Learning Languages

Interested in learning about a different language, or even learning some vocabulary and basic phrases? ibiblio hosts a few websites that are designed to teach languages to English speakers. Here is a collection of online dictionaries and informational sites that will help you learn about different languages and their culture and history!

Learn Tamil

Tamil is a language that is primarily spoken in India and Southern Asia and has over 66 million speakers worldwide (Britannica). It is the oldest language in the Dravidian language family and its earliest form has similarities to ancient Sanskrit.

Learn Tamil is a resource suitable for students of all ages who want to learn Tamil. The guide starts with an introduction to the Thamil Alphabet and works through verbs, cases, numbers, negatives, and other vocabulary. There is also a resource page where you can find links to games, movies, and books that will help you learn Tamil.

Catalan Dictionary

Catalan is a Romance language that is native to Spain and regions near the Pyrenees Mountains (Wikipedia). It uses the Latin alphabet and has about 9.5 million speakers worldwide. Most Catalan speakers are bilingual and speak both Catalan and Spanish.

This is an open-source English-Catalan dictionary with over 20,000 entries and a conjugator tool for conjugating verbs. Users can search for words in English and view results in Catalan, or vice versa.

Koine Greek

Koine Greek, also known as Biblical Greek, was the main form of Greek from about 300 BCE to about 600 CE (Wikipedia). It was often used in writing and it is most widely known for its use in the Christian New Testament and the Septuagint, which is the first Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible.

The Little Greek website provides pronunciation guides, verb tables, and grammar and vocabulary resource recommendations. There are also examples of Koine Greek being used in biblical translations so users can see what the phrases would look like in English.

More Resources

ibiblio hosts sites that provide information about Gaelic languages, Old English, and Japanese, and more. You also can browse the Languages and Culture tag, which features over 15 unique languages and has materials for learning about cultures from all around the world!