University of Houston Foreign Language Department

Today I thought that I would write about two topics. The first topic, is of course, foreign language courses offered at various universities. I lived in Texas for three years and almost enrolled at The University of Houston to study foreign languages. As fate would have it, I ended up in Washington DC instead. In this blog, I wanted to share some of the courses offered at the University of Houston. The second topic of discussion is a YouTube polyglot, fantasticidiomas. He is very passionate, and his videos are improving.

If you live in Houston Texas and would like to check out what the U of H has to offer, click on the links above. I would like to add, that I have noticed a change their language curriculum. Before, everything was Spanish, or French, or German. That was about it. Now, we have so much more diversity!

Now onto my second topic, fantasticidiomas made another spectacular video today. These are the exact kinds of videos that I like to see! He introduces a new book about the origins of the Russian language, and uses a screen capture allowing viewers to see the book as he discusses it. It is often the case that polyglots like to get on camera and record themselves talking about a book, a program or how a language. Some get up with a blackboard and give us grammar instructions. That is all well and good. But, remember we are here to serve one function. That function is to communicate with other language lovers. 

Use your technology! Make your videos swift, clear, eloquent, and edit your material. Outsiders looking in will always call us a bunch of pedantic bores. We should try to make the language learning experience as effective and meaningful as we possibly can. 

I have seen fantasticidiomas evolve. He is becoming better and better at his art. For that, I give him three cheers!

YouTube Polyglot Community Featured in the New York Times

I was very excited to be interviewed by John Leland for this piece in the New York Times.

Youtube Polyglot Community - NY Times Metro Section!

A sad day for Urdu at The University of Washington

 It looks like no one wants to take Urdu at the University of Washington. I was at the bookstore the other day with my son and noticed that the shelves were full of Urdu workbooks.

urdu alphabet- प वर्ग और च वर्ग

ज और ब के बीच भी confusion होना स्वाभाविक है क्योंकि दोनों के नीचे एक बिन्दु लगता है,लेकिन धीरे धीरे प्रयास और पढने से आप दोनों में अन्तर करना सीख जायेंगे। च वर्ग के सारे अक्षर ऊपर की और से मुडेहुए होते हैं , अब देखिये:

प=پ پـ
च=چ چـ

फ=پھ
छ=چـھ

ब=ب بـज=ج جـ
अब देखिये इनमें अन्तर कैसे देखेंगे , एक शब्द है " जला" जिसका अर्थ है निकल देना , तडीपार या देश से निकल देना, और दूसरा शब्द है बला -जिसका अर्थ है विपत्ति,संकट।

बला -بلا
जला -جلا

भ=بھ 
झ =جھ

म=مन=ن

The National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language (NCPUL) is an   autonomous body under the Ministry of Human Resource Development  (HRD),  Department of Higher Education, Government of India. Set up to   promote,  develop and propagate Urdu language, Council started its operation in   Delhi on  April 1, 1996. In its capacity as the National Nodal Agency for the   promotion of  the Urdu language NCPUL is the principal coordinating and   monitoring authority  for promotion of Urdu language and Urdu education.

Davidmansaray - A YouTube Polyglot

What an eloquent speaker. You can connect with David on these links:
http://www.davidmansaray.com  http://www.facebook.com/davidmansaray

Early Language Learning - Should you expose your kids to several language early on?

Early language learning, the brain and the mind.

Language learning enthusiasts have always known that children, particularly those under the age of six, learn language more rapidly than adults. Children have an amazing ability to remember and reproduce the phonemes ( basic sound units ) of any language. It might seem like we are putting a lot on their little shoulders, but so long as it is fun and the children are not being forced into doing something that they do not want to do, I do not see the problem. You will not hinder their language development in any way by exposing them to foreign languages. 

Whether or not you should expose your children to two or more languages is entirely a personal matter. Personally, I think it is a sign of good parenting to regularly expose your children to two or more languages. But that is just me. Some parents, particularly anglo-centric Americans who can only speak English are down on language learning. ( I think they are jealous of us :-)

Loki2504 Talks about learning Turkish

loki2504 () Spam D'après moi, tu devrais choisir la langue qui t'intéresse le plus culturellement parlant ! Genre, moi j'ai choisi le turc parce que j'ai beaucoup d'amis turcs et que j'adore la culture turque =) Soit tu continues avec le turc pour l'améliorer soit tu choisis quelque chose du style mais qui te plaît particulièrement ! Je peux pas vraiment choisir à ta place, parce que c'est toi qui devra être motivé pour l'apprendre =) Moi je te conseille de choisir une langue que tu pourras utiliser "sur le terrain" (qui n'est pas l'espagnol bien-sûr hahaha ) Bonne chance et mutlu yıllar !!!

Loki2504, is one of the most impressive polyglots I have seen so far. He has 4,400 YouTube subscribers and counting. Like fantasticidiomas, he is also learning Turkish. One of the things I like about Loki's videos, is that he shows us unique was of integrating technology with language learning. He made a video once showing us how to import language media into our Ipod. His videos really get into the nuts and bolts of media, books, content, and phonetics.

Thanks for all of your work Loki2504. You are an inspiration to language lovers everywhere.

Please enjoy a recent video by Loki2504.

More Turkish links you might like if you are studying Turkish
http://www.iem.gov.tr/iem/
https://www.anadolu.edu.tr/en/
http://www.gazi.edu.tr/
http://www.istanbul.edu.tr/
http://www.osmanli700.gen.tr/
http://www.osmanli.org.tr/
http://www.izmirtocbirsen.com/news.php?readmore=366
http://www.mevzuat.adalet.gov.tr/
http://www.memurlar.net/kategori/77/
http://www.hvkk.tsk.tr/TR/Index.aspx
http://www.kkk.tsk.tr/

Turkish - Different From Other Languages

FantasticIdiomas - Thank You For This Contribution. Check out his website
http://languagecolosseum.webs.com/
Do not forget to read my Turkish Introduction HERE.

Turkish being from a completely different language group from English definitely makes it a challenge for anyone with an Indo-European background to learn. I got a few Turkish textbooks, all of which are in Turkish, so I have to plug in lots of words into the dictionary to understand all of what is being said, the textbooks "Yeni Hitit" , "Adam Adam Türkçe" and "Türkçe Öğreniyoruz" which is a book of dialogs, and vocabulary lists. The language consists of Arabic, Persian, French and ever since the Turkish Language Revolution, the native language is now made up of 86% of the total language. I usually will use two or three books in one day, make around 50 flash cards a day, the chapters in the main book I'm using called Yeni Hitit have dialogs, exercises with and without grammar, and reading passages all of which are in Turkish, it's pretty good for someone with a background in basic Turkish. 


The teach yourself beginner's, and regular Turkish books aren't too bad, and colloquial Turkish is really good. Recently however, I started studying through songs, that way I could get a glimpse of people talking real time through music, popular language, music, and learn about the culture somewhat through music as well, it's a fantastic way of learning, not only does it improve your listening really fast, but if you learn the songs really well you can learn expressions, sing with the songs, which will make your speaking and confidence boost really high


. Turkish's grammar is very structure and regular, it is one of the most regular languages in the world according to linguists, not many irregular verbs, strange phenomenons, etc, but during the language revolution there was a lot of borrowing from old Turkish, and other Turkic languages, the particles, and when attached to other words, the meanings of them are really interesting, and new ones are still being made to this day! That's how I'm learning, probably one of the most interesting languages in the world, and that's why I'm learning.