MP3 recordings can be downloaded individually, but nice iTunes interface is also available from the home page of the project.

(via LearnOutLoud.com)

• SpanishSense - they have podcasts, PDFs, daily emails and a lot more. This site has been done by the same people who have been doing really successful ChinesePod for several years now. It looks very slick.
• LiveMocha - they are doing social network style language learning. Others have done it before them, but LiveMocha seems to be a bit stronger on multiple modes of learning than other similar sites. Of course, building yet another social network is a pain and will be limiting factor.
• Mango - This website is an invite-only beta, but my invite arrived less than 30 minutes after registering. They have lessons for a number of languages, but the lessons themselves are in a power-point style presentation. I guess they hope that nice presentation will make up for somewhat inflexible format. And of course, they are still beta.

Among these three, my money is on SpanishSense. I feel that trying to do too many languages at the same time, means none will be done right.

It is true that internet allows to leverage Long Tail effect and create a super-niche website (with a niche per language), but I do not see how one company would have enough time and money to support all those niches well enough. This is my main annoyance with the WordChamp, which I quite like otherwise.

LingQ’s methodology (from my understanding) is based around repeated reading and listening to the target language material with the learning process based around finding new words, recording them down with their real-world usage and identifying known and new words in the texts. LingQ will suggest the consequent texts to read and the words to learn based on the learner’s individual collection of words to date. A basic dictionary lookup is available as well as simple flashcard facilities. A recent description of LingQ’s ideas is available from the founder’s blog.

WordChamp does not have a methodology as such, but instead concentrates on helping a learner to acquire words fast. It provides word lookups that include dictionary definitions and pronunciation of the word (where available). WordChamp also allows people to add the content to the system by writing down their own definitions for words and common phrases as well as by recording pronunciations of the words. The service provides a large number of different flashcard training methods. WordChamp, like LingQ, does not provide grammar rules of the language, but it does provide much stronger support for understanding and practicing verb conjugations of at least couple of languages.

WordChamp has several tools I have not seen in other language services yet. For a long time, it had a WebReader, which allowed to look at the text or an external website and have WordChamp automatically pop up definitions of the words under the cursor. Recently, this functionality became available as a FireFox plugin, so it could be activated on any website without needing to take a side-trip to the WordChamp’s own site. There is also an option for webmasters to embed the interface into their own webpage. I have an example of that on my website.

WordChamp also allows to export the list of words into an audio file - something like basic audio-flashcards. This allows to practice the word lists while not at the computer. LingQ does not have similar functionality, but it does have audio files corresponding to the texts, so a learner can listen and read at the same time.

Neither service is perfect and both require a dedicated learner to succeed. My preferences are currently with WordChamp, but I am hoping that LingQ will improve rapidly, as it has some interesting ideas in its core.

It is also possible to combine the services of the two systems in a mashup. At the moment, LingQ’s dictionary lookup is quite slow and it uses basic dictionary definitions that do not recognise common phrases the way WordChamp does. It is possible to install WordChamp’s FireFox plugin and activate it while on the reading page of the LingQ. This provides fast lookup of the WordChamp, with the methodology of the LingQ.

Unfortunately, at the moment there is a small problem with the mashup. After using LingQ’s dictionary lookup/word creation popup, the WordChamp toolbar stops working. Reloading the page and reenabling the toolbar is a quick solution, but is a bit annoying. My recommendation is to read the text once with WordChamp’s toolbar enabled and then read it the second time while extracting interesting words into the LingQ system. As the texts are supposed to be read several times anyway, this is not the biggest problem available.

I consider both LingQ and WordChamp to be the second generation web-based language-learning systems. They have started to discover what web allows them to do, but perhaps not yet explored all the possibilities. I also think that both system exhibit ‘Jack of all trades, master of none‘ problems due to their attempts at targeting multiple languages at once. I think the best system will combine great support tools like flashcards and read-and-listen activities with deep support for the specifics of the learner’s target language. That - to me - would be a real web-native language learning system.

That did not used to be the case. I looked at them just over a year ago and they had some interesting ideas, but the best features (like Web Reader) were for paying customers only. They received a reasonably good review from Calico Journal (Computer Assisted Language Instruction COnsortium), but the interface was a bit busy with trying to be all things to everybody. You also had to be online and on their website to use it.

How things changed. Everything is now free. Interface has been simplified, so most of the time only the language you learn and the language you know show up. They have added downloadable version of the audio from the flash card lists. They have even released a Firefox plugin, so you can use their translation while browsing the web, rather than always starting from their own website. Finally, to notify people of all these exciting new features, they setup an RSS feed.

And here is the clincher, they have contacted me directly to talk about the latest and greatest feature they just released: developer/reader API. I was planning to test the API already (I saw it in RSS feed notification), but being contacted about it made me feel like an important A-list’er. They knew my email because I submitted site feeback, error reports and suggestions to WordChamp before, but usually all these reports are one way.

The thing is - I have submitted feedback to other companies plenty of times before, but rarely got even a confirmation back. With WordChamp, I received a personal email from the company’s founder with thoughtful commentary on features and bugs I talked about. In fact, I think at least one of my suggestions has since been implemented. This is what I call listening to the users.

As it was, I was going to test the reader API anyway, but now I will make sure it gets done soon. I will need to dig a bit into the internals of my blogging software, but it is doable.

Now, all this does not mean that I think WordChamp is the best thing from the sliced bread. I still think there is a lot of room for improvement. I would really (really, really) like the flashcard quiz interface to use Leitner spaced repetition system. I think there is a lot more that can be done with podcasts. I believe adding stories (audio+text) with a bit of computational linguistics magic would take the service to new heghts. But - even without all that - I still like WordChamp more than hundreds of other sites I have reviewed and I recommend it to language students (and teachers) any chance I get.

I am really looking forward to new features WordChamp will bring in and I will certainly keep them notified if I will notice a problem or think of a feature they could add. And if you haven’t tried it yet, do!

Today - 21st of February - is the International Mother Language Day. My mother language is Russian! I am proud of my mother language, even if I do not get to use it every day.

Apart from Russian, I know reasonably good English and have dabbled in French, Esperanto and - now - Spanish. I feel that starting from Russian, many other European/Germanic languages are easier, because Russian has a very complex grammar system with its conjugation and cases, tenses and moods. This helps with relating features of other languages to the examples in the one(s) I already know. This, of course, does not help at all with pronunciation, which for me is now atrocious in whichever language I speak.

Studying Spanish, I do find omitted pronouns in Spanish, but even that has its equivalence in Russian. Unfortunately, there is no equivalence for conflating conjugation for he/she and you (él/ella y usted). Using accents to differentiate words is a bit confusing too (él y el, qué y que). I am sure as I progress in Spanish, these things will become the second (3rd? 5th?) nature, but for now they do grate a bit.

I find Esperanto the easiest language of all, which is not very surprising, since it was specifically designed to be really easy. If I had to design a language from scratch, I don’t think I would be able to come up with anything significantly simpler than Esperanto, while still addressing the real use.

I believe into podcasting’s future because it is here already for me. I have a 40 minute walk to work each day, so I have over six hours of content a week I can consume. And being quite busy during days, nights and weekends, I try to use that walk time constructively as well. I have been listening to the podcasts from before they were called that and, so, had some time to get my bearings. And they are basically aligned with what the concept of Long Tail teaches us.

Strangely enough, BusinessWeek did not even mention any of the concepts that are important for me and my podcast consumption. That’s how I know the article is missing many points. It is not really unexpected, as it takes a while to get past the beginner’s understanding and actually see the real depth of the concept.

My current collection is at 25 podcasts and I have discarded over time probably twice that number. Less than a third of the podcasts on the list would be considered even vaguely popular by normal measures, the rest are plainly hyper-specialized to my needs and interests.

Over time, I had dutifully sampled and eventually discarded Adam Curry, Dave Winer and Gillmor Gang podcasts. They sporadically have some interesting content, but so infrequently that I find myself frustrated with all the filler. Gillmor Gang specifically I have given 3 or 4 tries over years, but I think they were most interesting during their ITConversations’ days.

I also don’t have any popular radio podcasts. I find the latest news to be easiest to consume in an aggregated or RSS format on my computer. That way if a news item is interesting, I can follow up on its references or setup keywords alert for the future notifications. Podcasts, in my mind, are much more suitable for content that has already undergone some thought process by its producer. I know that for some people, the reasoning is different but just as valid (for them).

I break my subscriptions into roughly 5 categories:

• Technical News - In my industry (IT) it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. Without these podcasts I feel that I would not notice what is coming down the line until it would be too late and I would be stuck maintaining Cobol-equivalent systems forevermore.
• Trend watching - Many interesting things are happening in the world if one just happens to be in the right place at the right time. These podcasts put me into that place and do it very early in the ideas’ lifecycles: somewhere between a cutting edge and an early adoption stage. I may not have time to participate, but sometimes the knowledge I get allows me to leapfrog the conventional process. For example, I have been on a cheap Voice-over-IP service (Lingo) for nearly two years and saved myself money and hustle of dealing with Verizon and its ilk.
• Learning new skills in a background - I may not have time to allocate several active hours a week on a useful, but not currently essential skill, but podcasts in these category allow me to learn something through osmosis over time. Later, when I would need those skills, I would have already absorbed enough to be a very quick learner.
• Language learning - I am studying Spanish now and before that I was learning French and Esperanto and there is always some improvement I could do to my English. These podcasts provide additional learning (or meta-learning) material. Some of them are also good edutainment.
• Entertainment - Some podcasts are just funny or interesting or have my friends in them. They round up the collection nicely.

My full list is available publically, but here is the breakdown by the categories as I see it:

• Technical news and interviews with people I could learn from
  • IT Conversations - The best podcast feed ever. I subscribe to full collection and listen to everything, but some of the biotech items.
  • The Java Posse - Good and often funny Java news source. I listened to them since before the JavaPosse name. I even went to their BOF session at JavaOne 2006.
  • Venture Voice
  • TalkCrunch
  • PodLeaders - Thought Leaders podcast
  • Interviews with Innovators: Jon Udell’s Friday Podcasts
  • O’Reilly Web 2.0 Summit Podcasts - This is one-off single-conference feed. Eventually, it will get dropped when the content stops arriving.
• Trend watching
  • Distributing the Future - O’Reilly in general and this podcast specifically is definitely reporting from the cutting (and sometimes bleeding) edge. This podcast often points at a meme, before it even spreads.
  • Lulu Radio - Lulu is worth watching for Print-On-Demand market, though I am thinking that their new weekly format might be too much information for my needs. Monthly news would have been enough for me at this stage.
  • TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home - I like the blog (I even contributed once), but I am not so sure about their podcast yet. This one is on trial currently.
• Learning new skills in a background
  • this WEEK in MEDIA - Couple of old-hands talk about video-production, 3d, future of the media on the web and lots of other non-mainstraim topics that I think are getting more and more mainstream with each passing week. The 2nd half of the 27th episode was absolutely brilliant as they started to reminiscence about how things used to be. It brought back lots of good memories (of uphill both ways kind).
    
  • Woven Shadows: Digital Photography Tutorials (Video Podcast)
  • Izzy Video: DV Tutorials (Video Podcast)
  • 43 Folders - Ideas around Getting Things Done, the workflow I am trying to implement.
  • ONTOLOG forum podcast - Semantic web discussions. The sound quality is not great, but the content is really deep.
  • SLHS227 BoilerCast! - This is actually a lecture podcast on Elements of Linguistics from Purdue University. That’s a little hard to find-out from either title or even the linked-to page. I found it via the Free Academic Podcasts blog entry. (Feb 2007 Update: Dead link. Try here instead).
    
• Language learning
  • Trying To Learn Spanish
  • Notes in Spanish Intermediate
  • NW Spanish News - NHK World Radio Japan
  • Rolling R’s: Free Spanish Lessons (Video Podcast)
  • Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing - funny and interesting tidbits on English grammar and writing style.
    
  • podictionary weekly - etymology of english words; lots of interesting little stories.
• Entertainment
  • The Onion Radio News - 1 minute segments that really brighten the day.
    
  • TEDTalks (audio) - TEDTalks are more inspirational than entertaining, but they are really well done and always have interesting topics.
    
  • Diffusion Science radio - Science radio show! from Australia! Done with irreverence and quirkiness! Has people I know in it! How could I not listen to this.

Are there more podcasts I would have liked to listen to? Certainly. I would love a podcast on computational linguistics. At the moment, even the bloggers on the topics are extremely rare.

I would also love a podcast on Scottish Country Dancing. There is just so much one could do with that. I know that at least one person have thought of it and given up as unsustainable, which is a real pity. I am tempted to start one myself just to prove her wrong.

Finally, I think there is a way to make a better language-learning podcast/video cast than the ones I found so far. I have mentioned some of the ideas to at least one person in a position to do that. Nothing happened yet, but such things take time. I will wait a while and, if nothing happens, will blog it here instead. I don’t mind prividing competitive advantage to a company that deserves it through good service, but will not sit on the ideas forever either.

To summarise the long post, I think that podcasting has legs and will succeed in the content niches that appeal to people based on their individual interests and needs. There is a lot of fluff and junk podcasts on the web at the moment, but it is getting better and, as with blogging, the absolute number of interesting podcasts is growing fast. It takes some time to find good content, but it really pays off in a long run.

It is quite frustrating how often a good material hides so deep in a random website that it can only be found by total accident.

Such seems to be the case with Suspense, no suspenso. From what I can tell, it is a complete detective story book written in Spanish for an intermediate language learner and even includes some exercises for the teacher’s use. It used to be a real book (with ISBN and all), but has obviously been released to the world at large since.

I cannot read it yet as I am still at the early beginner stage, but to find a text that is free, in plain HTML (for converting to other formats) and targetted specifically at the language reader is a rare delight. I hope someone ahead of me in learning spanish, will find it useful. Leave a comment, if you do.

And if there are enough people interested, maybe we could find some bilingual speakers to add an english translation to the text. Given that the book is clearly there not for commercial gain, I am sure they would not object if somebody offered to improve its value further.

The book is available as an eBook via Overdrive programme, that many libraries subscribe to. WorldCat site allows to easily find where the book is available and in which format. I confirmed that my library subscribed to the book, so within 15 minutes I had setup the Mobipocket reader and downloaded the e-book to my computer.

It looks quite good and interesting to read. Jumping between translations is with little hyperlinked arrows, so one cannot see both translation at once but it is survivable.

My spanish is not quite up to to the proper reading level yet, but it is good to know it is there and ready for me when
I am ready. And I have 21 days to dip in and out just to see how far I can get.

What’s is interesting is that I could not find any discussion about this dual format and whether it worked for both learners and - commercially - for the publisher. I think this (or similar) format has a lot of promise, but maybe other people disagree.

Both language classes spent a first couple of weeks with Name, Surname, Workplace, Street address, Phone number and suchlike. No surprise there, even though I don’t normally rattle out my full details at the first meeting with a stranger.

However, I distinctly remember also having to divulge my marital and parenthood status in the early French classes (e.g. I am married, I am single, I have N children, etc). That was quite embarrassing, if not downright annoying. Especially so for those adults who were single without children and therefore had nothing to discuss at length. The artificial learning conversations were even more artificial for them.
So, when I switched to Spanish, I will steeling myself to this self-inflicted privacy disclosure, just to find it never happening. It has been a couple of weeks already and nobody seems to give a hoot about existance of a wife, partner or descendants.

Though it is a relief, it makes me wonder where the difference came from. Was it just that French study books were older and less politically-correct? Was it that our French teacher was trying to play a full-disclosure cupid? Or was it actually something about French versus Spanish culture that I am not aware of? And who do I ask without looking politically-incorrect myself?

Being the kind of person who likes to connect the dots and figure out what’s important and what’s not himself, I was somewhat annoyed at this spoon-fed method.

Now that I started Spanish, my new teacher is completely opposite. She would answer any question, go into long - dare I say rambling - discussions of what rules and exceptions apply where and how spanish Spanish would be different from a south-american Spanish. She would even throw in linguistic/phonetic terms (like Alveolar) while trying to explain pronunciation differences.

This does not seem to work too well either. It is probably slightly easier for me, since it is not a first foreign language I am studying (4th ?!?), but other people seem to be rather confused at times. And even for myself, I have to double check online some of the points afterwards.

And that’s just third lesson. I am not looking forward to the second semester, unless Spanish is so much easier than French that everything just falls into place with enough practice.

Still, given a choice, I would probably go for the teacher I have now and supplement it with my own parallel study.

We shall see if this is this opinion will keep all the way to after the exam…..