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March 10, 2010 Pimsleur Urdu Coming Soon
As Spring inches closer and closer, we can look forward to the latest release of our Pimsleur language program, with Pimsleur Urdu. Urdu is one of the official languages of Pakistan (the other being English), and is closely related to Hindi, the primary language of the Indian subcontinent. To many linguists, Urdu is considered no different than Hindi, as they share the same vocabularies and grammar. But the difference between Urdu and Hindi lies mostly in the written word, with Hindi using Sanskrit and Urdu using Persian and Arabic derived script. But don’t let the closeness fool you into thinking Urdu is just an offshoot of Hindi—over 88 million people speak Urdu worldwide, from India, to Pakistan, to…Sweden!
We’re very excited to bring you Urdu language instruction, and look for another announcement towards the end of the month!
March 05, 2010 The Multilingual Future of Video?
CNet reports that YouTube has now turned on auto-captioning for the entire video site. This means that users who upload videos to YouTube can either upload a text file of a transcription, or add the video to the machine translation queue. Using voice recognition software, your video will become transcribed, which will allow viewers to turn subtitles on while watching your video.
For now, the service is English only, but the possibilities of this service are tremendous. If video transcription becomes commonplace thanks to YouTube’s automation efforts, then perhaps machine translation of the transcribed audio will be next. Since Google owns YouTube, the integration of Google Translate and YouTube is not far fetched. This would advance video learning capabilities the world over, and provide a huge quantity of translated videos.
Of course, video transcription and translation would not be very helpful for the most popular YouTube content—you guessed it, ping pong cats, for which no subtitles are necessary.
March 03, 2010 The Building Blocks of Spoken Language
Many people around the world have known about Roger Ebert’s unfortunate bout with thyroid cancer that took away his ability to speak. Since 2006, he has been using the built-in text-to-speech capabilities of Mac OS X, so that he can communicate out loud to his family, and also to his audience.
But living a life through some one else’s voice (and in this case, a robot’s voice!) is slightly disorientating and means that your accent, inflection, and other vocal modes of expression are completely lost.
Tech Crunch recently published an article about Ebert’s attempt to get his voice back. Scottish company CereProc specializes in creating lifelike voice reproductions of famous people. (Ever want Bill Murray to personally wish you a happy birthday? That’s where these folks would come in.) Roger Ebert was able to send them DVD commentary tracks from several films he discussed at length, and using bits and pieces of different words and sounds, they were able to recreate his voice for a text-to-speech module. Ebert recently went on Oprah to discuss the developments, and you can also read about his blog.
It’s a remarkable story about the power of technology, and the possibilities for using the building blocks of language to give the gift of speech back.
March 02, 2010 The iofy Player
The iofy player is a unique device specifically designed for iofy audio book chips. This portable unit is ideal for people who prefer to listen to iofy audio book chips on the go.
While transferring to an iPod or iPhone is an excellent way to manage your Pimsleur lessons, you probably don’t want to risk losing or damaging your iPod during an extended trip abroad. The iofy player is a great alternative for these kinds of situations. You would use this player for a fast portable way to listen to your lessons`
Our player is the inexpensive answer to having portable access to your Pimsleur language courses. The players simple functionality makes listening to your program easy and enjoyable.
February 19, 2010 Eye On Ireland
Ireland is known for its gorgeous landscapes of lush vegetation, rich cultural heritage and legendary myths It is the third largest island in Europe and has a population of 6.2 million people. Ireland has had a significant influence on culture throughout the world. This island boast a strong indigenous heritage that is expressed through native sports like Hurling and Rugby, but also through its unique and dynamic language Gaeltacht.
Sadly, the Irish language today is spoken by very few natives. In fact the language is so rarely spoken by native Irishman that it is on its way to becoming extinct within two generations, some scholars fear it could be sooner. The Irish language will only exist through English speakers who have learned Irish as a second language and have mastered fluency.
Irishlanguage.net reports the dangers of the Irish language being lost to its native people. “Gaeltachtaí embody more than just a language, but the cultural context in which it is spoken, through song, stories, social traditions, folklore and dance.” “The death of the Gaeltachtaí would make a break forever between Ireland’s cultural past and identity, and its future.”
A lot of what we do here at Pimsleur is dedicated to saving indigenous languages. The importance of culture and preserving a people is so vital to our world. We invite you to sample the first lesson of our Irish program free. After-wards leave a comment letting us know your thoughts about the blog and the sample Irish lesson. We would love to hear from you!
February 08, 2010 The Tower of Babel Restored!
Google has done it again! UK Times is reporting Google is currently working on software for a mobile phone that can translate your conversation for the speaker on the receiving end! Google is responsible for translating 52 languages via Google Translate, and Haitian Creole is their newest addition. UK Times simplifies the process for us and explains, “By building on existing technologies in voice recognition and automatic translation Google hopes to have a basic system ready within a couple of years.”
A few experts remain skeptical to the process. David Crystal, Honorary professor of linguistics at Bangor University explains the biggest problems with language translation software using speech recognition software is the ‘variability in accent.’
Google remains optimistic, they believe that by combining two current technologies of voice recognition and speak command they can develop the most comprehensive version of translation software. Googles head of Translation Services Fran Och says “The translation software is likely to become more accurate the more it is used; The more data we input, the better the quality.”
February 05, 2010 Mandarin Chinese: Three is the lucky number!
A recent educational report published by The New York Times found that Mandarin Chinese is
set to become the third largest foreign language spoken in America putting German in fourth place.
In an article entitled Mandarin 3rd largest foreign language in U.S. posted by china.org.cn explains,“The mushrooming of interest we’re seeing now is not the heritage communities, but in places that dont have significant Chinese populations”. The location of American schools teaching Mandarin Chinese has expanded from coastal areas to all over the U.S.A. from Ohio to Texas and Georgia to Utah.
Over 2 million Americans speak some variety of Chinese. Additionally,the Mandarin Chinese program is a top seller here at Pimsleur, and the first lesson is given free for each of the comprehensive Mandarin Chinese levels.
January 27, 2010 5 Million Brazilians!
According to Mercopress.com, last August a collaboration agreement was signed between Spain and Brazil with the intention of having as many as 41 million Brazilians between the ages of 7 to 17 speaking, reading, writing and expressing themselves in Spanish.
The Cervantes Institute in Spain reported yesterday that more than 5 million Brazilians are now learning Spanish which is a major increase from 2006 when only one million where reportedly learning the language. An education bill passed in 2005 required that all secondary schools in Brazil must have the Spanish language as an option at the beginning of their 2010 school year.
The collaboration agreement between Cervantes Institute and The Brazilian Education Ministry are now considering supporting and training 26,0000 Spanish language teachers to keep up with the growing demand since the passing of the 2005 education bill.
January 26, 2010 Swahili: Becoming a Global Language
Swahili has been stirring up a bit of controversy in recent weeks, all due to a decision to make the language an optional subject at the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE). A group of scholars from Nairobi are very much against this decision. They feel that Kiswahili is the language of the East African community and given Kenya’s reputation of post election chaos and tribalism Kenya’s only uniting element is their language. The scholars mostly want to avoid any other foreign languages to develop in the country where Kiswahili has been deeply rooted for decades.
Kiswahili is not just a tool for business, it has also become political from East and Central Africa to many parts of Europe. The language has created several hundred jobs for many East and Central Africans working as university lectures. The scholars feel such a decision is not only inconceivable but unworkable at a time when the language itself is growing faster globally. Swahili has found its way from East and Central Africa to Germany, USA, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Iran and many other countries.
The New York Times recently published an article entitled ‘Hungry for New Content, Google tries to Grow its own in Africa’. Google is sponsoring a contest to encourage Tanzanian and Kenyan students to create articles for the Swahili version of Wikipedia by translating them from the English version. Google reported a good response, so far almost 900 articles have been submitted by more than 800 contributors. For almost 100 million people living in East Africa Kiswahili is spoken as a second language, so converting many of the articles found on Wikipedia into Swahili is thought to be one of the only ways to reach a mass audience of people living in the region.
For the Nairobi Scholars they will continue to fight this decision and protect the Swahili language. Prof Ahmed Sheikh Nabhany head of the Research Institute of Swahili Studies of East Africa is quoted saying to Kenya National Examination Council, “We will not allow this language to be optional in schools. Those with such ideas are enemies of the language and Kenyans will not allow them to achieve that goal”.
January 19, 2010 Continuing Support for Haiti
In support of the ongoing relief efforts in Haiti Pimsleur will donate a portion of its proceeds to the Red Cross. Every audiobook chip you buy counts because each purchase will go directly to assist the people of Haiti. Additionally we will reduce the cost of the Pimsleur Haitian Creole title on audiobook chip.
If you have any questions or comments about our ‘Helping Haiti’ campaign feel free to leave a comment on our blog. We appreciate your support.
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