguistic rights in the provision of services" and to establishing a language commissioner.
The assembly government wants to work to ensure that more people, young and old, can learn, speak and use the language in their day to day lives.
Ministers are seeking powers from Westminster to allow them to introduce legislation on the language. Heritage Minister Alun Ffred Jones said it was "essential" to discuss the action for an effective strategy".
Surgeries and a question and answer session will be conducted and a survey compiled over the eisteddfod week. Ministers say they are committed to confirming official status for the Welsh and English languages, providing "linguistic rights in the provision of services" and to establishing a language commissioner.
The assembly government wants to work to ensure that more people, young and old, can learn, speak and use the language in their day to day lives.
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