University of Michigan’s Language Resource Center

All about language programs, courses, websites and other learning resources
Speakeasy
x 7658

Re: University of Michigan’s Language Resource Center

Postby Speakeasy » Tue Dec 15, 2015 6:15 pm

Daristani,
This is excellent news. Perhaps you could use your good offices with the University of Michigan and request that they send you a LIST of the materials that are freely available so that other forum members might submit their individual requests for the corresponding links. Without a list, how are potential users of these files supposed to know what is available? I sent a fourth such request very recently and, as for all my other requests, it was greeted with silence.
1 x

Daristani
Orange Belt
Posts: 107
Joined: Wed Dec 02, 2015 3:43 pm
x 384

Re: University of Michigan’s Language Resource Center

Postby Daristani » Tue Dec 15, 2015 8:46 pm

I'm not confident that asking a fifth time for a complete list will produce any better results than the first four inquiries did. There seems to be some reluctance to do so, but given the positive responses so far to individual queries, I think we can retrieve a pretty fair volume of materials in that way.

But I have found at least a partial listing of their books in Middle Eastern languages (which as I recall comprised the bulk of their publications in any event), and, even more importantly, they've made most of the books available for download as well. I found it by searching for a posting I'd written on the old forum, and came across this page:

http://www.ii.umich.edu/cmenas/resources/publications

The page lists their books for sale, but also notes that electronic copies were available at the Hathi Trust online library. If you click on Egyptian, for instance, you can then find all five books on Egyptian Arabic they published, with the full text of the books available when you click on the links. (Not all of these books have accompanying audio, though. Also, their one-volume textbook for Levantine Arabic (which does have audio) doesn't seem to show up in this way, but if you search for it on the Hathi Trust site, it's also available for download.) Forum member Woodpecker specifically praised the Michigan Arabic materials several months ago in a thread on lesser-known and underrated language programs.

There are some other books that don't show up on the above page, but the above page still provides a useful starting point for people to ask about the relevant audio.
Last edited by Daristani on Wed Dec 16, 2015 12:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
1 x

Speakeasy
x 7658

Re: University of Michigan’s Language Resource Center

Postby Speakeasy » Tue Dec 15, 2015 11:02 pm

University of Michigan LRC
Daristani, I agree with your assessment of the situation. In fact, having someone else ask for list could result in unforeseeable and not necessarily desirable consequences. Thank you very much for your efforts.

Nova Scotia Liquour Control Board, circa 1975
This situation reminds me of how the Nova Scotia Liquour Control Board, which enjoyed a government-mandated monopoly on sales of wine, beer, liquor, and all manner alcoholic beverages, used to operate. As late as late as 1975, the government owned-and-operated "outlet" in Halifax, the provincial capital, was located in a remote and rather desolate area on the outskirts of the city, accessible for all practical purposes by car only. The small, unattractive, essentially windowless building had the appearance of a construction camp house. It had only one entry-exit point, a small door that was accessed by narrow wooden steps. The interior "reception area" was darkened, charmless, and large enough to hold only four people. The ill-favoured counter and service window resembled a 1930's Hollywood Crime Film version of a backroom stall for illegal betting. While there was no evidence of a cash register, I recall the service person reaching into a cash drawer under the counter to complete my transaction. Customers were served one-at-a-time. If there were more than four customers, given the limited space at the counter, the others had to wait outside. There was NO LIST of the products available, the personnel would NOT RESPOND to questions concerning the types of wines, spirits, beer, liqueurs, or alcoholic beverages available and NONE WERE VISIBLE. Rather "you had to know" what was available (presumably having been advised by a friend) and you placed your order by filling out a small slip of paper. The employee took the slip of paper, examined it, disappeared into the bowls of the camp house, and returned some moments later with your purchase in a paper bag that you were not permitted to open or otherwise examine while you were on the premises. The employee, whilst handing you your purchase, seemed to communicate through this facial expression a profound distaste for the grovelling degenerate who stood before him. Okay, I might be stretching the analogy here; nonetheless, the University of Michigan LRC, which WANTS to give away, free-of-charge, their highly-regarded language materials, is operating in a similar, rather opaque manner.
3 x

Daristani
Orange Belt
Posts: 107
Joined: Wed Dec 02, 2015 3:43 pm
x 384

Re: University of Michigan’s Language Resource Center

Postby Daristani » Tue Dec 15, 2015 11:27 pm

I don't know how much of a parallel there is between the old Liquor Control Board and the University of Michigan Language Resource Center, which so far has been pretty friendly and responsive to me, but I have to say, looking at the customer on the other side of the counter, that you've hit the nail right on the head: "Grovelling degenerate" describes me perfectly!
2 x

User avatar
aokoye
Black Belt - 1st Dan
Posts: 1818
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 6:14 pm
Location: Portland, OR
Languages: English (N), German (~C1), French (Intermediate), Japanese (N4), Swedish (beginner), Dutch (A2)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=19262
x 3309
Contact:

Re: University of Michigan’s Language Resource Center

Postby aokoye » Wed Dec 16, 2015 8:33 pm

I think it's really important to remember that you're also talking about people who, if they're anything like the professors and university admin that I know, are incredibly busy and likely have more important or at the very least time sensitive, things to do (hello run on sentence). I would keep this in mind when trying to get information about free resources from any university or college (if the person asking isn't a current student of the institution). Also we should keep in mind that right now the vast majority, if not all, universities and colleges in the US are on winter break and working with little to no faculty or staff.
1 x
Prefered gender pronouns: Masculine

Speakeasy
x 7658

Re: University of Michigan’s Language Resource Center

Postby Speakeasy » Sat Apr 09, 2016 11:52 am

There has been a significant development in the matter of the University of Michigan LRC archived sound files. Over the past few months, rdearman, on behalf of the members of this forum and of the wider community of independent language-learners, has been communicating privately with the manager of UofM LRC. His deft diplomacy has yielded the following:

1. A partial list of the available materials (more materials will be added as the UofM LRC project advances):

Arabic Business Arabic
Arabic Contemporary Arabic Reader
Arabic Egyptian Arabic
Arabic Elementary Modern Standard Arabic
Arabic Intermediate Modern Standard Arabic (Revised 2008)
Arabic Levantine Arabic
Arabic Moroccan Arabic
Arabic Sounds and Letters
Hebrew Lessons in Modern Hebrew Level 1
Hebrew Lessons in Modern Hebrew Level 2
Modern Western Armenian
Persian Modern Persian
Tamazight
Turkish for Foreigners
Ukrainian Modern Ukrainian

2. An advice to the effect that the UofM LRC is currently working on a means of providing more direct online access to the archived sound files.

3. A confirmation that, during the interim, interested persons should submit their requests for specific materials to: FLACS@umich.edu

As a reminder to the reader, the UofM LRC archived sound files cover many of the less-frequently-studied languages. In addition, while the sound files and corresponding course books may not have used the audio-lingual method, they are nonetheless quite extensive and could arguably be viewed as equivalents to the FSI Basic courses of the same period.

On behalf of the members of this forum, and of the wider community of independent language-learners, I would like to express my sincere appreciation for rdearman’s behind-the-scenes efforts in this matter.

PS: Please refrain from “up-voting” this post as the votes would unduly accrue to my username.
0 x

solivagant
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Jun 25, 2016 4:06 am
Location: United Kingdom

Re: University of Michigan’s Language Resource Center

Postby solivagant » Sun Jun 26, 2016 12:04 am

Has anyone had success with requests to FLACS@umich.edu (I have not)? Would you be willing to share links please? Thanks.
0 x

Speakeasy
x 7658

Re: University of Michigan’s Language Resource Center

Postby Speakeasy » Tue Aug 02, 2016 7:24 pm

Earlier today, I sent an Email to the University of Michigan's Language Resource Center at FLACS@umich.edu requesting the LINK to some Italian materials that appear in a separate section of their onsite catalogue. I am pleased to report that, shortly thereafter, I received the following reply:

QUOTE
We only have the Links available for the recorded materials that we produced on campus to sell. Unfortunately Italian is not one of those that we are able to provide. You are viewing our catalog page for our Language Resource Center learning materials. These materials are located on our campus for check out and not digitally available to the general public. We should be putting the audio recordings that we do provide on our website in the near future. Please check back for the titles and languages in the near future.
UNQUOTE
4 x

Daristani
Orange Belt
Posts: 107
Joined: Wed Dec 02, 2015 3:43 pm
x 384

Re: University of Michigan’s Language Resource Center

Postby Daristani » Sun Apr 16, 2017 2:13 pm

Further to this conversation, it seems that the University of Michigan is VERY SLOWLY posting the audio to the language materials originally produced there at the following site:

https://lsa.umich.edu/lrc/language-lear ... lacs-.html

I ran across this site a few weeks ago, and see in my latest check that there are now a few more bits of audio that have been posted, but in general, only the first lesson for each language textbook is available. How long it will be before the entire audio collections have been posted is anyone's guess, but slow progress is certainly better than none.

In the meantime, the materials for Kurdish, Persian, and Armenian posted above in this thread still seem to be available at the URLs provided.
1 x

Speakeasy
x 7658

Re: University of Michigan’s Language Resource Center

Postby Speakeasy » Mon Mar 11, 2019 12:58 pm

Recently, while searching my files for lists of resources for a number of the less-frequently-studied languages, I came upon this forgotten, but still very relevant, thread on the University of Michigan’s LRC (Language Resource Center). I am pleased to note that the LRC’s hard-working staff continue to make progress on their project to render a portion of the audio recordings in the university’s archive freely-available to the public.

University of Michigan LRC: Foreign Language Audio Material (FLACS)
https://lsa.umich.edu/lrc/language-learning/foreign-language-audio-material--flacs-.html

Many thanks to David1917 for stimulating my curiosity and to Daristani for his continued guidance.
1 x


Return to “Language Programs and Resources”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Kraut and 2 guests