Foreign Languages

Yamada Language Center Language Guides
Whether you are trying to learn French, Spanish, Hmong, Chinese, or Yiddish, this site has something for you. In fact, it offers links to information and resources that relate to 115 languages from all over the world. The site also covers sign languages from various nations; languages from different periods in history, such as Old English, Latin, and Egyptian Hieroglyphics; and even the fictional languages of fantasy writer J.R.R. Tolkien.
Dave's ESL Cafe
This site calls itself "The Internet's top site for ESL students and teachers around the world." You can be the judge of that. It definitely has many interesting and helpful features for the ESL student. One of the greatest things about it is its ESL Help Center, open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Just type in a question about a topic such as grammar, vocabulary, spelling, writing, slang, etc., and you'll get a personal response from an ESL teacher somewhere in the world. Pretty cool! Other helpful features include a student forum and a daily hint about a topic related to learning English. You can also search for specific topics in both the Help Center and daily hint archives.
Learn Spanish: A Free Online Tutorial
¡Hola! All you Spanish students out there—definitely make note of this helpful web site. It's a clearly organized reference source on the basics of Spanish. Need help using verbs? Just scroll down the list of more than 75 grammar topics that are covered by the tutorial. Need to find a word? Go to the vocabulary section, which features words organized in categories such as ailments, birds, and clothing. The site also has an interesting feature called an idiom generator that, well, generates idioms—those peculiar or casual words and expressions that people use in their everyday speech. Armed with a wide variety of Spanish idioms, you can pretend you've been speaking Spanish all your life. The site also features cultural notes and a travel helper.
Spanish Flashcards
Beginning and intermediate Spanish students—if you need to find a Spanish word and then figure out how to say it, this site is worth a visit. You can choose both picture flashcards and word flashcards that are arranged in categories such as animals, clothing, furniture, places, and expressions. Click on the flashcard to hear a native speaker pronounce the word. It's simple yet helpful.
French for Beginners
Need help with your French lessons? Take a look at this site by About.com. It has everything a student of French might need: grammar instruction, vocabulary words, lessons on verbs, background information on French culture, and a place to post questions. You can also listen to letters, words, and phrases being pronounced correctly.
Animated American Sign Language
This helpful site will introduce you to the basics of American Sign Language. Moving hands (that's the animated part) will show you how to sign letters and words. The site's designer was kind enough to keep the hand pictures simple so that they can be easily opened and viewed on most computers. But don't worry—helpful instructions are provided if you do for some reason have trouble viewing them. The site also provides a brief history of sign language, links to related sites, and answers to frequently asked questions.
Native American Languages
Doing a presentation on a Native American group? Well, you can impress your teacher and your class by starting it off with a greeting in the appropriate language. This site will link you to an enormous amount of information on native languages that have been spoken in the Americas. You are likely to be impressed by their number and variety. Languages include Iroquois, Inuit, Cree, Cherokee, Seminole, Dakota, and many, many more.

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