Pam Blackstone
Language Links Beckon Surfers
A couple of weeks ago, we explored online Canadian Unity
resources and examined ways the Internet can help overcome
the vast geographical distances that separate Canadians.
Here, indeed, technology has made important strides
in surmounting the geographical isolation that divides
and alienates us. However, the language gulf is an
even more challenging obstacle confronting those of
us who wish to begin a dialogue with our French-Canadian
neighbours. How can we begin to understand each other
when we speak entirely different languages? Likewise,
the Net offers the potential for truly global communication,
but not until we address the fact that dozens of different
languages are spoken around the world.
I encountered this dilemma head-on when I began to explore
Canadian Unity sites for the last column. My French
awkward and rarely used is barely adequate for ordering
in restaurants never mind carrying on a meaningful
conversation. After experiencing the frustration of
attempting to decipher posts in French at some Unity
sites, I began to realize that this experience must
be doubly frustrating for French-Canadians since the
majority of the messages posted are in English. (A
few sites provide two-way translation, a service that
is essential for real dialogue to begin.)
Realizing that many people, myself included, do not
have the time or resources to provide automatic translation
at their web sites, I began to search out online language
resources that might help. I found a profusion of sites
offering everything from world language jumplists,
online language lessons, tests, translation services,
and links to sites in just about any language you can
imagine.
Jumplists are a great place to start if youre looking
for online resources in a particular language. Among
the most notable are Willamette Universitys Human Languages
Page (http://www.willamette.edu/~tjones/Language-Page.html),
with links for everything from Urdu to Swahili. The
French link on this page results in an excellent jumplist
of French language resources.
The GNN (Global Network Navigator) languages subject
tree (http://www-e1c.gnn.com/gnn/wic/wics/hum.lang.html)
provides links to everything from Chinese, Yiddish,
and Egyptian to the Mayan Hieroglyphic Syllabary.
Foreign Languages for Travellers (http://www.travlang.com/languages/)
is an interesting and award-winning site that allows
you to select the language you wish to learn and proceed
to a quick tutorial. This site is oriented to basic
communication for the traveller, covering basics like
vocabulary, numbers, asking directions, shopping and
dining, places, and dates and times, and provides links
to online dictionaries, tour guides, and travel information.
There are actually quite a few online English-French
and French-English dictionaries, including E.F. Bridge
(http://mlab-power3.uiah.fi/EnglishFrench/ef.html)
which offers both hypertext and audio links. E.F. Bridge
also offers the English-French Meeting Point (http://mlab-power3.uiah.fi/EnglishFrench/avenues.html),
a web site that promises to be an interactive learning
and studying environment.
If youre determined to really learn French, surf on
over to Jacques Léons online French Language
course (http://www.kd.qd.se/iii/languages/french/course/).
This award-winning site presents French lessons in
an appealing and straight-forward manner.
If youre interested in learning Spanish online, check
out University of Calgary professor Michael Dabrowskis
Spanish Student Resources (http://www.ucalgary.ca/~dabrowsk/span/res.htm).
Dabrowski makes available not only to his students
but to the entire online community not only Spanish
drills and lessons, but old exams. Beautifully done,
although I did encounter some 404 Not Found errors.
Another site for online Spanish lessons is Tyler Jones
Web Spanish Lessons (http://www.willamette.edu/~tjones/Spanish/Spanish-main.html),
which focuses only on the fundamentals but offers the
chance to hear the words spoken if you have a sound
card. Jones also links to several other online Spanish
resources.
Finally, theres a mixed bag of language sites that defy
categorization, such as the University of Chicagos
French Verb Conjugation page (http://humanities.uchicago.edu/forms_unrest/inflect.query.html),
a form that lets you conjugate a verb by selecting
the tense and entering the infinitive form in a template.
Or the Transword Foreign Lanuage Crossword Puzzle page
(ftp://ftp.dartmouth.edu/pub/LLTI-IALL/365german-news/tw/index.htm),
where you can try your hand at crosswords in one of
several languages.
Thats just for starters. For the determined language
student with access to the Net and lots of time on
his or her hands, there are tons of online resources
available. Their real value may lie in the ability
to spontaneously lookup and translate the odd word
or phrase as you surf. How effective a solution they
may be for serious language study remains to be seen.
Their usefulness is limited by the very tangible costs
of online study, not only in dollars but in bandwidth.
Many of the graphics and sound clips download slowly,
and thus present a far from ideal solution. In the
end, its probably cheaper and simpler to just take
an evening course or buy a tape or pocket guide.
Pam Blackstone is a Canadian Internet consultant who
writes a weekly column about the Internet for the Victoria
Times-Colonist newspaper. You can reach Pam by e-mail
at [email protected].
Copyright © 1996 Pam Blackstone. All rights reserved.
Reprinted here with permission.