BBC Languages + more podcasts

I would really like to mention BBC Languages. As lots of people like to learn European languages like French, German, Spanish and Italian, BBC made shows to help these people learn the languages. Interested? If so go to:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/

I think that the materials that complement the TV shows will also complement your learning whether you can watch these shows on the actual BBC TV channels or not. They can complement the language podcasts on the internet perfectly. Here are some listings of language podcasts that teach French, Italian, German or Spanish:

French

• Learn French By Podcast
• Daily French Pod
• The French Pod Class

German

• MyGermanClass.com: Lernen Wir Deutsch!
• My Daily Phrase German
• Learn to speak German with this Free Podcast

Spanish

• Coffee Break Spanish
• Spanish Sense
• Notes In Spanish

Italian

• Learn Italian Pod
• Let's Speak Italian
• My Daily Phrase Italian

And here is one last kicker of a podcast for you. This one was made by Radio Lingua (the people who make My Daily Phrase German/Italian and Coffee Break Spanish) for Valentines Day. It is called Love Lingo. They feature some phrases in all those languages listed here plus Norwegian. Quite interesting! For more on Radio Lingua go to:
http://www.radiolingua.com

Anyway, back to the BBC Languages. They have really good free resources there.

There are pages for each of the languages that I have mentioned showing all the resurces available for that language through the website. Great setup!

There are shows for each level that you may be at in those 4 main languages.

There is one main show called "..... Steps". Let me explain what is with the "....s" (dots). So for instance there is French Steps or German Steps etc. This kind of show has a few main units (each unique depending on the language) where you can learn travel phrases and conversational phrases. There are many exercises and instructional windows to help explain grammar points and paticular topics.

There are also other shows (each uniquely named therefore I can't mention them all here) that also broadcasted on BBC TV channels that offer transcripts and supplemental videos and exercises on the site. These are also directed at particular levels. Of course to get the most out of these shows maybe it would be good to purchase whatever CD's, textbooks, videos or DVD's that are available through BBC.

If you are a tutor or want some worksheets or notes then go to the Tutor pages and download PDFS from there for free.

There is also a Your Say section. In this section, real people tell of language blunders, language learning tips, and also share travelling experiences. Very good community!

I think that is all I can say about that site. Again it is very good. There are also some pages there for Greek, Portuguese and Chinese but they aren't exactly that big as the other ones. I must also mention the "Other Languages" section which links to any other language resources on the BBC website.

I hope you enjoy all that the BBC has to offer so that you can learn other languages. Bye!

Getting back into the swing of things..

This is just a quick message to all my dedicated readers and anyone else who may read it. I am getting back to school as a number of children are in the next few days. So I might not be here to post for a few days. If I do come here and post something then that will be great. I am planning on posting here in the mornings when I wake up. Thanks to all the people who have commented so far:

Hyunwoo Sun, Rodger Chriss, Juan Pablo "murkertrer" Hernandez, SashTheRed, John aka. Tsin Ping, Budz, Henning, Jibril, jmignot

Thanks to all of you for your encouragement and support as I write this blog. Bye,

Matt

"Star Wars" and "May The Force Be With You!" and other Star Wars quotes

When I was on Chinese Pod I asked about how to say "Star Wars" and "May The Force Be With You!" in Chinese. I am going to put it here with other translations of it that I may find at other times as well as any other quotes that I may find.

English:
SW: Star Wars
MTFBWY: May The Force Be With You!
ALTA: A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...

Chinese:
SW: 星際大戰
MTFBWY: 力量伴随你!
ALTA: 很久很久以前，在一个遥远的星系 ...

Spanish:
SW: La guerra de las galaxias
MTFBWY: Que la fuerza te acompañe!
ALTA: Hace mucho tiempo, en una galaxia muy, muy lejana ...

Greek:
SW: Ο Πόλεμος των Άστρων
MTFBWY: Η Δύναμη μαζί σου!
ALTA: Πολύ παλιά, σε έναν γαλαξία πολύ, πολύ μακρυά ...

German:
SW: Krieg der Sterne
MTFBWY: Mag die Macht mit Dir sein!
ALTA: Es war einmal vor langer Zeit, in einer Galaxie, weit, weit entfernt...

Tagalog:
SW: Giyera ng Kalawakan
MTFBWY: Nawa'y masamahan ka ng lakas
ALTA: Noong panahon sa isang kalawakang malayong malayo

French:
SW: La Guerre des Étoiles
MTFBWY: Que la Force soit avec toi !
ALTA: Il y a bien longtemps dans une galaxie lointaine, très lointaine...

I would like to say thanks to Henning, Jibril, John and Jmignot for their contribution to this particular post.

Blast of inspiration! - TBSSITW Wiki

It wasn't too long ago that I posted about myself and the Greek Easter phrases. Shortly after that I started an e-mail to the Chinese Pod team about the previous Saturday Show episode in which I featured as the Shameless Listner Of The Week.

	周六44 The Saturday Show for April 7, 2007
	Visit ChinesePod.com

As I was doing so I had a blast of inspiration. Wouldn't it be interesting to make a wiki that is specially dedicated to the Saturday Show showing all the shameless listeners, top 5 lists, strong/nice words, music played, famous quotes/memorable quotes etc. I think that the Saturday Show is such a big part of Chinese Pod and is worth making a wiki for. It would be fun!

Any feedback or extra ideas? It would be interesting to start and I think very entertaining as well to listen to all the Saturday Show episodes so far and remember what it was like to listen to them first time around. I have mentioned it to the CPOD staff via email.

See ya!

More about me! and "Χριστός Ανέστη!"

In this post I plan to introduce myself a little bit more. I am 14 years old. I love Star Wars, learning languages, watching movies and getting on the computer. I am a Christian. I come from Australia and I live in Melbourne. I also have Greek in me. My parents were both brought up in Greek-speaking homes to Greek and Cypriot parents. Quite multicultural! And loving it!

Now as today is Easter Sunday I have to wish all my readers "Χριστός Ανέστη!" and I hope that I hear an “Αληθώς Ανέστη!” in reply. No offence to anyone who is not a Christian but this is what I believe. I believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. "Χριστός Ανέστη!" (Christos Anesti) means "Christ has Risen!" and in reply people say “Αληθώς Ανέστη!” (Alithos Anesti!) which means "Indeed he has risen!". This is a common greeting among Greek (both Orthodox and Christian) people around Easter time.

And to all those who want it simply, Happy Easter!

Fifth Podcast Review - World Nomads

Scott is a tourist who goes to many different countries and learns a phrase here and there. When he gets to a certain country he doesn't know much of the language but thanks to the locals he learns the essential phrases that he needs to get by. You can listen to his discussions with locals about the languages at:

http://journals.worldnomads.com/language-guides/

You can download the mp3s of Scott talking to locals and you can see the transcript of the dialogue and vocabulary and expressions. I think that this kind of format is very creative and quite entertaining and easy to put on an Ipod or something. I forgot to mention that while Scott is talking to the local he also gets to learn a bit about different cultures as well.

I recommend this for anyone who wants some quick phrases for travelling overseas.