Les Choristes (2004) – A musical film about a choir teacher hired to teach boys at a French private school. This comedic gem is a classic for French language learners.
Kirikou et la sorcière (1998) – Animated version of a west African folktale. You can stream it on Youtube here.
Duolingo: Duolingo’s app is very intuitive, is free, and has short exercises for both grammar and vocabulary for 100-level French. Structured exactly like the website, Duolingo features a ladder-like structure of learning; each lesson introduces new material based on past information. One nice feature to the app is the possibility of “testing out” of lessons, which is helpful if you find yourself bored by the current material.
Memrise: Almost identical to Duolingo’s mini-lesson/game-based platform, Memrise uses incrementally more difficult lessons with easy responses, presenting words or phrases and then asking for repetition. Some minor variations are present, however: Memrise uses short videos of native French speakers to help with listening comprehension. There is also a texting-based portion, where you can practice composing short messages by stringing together suggested words or letters. Memrise is less polished than Duolingo, and each lesson seems to introduce less material overall, with more repetition. This may be useful for learners who have a more difficult time learning new words or phrases. Memrise is free, but has frequent prompts to purchase a subscription. These can be ignored by simply tapping anywhere on the screen (other than the “purchase” button).
Image credit: https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/duolingo-ios-app-new-bot/
https://www.pcmag.com/review/356293/memrise
Here are some podcasts which would be excellent for beginning French learners:
How Are You? 28min: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/cbf-1-01-how-are-you/id263170419?i=1000163412494&mt=2.
This podcast is from Coffee Break French, which has several seasons of podcasts for learning French for beginners. The first episode introduces the phrase “ça va?” and its possible responses. Although the host is non-native (and has a Scottish accent), his pronunciation is not bad. Expressions are introduced in French and English, with plenty of room to practice and repeat phrases.
The Alphabet 12min: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/5-a-look-at-the-alphabet/id160256534?i=1000010654926&mt=2.
This Podcast, presented by Learn French by Podcast, introduces the French alphabet and pronunciation in French. The speakers use French and English to describe the pronunciation of each letter, including words which use those letters.
This app seems really easy to use and is pretty enjoyable. The strong point here is that it uses visual and conceptual mnemonic strategies to help people retain information. I think this would be an easily accessible app, as the basic version is free for both android and ios, but there is also a pro version that produces better results and has unlimited access to all of the learning modes.
ArchChinese is an online dictionary that allows users to search for words and get definitions, possible phrases, and animated stroke order for characters. The interface is easy to use and is ideal for someone who is beginning to study Chinese.
Mango is great for anyone learning any language — unlike Duolingo, you can take a specific lesson in any order you wish. Use the Reed library login (instructions on the Language Lab website) for free access. It also has more fun lessons, such as ones that teach you Russian slang!
The famous Iranian director Jafar Panahi is currently on house arrest in Tehran and forbidden from making movies. So he plants a hidden camera in his car (you will spend the entire movie wondering if his passengers are actors or not!) as he drives around Tehran posing as a taxi driver. The pseudo-documentary he creates is as much an act of defiance against the censoring of the state, as it is a piece of art. Panahi portrays the insouciant and the devout, the young and the old, the smuggler and the moralist who somehow manage to poke fun at the overbearing Iranian regime and speak out although they are being silenced.
Algarabía is a Mexico City-based magazine with a distinct quirky and ironic style. They publish pieces on science, language, history, art, and, according to their website, “little explored aspects of cotidianity.” Examples of their articles (which can be found on their website) include “Position Changes in Erotic Art”, “People don’t know how to drink coffee”, and “The Science on Cursing”. Better suited for advanced Spanish learners, articles in this magazine are characterized by playful yet accessible prose. Their series on etymologies is particularly good; sometimes poignant, often hilarious, always informative.
These are some resources to interact with language communities in Portland; maybe get out of the Reed bubble and practice some of your skills! Some organizations also host cultural events that don’t require any knowledge of the language.
This center partners with other cultural and religious groups that support the Arab and Middle Eastern community in the Portland metro area to sponsor events throughout the year. They hold a yearly Arab festival called Mahrajan.
The Oregon Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association was established over 100 years ago to support the Chinese and Chinese American population of Portland. They offer language classes and cultural events. The CCBA offers tours of its small museum and building, constructed for the organization in 1911, by appointment.
The Alliance Française de Portland provides French language lessons, cultural events, and meet-ups for French speakers in the Portland area. It is a branch of a national organization.
The German American Society of Portland offers German classes for all ages, conversation groups, and German cultural events.
This Portland-based arts and cultural organization that offers German classes and hosts a film series. Their website features book reviews and articles in both English and German.
This organization was created to support economic self-sufficiency in the Russian-speaking population and particularly focuses on working with Russian-speaking women. One can easily get involved in help teach ESL courses, citizenship classes, volunteering by providing English translations for clinical needs, and even helping women who have experience domestic abuse.
This bilingual regional newspaper addresses international events as well as local concerns in Portland. Some articles show how the Portland community responds to an international problem. This newspaper aims to inform the Portland public about Latin American concerns, as provide Latinos with a newspaper that is accessible to them.
This newspaper informs the Spanish-speaking community about local, national, Latin American, and world news. Local news stories are posted every week, and several national and world news stories appear daily.
This organization supports day laborers and immigrant workers in Portland. The website provides updated information about the group’s initiatives, as well as informing people about how to be involved.
This new addition to the Portland community is a market with different food trucks that represent the culinary variety of Latin America. They host monthly events were local Hispanic vendors sell their food.
Welcome to the fourth installment of our media resources series! This post features a collection of audio resources suitable to a variety of skill-levels in the languages supported at Reed.
This Moroccan radio station broadcasts news, cultural programming and sports in Arabic. Programs are available to stream live or to listen to later. The website also includes Arabic-language news stories.
This American-funded radio service has radio programs on topics from across the Arabic-speaking world. Programming includes music and news stories. Many programs are available to listen to online at any time, or you can stream live radio.
These podcasts are perfect for beginners looking to listen to more of the language. They are free and downloadable through iTunes. Try out Survival Phrases!
The BBC has a daily 2-hr posting of Arabic culture and trending events. They speak slowly enough that intermediate learners could follow along, but would also be suitable for advanced learners.
Slow Chinese podcasts are stories and commentary by native Mandarin speakers read at a slower pace. Accompanying transcripts make these podcasts useful for intermediate to advanced students interested in working on comprehension and reading. Podcasts are available for download, or you can subscribe to Slow Chinese on iTunes.
The international voice of French radio, RFI offers streaming and archived programming that is interesting to French speakers and learners outside of France. In addition to regular programming, RFI also offers a variety of audio options for French teachers and learners under RFI Savoirs. The website may start streaming immediately when you access it.
Listen to French news, cultural, or music programming live online. There are a wide range of programs to choose from, as well as print stories with accompanying audio and video.
Deutsche Welle is an international German news source, with both broadcast and written stories. In addition to offering news from a German perspective in dozens of languages, including both German and English, Deutsche Welle also provides resources for German language learners. They offer several podcasts, including Deutsch im Fokus, which explores spoken German idioms and vocabulary, and Top-Thema, news stories in simplified German with accompanying transcripts.
This is a language learning podcast appropriate for beginners to advanced students who want to review. Paid subscriptions provide transcripts of episodes, but the podcasts are free to listen to, and they also include free PDFs with vocabulary and other information.
Spanish
Radio Ambulante is an award-winning podcast of stories from Latin America. The high production value and interesting subject matter make these stories compelling. Radio Ambulante is a good resource for intermediate and upper level Spanish learners. Translations are also available for many episodes.
This is a classic Spanish podcast. It is about mysteries of all kinds.
This is one of the best podcasts about comedy–it really gets Spanish humor!