Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Learning a New Language Using Open Source?

Posted by Cliff on from the speaking-in-tongues dept.

cmstar asks: "It's been several years since my High School Spanish courses and I'm finding myself quite a bit rusty. Add to that a new found desire to learn Japanese, and I find myself on a quest to find a good cheap set of language learning/teaching software. There are plenty of commercial packages available, but I'm poor. A quick check of Google and Sourceforge didn't produce any immediate results. I know speaking with a native is usually the best way to go about this, but with little time or money, and something portable that I could use at home and work, in my spare time, would be handy to freshen up on my skills and learn something new. Any suggestions?"

4 of 74 comments (clear)

  1. Why use the word open-source? by prostoalex · · Score: 4, Insightful


    Why refer to the term open source if you meant free of charge? Not sure whether the source would do you any good here.

    As for free language courses, Google search for free language courses produces just that.

  2. Library? by nuxx · · Score: 4, Insightful

    How about hitting up your local library and getting a book from there? Not all learning needs to be done on a computer, and libraries are the ideal place to get books. :)

    1. Re:Library? by nuxx · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Oh, and if your local library doesn't have any of the books you desire, ask them to do an Inter-Library Loan. It might take a few days to get the book you want, but it's possible to have things transfered in from all over the country as needed. In fact, you can find almost any piece you want this way, in-print or not.

  3. Let me re-phrase that for you by The+Bungi · · Score: 2, Insightful
    Learning a new language on the cheap?
    I don't see how this has anything whatsoever to do with "open source".

    You might want to shell out a few bucks for a quality language course.