ESL and Non-English Language Learning

Thanks to NCLive, the Jones Library is happy to offer access to the language learning tool Pronunciator for the BC community. I would highly recommend that you try it out!

Pronunciator helps you learn any of 80 languages in 50 other languages. That means ESL learners who speak any one of those 50 languages can use Pronunciator to work on their English. Specific tracks for small children are available, as are advanced courses and health care courses. The program includes audio lessons, interactive textbooks, quizzes, phrasebooks and pronunciation analysis. It even has a great mobile app!

Getting started with Pronunciator takes just a few steps:

• Register with Pronunciator 
• Save your Pronunciator provided login and password
• Log in and choose your native language and the language you want to learn
• Get started!

For more information about Pronunciator's learning options, you can take a tour.

So much for the commercial. Let's see what happens in real life, for a real live person who hasn't studied a language in about 20 years (that would be me).

Logging in, not a problem. I just have to carefully write down the random-letter username and password they assign and add it to my overwhelming pile of passwords. I can't wait for biometric passwords to be perfected.

Once in, I get to choose the language I speak (English) and the language I want to learn (Spanish--Latin America). I took German and Latin in my past lives, but Spanish is a new adventure for me.

I'm given an array of choices, everything from the "main course" to an 8 week travel prep and courses for early learners (3-6 years old). I'm going to look at the main course.

And now, there are too many options to go into detail about. "Postcards" introduce some basic vocabulary (my first words, "por favor") with beautiful Latin American landscapes in the background. 

Drills include pronunciation analysis. I don't have a microphone at my desk here, so I can't try it out right now, but it sounds a whole lot better than making cassette recordings in a language lab, which was the last experience I had at this kind of thing.

There's even a ProRadio option where you can listen to pop music in the language you are studying. Since I don't understand many of the words in the pop music right now, I'll come back to that one once I have a bit of vocabulary.

I'm not seeing it this early in my course, but the promo information talks about ProFlix, where you watch full-length feature films with assessments embedded into the film itself. I remember loving to go to subtitled German movies when I was in first-year German. This movie thing could be really fun.

I'll report in on my progress in Spanish in a future blog. I may never make it past "de nada," but I'm going to try to make time for this study. Then I'll make Amy and Melodie practice with me, since Spanish is among their languages.

Adiós.