A language learners’ forum

Czech Resources

Apps
ANKI - https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/264187905

Courses
https://library.transparent.com - Free with my library account, to see if your library is supported you can type in your Postcode here: https://www.transparent.com/libraries/f ... nline.html
http://mluvtecesky.net/en
https://slovake.eu/en (Slovak actually)
FSI Czech - https://fsi-languages.yojik.eu/language ... czech.html



Podcasts


Books
http://www.sesity.net/elektronicka-knihovna.php these are books that tend to be obligatory in schools, mostare public domain. Out of the originally Czech books here, Cavesa recommend Čapek and Poláček as very pleasant reads, even though not necessarily the easiest. Nothing is probably easier there than Malý princ, a very common choice of learners of various languages.
http://www.databook.cz/e-knihy-zdarma - many more books, not just the obvious school choices, including stuff like the Arthur Conan Doyle translations. There are also contemporary authors, who agreed to make their works available for free, but Cavesa don't know whether they are good.
Cultural Orientation Resource Center Free and Legal English - Czech Phrasebook

Audiobooks:
ČRo Vltava
Rozhlas.cz
more than 2300 audiobooks in Czech here: https://www.alza.cz/media/audioknihy/18854400.htm
http://www.rozhlas.cz/napoveda/aplikace - Český Rozhlas (the state owned radio company) gives audiobooks for free, if you get their mobile app. And there is both old and new stuff, it seems.


Online Dictionaries
https://slovnik.seznam.cz/
https://forvo.com/

Other
Duolingo - https://www.duolingo.com/course/cs/en/L ... ech-Online
some graded blog articles - http://www.mozaika.eu/category/zdarma-cviceni-online/
interesting list, including sites with video and audio - http://www.studyczech.cz/cs/zdroje-pro-studium-cestiny/
this is for native children - http://www.mojecestina.cz/
Word Lists: http://www.101languages.net/czech/most- ... ech-words/

Setswana resources

Apps
ANKI - There is one anki deck for this language. https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/892360144
ANKI - Deck I created based on the Peace Corps course. https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/383744328
Bible Translation: https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... swanabible

Courses
http://www.setswana.info/wiki/index.php?title=Course
https://www.livelingua.com/project/peac ... /Setswana/
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=t8x8-dyjA-c
https://www.memrise.com/course/783090/a ... -setswana/
http://www.101languages.net/tswana/tswa ... ps-course/
An Introduction to Spoken Setswana https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED283381.pdf
https://www.med.upenn.edu/botswana/asse ... na_000.pdf
http://gonnafindmyway.blogspot.co.uk/p/ ... swana.html

Newspapers
http://www.dailynews.gov.bw/
http://www.mmegi.bw/
http://www.kutlwano.gov.bw/

Podcasts / Radio / Television
http://www.antfarm.co.za/radio-stations/motswedingfm - Setswana-speaking Community Station situated in Johannesburg broadcasting a wide variety of music, to help increase listenership throughout South Africas dynamic cultures.
http://www.radiobotswana.gov.bw/ - Radio 1 Botswana
http://streema.com/radios/RB2_Radio_Botswana - Radio 2 Botswana
http://www.btv.gov.bw/ BTV - Botswana TV

YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRCPVUz3oRY&list=PLrYim3EchT1Oi2aPcFzoGbInfINHsphSu
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5agiO8CI94
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bUKw1e_u6U


Books
http://nalibali.mobi/stories/setswana/n ... le-sephara Neo and the big wide world in Setwana, also available in English, so parallel text I think.
http://nalibali.mobi/stories/setswana - Stores in Setwana for children.
Grammar Book - https://www.livelingua.com/course/peace ... n_Setswana

Books by the Missionary Robert Moffit:
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=peh ... &q&f=false
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=u6Q ... &q&f=false
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Tug ... &q&f=false

Audio Books / Stories
http://nalibali.mobi/audio-stories/setswana
Childrens books with narration in Setswana and other languages. : http://www.uniteforliteracy.com/

Other
http://www.salanguages.com/setswana/words.htm
https://tn.oxforddictionaries.com/trans ... &locale=en
http://www.setswana.info/wiki/index.php ... le_phrases
https://en.m.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Tswana_phrasebook
Quizlet: https://quizlet.com/244831277/setswana-q-a-flash-cards/


Notes Regarding Resources.
I tried the learn Setswana app, but it doesn't have the sound media and constantly gives and error message saying no media. The developer says this is because you must have an internet connection to connect to the server for the media, or pay for the full app. Basically if you want to use it, you have to be able to view ads (e.g. have and internet connection) or pay for it. Given that I cannot pay for it, it goes in the rubbish bin. However having looked at the application, this isn't anything I couldn't replicate with the Peace Corps course and ANKI. Recommend you don't bother with this, I'll try to release an Anki Deck with Peace Corp stuff later. https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... a&hl=en_GB
Wikipedia in Setswana: https://tn.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

Language exchange

https://www.mylanguageexchange.com/Sear ... it1=Search

Cultural Orientation Resource Center Free and Legal English - Czech Phrasebook

Plus some other languages

Cultural Orientation Resource Center wrote:Phrasebooks
In the 1980s and 1990s, the Cultural Orientation Resource Center was funded to develop phrasebooks for selected refugee populations. These phrasebooks include appropriate English phrases for use in daily American life, selected to be direct, brief, and relevant. Among the nineteen units included are sections on Giving Information About Yourself, Recognizing Signs, Dealing With Money, Health, Food, Clothing, Housing, and Jobs.
The COR Center is not currently developing such phrasebooks in the languages of newly-arriving refugee populations, yet these publications may still be useful to some refugees and their service providers.
Each phrasebook is approximately 140 pages and can be downloaded for free.

There is a french Mooc to learn the basics of czech, starting next week. I'm already following the chinese one, and that's rather fun and well made. You just receive one email a week as a reminder not to give up, so you're not harrassed
The progression is very slow, it's really for beginners who don't know what they do.
The description says you'll learn 250 words in 5 basic areas needed by a tourist : introduce yourself, book a hotel room, order a meal, buy a ticket and shopping.

Two weeks and two days ago,

Brun Ugle wrote:So, you’re going to learn Setswana?

rdearman wrote:pffftttt
Not bloody likely!

Brun Ugle wrote:Two weeks and two days ago,

Brun Ugle wrote:So, you’re going to learn Setswana?

rdearman wrote:pffftttt
Not bloody likely!

To be fair you asked if I was going to learn Setswana, not study Setswana. Two entirely different things.

Awesome, I'm glad to see someone else also tackling an official language of South Africa! May I ask what drew you to Setswana?

The University of South Africa has a really great resource for several of South Africa's languages, including Tswana. I've started doing the Xhosa course and it's really great! There are ten lessons, and each one has a lot of vocabulary with full audio. Here's the link:

http://www.unisa.ac.za/sites/corporate/ ... n-Language

I'm planning on using some paid resources so I won't be joining the challenge, but best of luck!

Deinonysus wrote:Awesome, I'm glad to see someone else also tackling an official language of South Africa! May I ask what drew you to Setswana?

It was because I started reading some books by Alexander McCall Smith which are set in Botswana. The series The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency is a very nice set of stories about a lady detective in Botswana. He uses some Setswana, "dumêla rra" Good day sir, and "dumêla mma" Good day madam, which are the only words I had encountered, although only in the written form. My wife wants to visit Africa, and I'd like to visit Botswana. It was a vague thought which seems to have broken out in actual work.

rdearman wrote:

Deinonysus wrote:Awesome, I'm glad to see someone else also tackling an official language of South Africa! May I ask what drew you to Setswana?

It was because I started reading some books by Alexander McCall Smith which are set in Botswana. The series The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency is a very nice set of stories about a lady detective in Botswana. He uses some Setswana, "dumêla rra" Good day sir, and "dumêla mma" Good day madam, which are the only words I had encountered, although only in the written form. My wife wants to visit Africa, and I'd like to visit Botswana. It was a vague thought which seems to have broken out in actual work.

Cool! I've heard of the book; I'll have to check it out. I hope you get the chance to visit Botswana someday!

Just a quick update here regarding my FLC.

I have found a lot of resources for both languages. I didn't need the exception for the subs2srs with the Czech films, because it turns out I couldn't get the sub-titles to generate anyway in handbrake. So I'm going to blow that off. It is a straight Library exception for Czech. I've found the Setswana lessons from the Peace Corps are pretty good. I'm planning to chop up the audio and the text and create a Setswana anki deck which I'll share on ankiweb so if anyone decides to follow my path with Setswana they'll have a prepared anki deck to use.

Czech is going to be really bloody difficult even with a library exception I think. I ordered two books form the library , but will not get them until next week. A happy accident was at the weekend my daughter came back from University for a visit with her roommate who is from... wait for it... Czech Republic. She said she would teach me Czech via Skype for free. So assuming she keeps her word I've managed to get a free tutor too. Of course I did promise to assist with her computer, so technically it is a swap.