Pick a Country, Learn the Lingo

USA Weekend, Where on the Web, February 16, 2003

Web sites about foreign languages are as crazy and colorful as the world itself. Pick a path, and suddenly you're somewhere you never imagined, learning the difference between the two phrases for "goodbye" in Korean. With the right guides, you can find the john or discuss politics during your next trip abroad.

Searchlanguage.com's organized presentation makes it an excellent portal. The Web directory uses simple categories like commercial products (books, tapes, software) and services (translation services, pen pals). The extensive list of dictionaries includes languages I'd never even heard of, like Chorti, Veps and Passamaquoddy. But this site isn't just for lovers of the obscure. All the major world languages are well-represented. Available are 23 Spanish translators, plus a Spanish synonym dictionary, a Spanish-Latin dictionary and a Spanish dictionary for personal digital assistants.

Besides its 300 dictionaries and 100 course links, fun is the attraction at yourdictionary.com. It has an Endangered Language Repository (did you know 694 languages are spoken in Indonesia, more than in any other country?) and links to Web sites that show one's name in other writing systems, such as Chinese characters and Egyptian hieroglyphics.

At travlang.com, flashing lights and colorful fonts compete for your attention. Some links are for window shoppers, like Word of the Day, which offers the same word (for example: "beer" or "winter") in 83 languages, from Afrikaans to Zulu. Other links, selling electronic dictionaries and computer software, are for the serious student.

No matter where you end up, you'll learn something. I, for one, now know that "chacha' uyok" is Chorti for "web-footed."

View the article on the USA Weekend Web site.

WRITING | RESUME | THOUGHTS | CONTACT