Self-Taught Language Books / Developing a Language Resource

Wassermann · Post by **Wassermann** » February 10th, 2010, 7:18 am

This might be an interesting book for you in case of learning German.
http://www.archive.org/details/ausherzundweltt00stgoog
Both (female) German authors are public domain in Germany now.
Stökl, Helene [Boeckel, Helene (previous name)] [1845-1929]
Eschstruth, Nataly von [1860-1939]

Just in case of Dr. Wilhelm Bernhardt (english Introduction and preface, explaining english footnotes at the end of the book) I could not find sufficient data

... he published also some other books, like the one above, which can be found on archiv.org (e.g. http://www.archive.org/details/deutschenovellet01bernuoft )

However, the old German fraktur letters may hinder some German readers to volunteer anyway. Unfortunatelly I didn't find a source in antiqua letters jet. But I basically like the idea behind these kind of books ...

Nicholas19 · Post by **Nicholas19** » February 14th, 2010, 11:19 am

Thank you Wassermann!

I have decided to create a series of collections of sections of language learning textbooks. I have called this the "LibriVox Language Learning Collection". Volume 001 is now open for contributions!!!

http://librivox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=441727#441727

If you or any other German volunteer wants to read a section from a textbook for learning German or a German reader, grammar or primer, please, please volunteer!

I'm hoping this will make it easier for people to take part in the language learning initiative at LibriVox because one won't necessarily have to create an entire solo project of a whole language textbook. Simply record one section from a language learning textbook and post it in the Language Learning Collection!

So, as I said, Volume 001 is now open for contributions. We welcome contributions from textbooks about ANY language! You don't even know any other language than your own. If you only speak English, you are also welcome to volunteer as there are many textbooks and guides for improving one's English.

This is an exciting new endeavour and I welcome everyone to take part!

BTW, to Neeru: you promised some materials for learning Tamil. Now's your chance to contribute at least one section about the Tamil language.

neckertb · Post by **neckertb** » February 16th, 2010, 3:28 am

Hi Nicholas

While looking for a book about Danish, I checked this one: Norwegian-Danish and English conversation teacher ... Reading and speaking self-taught through a simplified course of easy lessons for learners of either language ([c1905]) by Stevens
http://www.archive.org/details/norwegiandanishe00stevuoft
and thought I would point out that it might not be relevant, since it is written in Danish/norwegian to learn English, and not the other way around.
Damn, I have to keep looking!

Nicholas19 · Post by **Nicholas19** » February 16th, 2010, 4:44 am

neckertb wrote:Hi Nicholas

While looking for a book about Danish, I checked this one: Norwegian-Danish and English conversation teacher ... Reading and speaking self-taught through a simplified course of easy lessons for learners of either language ([c1905]) by Stevens
http://www.archive.org/details/norwegiandanishe00stevuoft
and thought I would point out that it might not be relevant, since it is written in Danish/norwegian to learn English, and not the other way around.
Damn, I have to keep looking!

Ah right, I see. Though of course it would still be relevant for a Danish person wanting to learn English right?

But anyway, I have added a few textbooks for learning Danish. There are probably still more at the Internet Archive though.

neckertb · Post by **neckertb** » February 16th, 2010, 5:25 am

Thanks for the links, I will have a look soon. Every Dane below 80 speaks English, and every second Dane above 80 too

We do have immigrants who have learnt Danish but never English, but I guess they would go after the learning books in their own language then. They would for sure not go after the ones in norwegian (I still cannot understand a spoken word of it although I can read it).
End of lecture

suddenity · Post by **suddenity** » February 21st, 2010, 10:50 pm

Hello,

I just finished a Classics degree and I think recording an ancient Greek grammar is a fabulous idea. Have the ones you suggested already been adopted by anyone? I would love to try doing one.

I am very new to Librivox though (I just finished figuring out my mic and doing the 1-minute test)... I have read the newbie guide and the solo recording section seems to have good instructions on such practical matters as how to break things up etc... but any advice you can give me is welcome. (Even if that advice is that I should wait on trying this project until I have some collaborative work under my belt.)

Cheers,
Zoe

neckertb · Post by **neckertb** » February 22nd, 2010, 1:14 am

Hi Zoe

Sure Nicholas will be thrilled! You could always claim a section here: http://librivox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=441727#441727. It's a language learning collection with sections in different languages.
Have fun on LV

Nicholas19 · Post by **Nicholas19** » February 22nd, 2010, 3:22 am

suddenity wrote:Hello,

I just finished a Classics degree and I think recording an ancient Greek grammar is a fabulous idea. Have the ones you suggested already been adopted by anyone? I would love to try doing one.

I am very new to Librivox though (I just finished figuring out my mic and doing the 1-minute test)... I have read the newbie guide and the solo recording section seems to have good instructions on such practical matters as how to break things up etc... but any advice you can give me is welcome. (Even if that advice is that I should wait on trying this project until I have some collaborative work under my belt.)

Cheers,
Zoe

Welcome Zoe! As Nadine as mentioned, it's best to start out with a collaborative project. The LibriVox Language Learning Collection (link given above) is a good place to start as this will allow you to record a section from a language textbook, without having to complete an entire textbook.

This will give you useful practice, so I'd highly recommend that you do that. I have listed a few Greek and Latin textbooks in this thread, so you might find something you'd like to read from.

After that, there is currently a project to record a book on NT Greek. It was a solo, but the reader is not able to complete it, and it is currently in limbo until someone else takes it up. If you wanted, you could help to finish it: http://librivox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=22160&highlight=

Best wishes!

Nicholas19 · Post by **Nicholas19** » February 24th, 2010, 11:59 am

An Introduction to the Greek of the New Testament by George Lovell Cary (1830-1910) has now been opened up and is awaiting contributions! Five sections have been recorded by the original soloist and 27 remain, so your help is really needed!

Volunteers who know any Greek at all are welcome to volunteer!

http://librivox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=22160

Come all ye Hellenic enthusiasts!

sbankston · Post by **sbankston** » March 2nd, 2010, 1:16 am

I love this project. I just discovered that i was primarily an audiolearner late in life (in medical school). My brother was born with a hearing loss and I had to go to speech and hearing classes with him when i was young (before age 10). I had to listen to the words, then speak them to him, then we would write them down. I resort to learning in school now through audio cd's/mp3's of lectures. I cannot learn from a book for the life of me. So I agree with the OP idea that language is learned first audio, then by site, then by writing.

English is my first language. But I also spent 3 years in subsaharan Africa, where I learned a blend of Portuguese and Swahili ( in the mozambican refugee camps between Malawi and Mozambique).

I would love to be involved with this project. I have made the first step of getting Logitech Clear Chat headset and i have an intention of getting a ZoomH2. But I have not yet even prooflistened or proofread anything. I keep thinking that's where I should start.

Bravo to everyone involved in this project.

Nicholas19 · Post by **Nicholas19** » March 2nd, 2010, 3:18 am

sbankston wrote:So I agree with the OP idea that language is learned first audio, then by site, then by writing.

yay! Another believer in language learning through audiobooks!

English is my first language. But I also spent 3 years in subsaharan Africa, where I learned a blend of Portuguese and Swahili ( in the mozambican refugee camps between Malawi and Mozambique).

Dear Shelly, that's wonderful. My wife speaks Swahili. So are you interested in reading, prooflistening or both? You don't necessarily need to start with proof-listening. When I joined LibriVox, I started off straight away with recording. I even did a few solos when I was still a newbie.

If you're interested in reading, I'd recommend that you contribute a section to the Langauge Learning Collection, Volume 001: http://librivox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=441727

It would be great if you could contribute something for learning Swahili, Portuguese, English or any other language.

neckertb · Post by **neckertb** » May 19th, 2010, 12:05 am

Hi

So I browsed through your list to find something to record for your 2 collection, and I stumbled upon this:
Ahn’s French Primer
http://www.archive.org/details/ahnsfrenchprimer00ahnfrich
which is quite short and apparently quite good.
I will take it up as a solo at some point, I promise!

Nicholas19 · Post by **Nicholas19** » May 19th, 2010, 4:16 am

neckertb wrote:Hi

So I browsed through your list to find something to record for your 2 collection, and I stumbled upon this:
Ahn’s French Primer
http://www.archive.org/details/ahnsfrenchprimer00ahnfrich
which is quite short and apparently quite good.
I will take it up as a solo at some point, I promise!

Cool!

Last year I recorded Arabic Primer by Sir Arthur Cotton. I'm hoping more and more people will be willing to take on short projects like these as solos.

earthcalling · Post by **earthcalling** » May 26th, 2010, 12:42 am

Nicholas,

What a great piece of work! Your list of Chinese texts is a real treasure, and I'll have a go at recording some....

David

Nicholas19 · Post by **Nicholas19** » May 26th, 2010, 5:28 am

earthcalling wrote:Nicholas,

What a great piece of work! Your list of Chinese texts is a real treasure, and I'll have a go at recording some....

David

That's great, David. You could record a section from one of them for the LibriVox Language Learning Collection, Vol. 002 if you want, before taking on a solo language project. I'd like these collections to be as diverse as possible, so people can get a taste for many different languages.

http://librivox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=25560