Learn a Language
Three easy ways to learn a language!
In our global economy, it never hurts to know another language. Bilingualism can open doors to new careers, new travel opportunities, new cultural experiences, and new friends worldwide.
Don’t Spend Hundreds of Dollars on Expensive Language Programs!
The Library has a multitude of resources to help you learn a new language, practice one you’re already learning, or brush up on one that you used to know. All of these resources are FREE of charge to library cardholders.
Pronunciator
Offering more than 80 languages, with more being added each year, Pronunciator is your pathway to explore new languages and cultures. If you want to learn to speak it, chances are they’ve got it.
- Pronunciator includes access to Personalized Courses; 9,600 instructional phrases per language (on average); and streamable, downloadable audio lessons.
- Pronunciator helps kids learn languages! Pronunciator is appropriate from toddlers on up, thanks to thousands of photos and customized pictograms. Units that are particularly kid-friendly are marked with a kids’ icon. Kids have access to live teachers that challenge and engage them through regular online sessions.
- Looking to take an intensive deep dive into a language? Many languages have up to ten 8-week structured courses. Each course assumes 5 days per week of study, and 30 to 60 minutes per day of commitment. With a progressive degree of difficulty, the structured courses offer up to 80 weeks (20 months — nearly 2 years) of guided learning per language.
Ready to Start Learning?
- Visit the Pronunciator’s online Help Center for any questions before starting.
- Then click the links below to begin your language-learning journey:
Bluebird app
Looking to learn a language while you’re on the treadmill or running errands? The Bluebird app from Pronunciator is your ticket! Designed specifically for mobile devices, Bluebird offers 163 languages with 12.6 million interactive audio lessons, plus unlimited personalized courses.
- Each lesson has: studio-quality audio; timecoded subtitles; timecoded photos that illustrate each instructional phrase; phonetic text option; indication of noun gender and articles when relevant; scored quizzes; and five playback speeds.
- Personalized audio courses can easily be created based on the user’s occupational or personal interests. Each personalized course comes with a custom PDF study guide.
- Lessons are automatically stored and can be played offline.
Ready to Start Learning?
Find Bluebird on wherever you get apps! PLEASE NOTE: Creating an account is simple but requires the following steps:
- Input an email address. A fake email can be entered for those who do not have an email address.
- Create a password.
- Enter your entire 14-digit library card number with no spaces as your “institutional PIN.” The app may tell you that your PIN is incorrect as you enter digits but once you enter the entire card number, it will accept it.
- Be sure to check the box “I am an institutional user and have a PIN code.”
Once signed up, you’ll have full and free access to Bluebird for the duration of your subscription!
CDs, Books and Foreign Language Films
- Your Library has a wide range of language-learning CDs for every level of fluency. You can find them by searching our catalog.
- Don’t discount the value of good, old-fashioned grammar books, language dictionaries, verb books and workbooks to assist you on your language-learning journey.
- Children’s pictures books, and especially those with accompanying audio CDs, can also be a terrific resource for language-learners of all ages. With picture books, you’ll learn whole phrases in conversational speech.
- Want it curated for you? Check out our English Language-Learning Bags! They contain audiobooks, physical books, grammar sheets and more to help you learn.
- No need to pay for costly movie memberships or subscriptions — we’ve got your foreign language films here! Search the Library’s catalog for foreign language DVDs.
