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Free Online Language Courses

By Jamie Littlefield, About.com

Arabic

Learn to Read Arabic (http://www.ukindia.mistral.co.uk/zar1.htm) – “These are a few very basic learn-to-read-the-alphabet lessons.”

Babel: Arabic (i-cias.com/babel/arabic/index.htm) – “From your online computer you will have lessons with sound as well as grammar lessons.”

Arabic (www.mesiti.it/arabic) – “We, the members, are native and non-native speakers or learners of Arabic, working together to offer the serious learner a relatively wide range of resources as an aid to learning the Arabic language and familiarizing those interested with the various aspects of Arab culture.”

Armenian

Armenian (www.cilicia.com/armo_lesson000.htm ) – “Eastern Armenian lessons online.”

Armenipedia (www.armeniapedia.org/index.php?title=Armenian_Lessons) - "This section has a free Eastern Armenian Lessons Online book, which will enable English speakers to learn Armenian at their own pace.”

Chinese

Rutgers Multimedia Chinese Teaching System (Chinese.rutgers.edu) – Chinese lessons from the State University of New Jersey.

Chinese Tools (www.chinese-tools.com) – "40 online lessons including reading, writing, modern vocabulary, grammar, examples and exercises.”

Online College of Chinese Language (http://www.hanyu.com.cn – “Intended for English-speaking learners, these Chinese materials are designed to develop the learners' ability to listen, speak, read and write, as well as the ability to communicate in social settings.”

French

About.com French (french.about.com) – Lessons from the About.com Guide to French.

The French Tutorial (www.frenchtutorial.com) – “The French Tutorial is a web-based step by step lesson covering basics, pronunciation, but also grammar, vocabulary and everyday French. It offers audio support for better oral comprehension, a table of contents and an index for faster searches.”

French Language Course (www.jump-gate.com/languages/french/) – “The following French course is intended to allow you to understand written French (newspapers, articles, magazines, signs on the road during your next trip in France, etc.) and to write a letter to a French friend or correspondent.”

French Assistant (www.frenchassistant.com) – “Our unique site enables you to practice in the background on your computer while you get on with other things!”

Word Prof (www.wordprof.com) – “If you've ever been lost for words in a French exam or when traveling in France our interactive* web site will help you learn all the French vocabulary you need.”

Fluent French (www.signiform.com/french/) – How to achieve fluency once you speak the language.

German

About.com German (german.about.com) – Lessons from the About.com Guide to German. German for Travelers (www.germanfortravellers.com) – “Hundreds of high quality audio files.”

German for Beginners (www.advanced-schooling.de/free) – Basic language lessons.

German for Everyone (german.languages4everyone.com/courses) - Every course comes with 7 lessons and each lesson is further split into pages, a vocabulary section and an exercises section.

Hebrew

Foundation Stone (foundationstone.com.au) - “A free and easy to use Java application for you to learn Hebrew.”

Biblia Hebrew (www.bible101.org/hebrew) – “Found on this site are notes from a graduate Biblical Hebrew Level I class taught by Dr. David Wallace.”

Alph-Bet (darkwing.uoregon.edu/~ylcflx/Aleph-Bet/) – “The tutorials on this site are designed to reinforce vocabulary and spelling for beginning students of modern Hebrew.”

Learn to Read Hebrew (www.byroniverse.com/alefbet) – “Fun methods based on pictures to help you to learn to read Hebrew, like yesterday!”

Italian

About.com Italian (Italian.about.com) – Lessons from the About.com Guide to Italian.

Parliamo italiano! (abruzzo2000.com/course) – “An Italian course for English speakers.”

The Italian Electronic Classroom (www.locuta.com/eclass.html) – “Aimed at providing free on-line, useful information on difficult aspects of the Italian language to students, teachers, translators, writers.”

Japanese

About.com Japanese (Japanese.about.com) – Japanese lessons from the About.com Guide.

Free Japanese Lessons (www.freejapaneselessons.com) – “The goal of this page is to teach you the basics in a way that is, hopefully, easy to understand.”

Learn Japanese (www.learn-japanese.net) – “Provides the most comprehensive Japanese lessons on the web.”

Japanese Studies (japan-studies.com) – Japanese lessons requiring a download of character fonts.
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