Faculty of Arts

School of Languages, Linguistics, Literatures and Culture

Languages (General)

COERLL [New]

A website developed by the Center for Open Educational Resources and Language Learning with learning materials, language tools, and teaching methods for learning languages.

Licence: Licenses may vary.

Arabic Language and Muslim Culture

Elementary Arabic I

This is an open textbook on Beginner Arabic for undergraduate students who are taking Arabic in their first semester. It addresses letters and sounds of Arabic along with basic skills in reading, speaking and writing. The book can be used as a self-study resource or as the main textbook in beginning Arabic classes.

Includes: Activities, audio files, review questions, and worksheets

Licence: CC BY 4.0

Elementary Arabic II

This open textbook is intended for beginning students of Arabic who have already covered their literacy skills and ready to explore language in a lively and interactive approach. This OER is unique in its presentation of Arabic language content through theme-based modules. Each theme is addressed through vocabulary, grammar, reading, speaking, culture, and writing components. Each chapter includes self-check embedded quizzes that help learners digest language concepts. The book is also designed with teachers in mind. Each chapter includes pair work and group tasks that the teacher can implement in class and other parts that can be assigned as homework. The focus of the book is to establish a sound basis in Standard Arabic structure in a simplified and sequenced approach. Additionally, each theme will include a conversation section in which a module on Egyptian Arabic is presented. While developing a solid foundation in written Arabic, the Egyptian Arabic component will enhance students’ spoken fluency and enrich their cultural experience in their language learning journey.

Includes: Activities, audio files, review questions, and worksheets

Licence: CC BY 4.0

FROM MSA to CA: A Beginner’s Guide to Transitioning to Colloquial Arabic

This book is for students who have studied Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) for one year or more and would like to learn colloquial Arabic basics using their knowledge of MSA. It aims at transitioning learners from Novice Mid level to Intermediate Low through presenting situations useful for living in an Arab country.

Includes: Hyperlinks, practice dialogues with open answers, cultural tips, and more.

Licence: CC BY-NC 4.0

Asian Studies

Asian Century… on a Knife-edge

This open access book delves into the widely held belief that the 21st century will be the “Asian Century” by examining the Asia’s rapid economic development in the post-war era and the challenges it faces in forging ahead of world leaders in the West. The impact of the current turbulent global political climate on Asia is critically analyzed, employing a holistic and multidisciplinary approach, combining economic, social, political and geopolitical perspectives. Written in an accessible style, the book offers students, business, government, and civil society players powerful insights on Asia.

Licence: CC BY 4.0

Basic Hindi I

Basic Hindi I is an online, interactive, theme-based textbook for the true beginner of Hindi language.

Includes: Reading/listening exercises, chapter reviews, cultural notes, links to extra optional content

Licence: CC BY 4.0

Reviews: Available through the Open Textbook Library

Global History and New Polycentric Approaches

This edited open access volume considers how global issues are connected with our local and national communities.

Licence: CC BY 4.0

A Short History of Religious and Philosophic Thought in India

This book offers an accessible introduction to the topic.

Licence: Please note that while free to read online, this content is not licensed for reuse.

South and East Asian Philosopher Reader

This open textbook was developed for use in a lower-level Philosophy course.

Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Tajik Persian: Readings in History, Culture and Society

This book seeks to help students develop reading proficiency in Tajik at advanced level through authentic texts written for native speakers and provides them glimpses into the history, culture and society of Tajikistan without losing its focus on cultural aspects of the country.

IncludesExercises and answers, glossary

Licence: CC BY-NC 4.0

Chinese Language

Chinese (Mandarin)

This book is continually being updated and refined. It assumes no prior knowledge of Chinese.

Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0

Elementary Mandarin

This course is designed for learners with no background in Chinese. It introduces basic structures of the Mandarin Chinese language with emphasis on listening, speaking, reading and writing skills.

Includes: Homework exercises, writing handouts, word lists

Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Reviews: Available through the Open Textbook Library

East Asian Studies

A History of China

This book, available through Project Gutenberg, covers prehistory, from antiquity, to the middle ages, to modern times.

Licence: Public Domain

Korean Through Folktales (PDF)

Through the selected folktales and various activities offered in the book, students can gain cultural knowledge and insights into traditional and cultural values. They will also receive linguistic lessons to reinforce their acquired skills and to apply the learned materials in an integrated approach. This book is designed to accompany first-, second-, and third-year Korean courses.

Includes: Exercises, videos

Licence: CC BY-NC 4.0

Reviews: Available through the Open Textbook Library

Interpreting Love Narratives in East Asian Literature and Film

This book explores the role of traditional East Asian worldviews, ethical values, and common practices in the shaping of East Asian narratives in literature and film.

Includes: Glossary, phrases, abbreviations, main ideas

Licence: CC BY-NC 4.0

An Outline History of East Asia to 1200, 2nd Edition

This is the second edition of the open access textbook that arose out of a course at the University of California, San Diego, called HILD 10: East Asia: The Great Tradition.  The course covers what have become two Chinas, Japan, and two Koreas from roughly 1200 BC to about AD 1200.  The book does not stand alone: the teacher should assign primary and secondary sources, study questions, dates to be memorized, etc.  The maps mostly use the same template to enable students to compare them one to the next.

Licence: CC BY-NC 4.0

Reviews: Available through the Open Textbook Library

South and East Asian Philosopher Reader

This open textbook was developed for use in a lower-level Philosophy course.

Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

SUMI-E: An Introduction to Ink Painting

Sumi-e, or ink and brush painting, is discussed in terms of the religion and philosophy it expresses.

Licence: Public Domain

French Language and Francophone Studies

CITOYEN.NE.S: Conversation en Français

Intended for teaching French conversation at the intermediate level, this text focuses on the themes of inclusivity and citizenship.

Includes: Grammar reviews, creative activities

Licence: CC BY-NC 4.0

Reviews: Available through the Open Textbook Library

Français Interactif

This open textbook accompanies course content that explores the French language and culture by following the lives of students participating in an intensive French language programming.

Includes: Videos, audio vocabulary recordings, phonetics lessons, and online activities

Licence: CC BY 4.0

Reviews: Available through the Open Textbook Library

Introduction to French

Introduction to French is a basic French language textbook designed to develop reading, writing, and speaking skills of college students in classrooms across Canada.

Includes: Audio files

Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Let’s Read French Books

This reader contains samples of 19th-century French literature, including both simplified and original texts.

Includes: Activities, glossaries

Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Liberté

This is an introductory level French textbook that is focused on the communicative approach. Each chapter includes around communicative strategies, culture and grammar.

Includes: Exercises, instructor volumes

Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Reviews: Available through the Open Textbook Library

Sons & Lettres: A pronunciation method for intermediate-level French

This textbook provides a set of classroom materials to train students to hear and produce the sounds of French and to recognize the regular spellings used to represent those sounds in print.

Includes: Exercises, audio on supplementary website

Licence: CC BY-NC 4.0

Reviews: Available through the Open Textbook Library

Written by a faculty at University of Texas Arlington, this book is intended for use with intermediate level college French classes. Its multidisciplinary approach introduces students to topics and vocabulary associated with fields such as medicine, advertising, travel, business, agriculture, and relationships.

Includes: Exercises

Licence: CC BY 4.0

Reviews: Available through the Open Textbook Library

German Language and Culture

As German as Kafka: Identity and Singularity in German Literature around 1900 and 2000

This open access book is the first to shows parallels between two riveting periods in German cultural history. Drawing on the philosophical oeuvre of Jean-Luc Nancy, a comparative reading of texts by, amongst others, Beer-Hofmann, Kermani, Özdamar, Roth, Schnitzler, and Zaimoglu examines a variety of literary approaches to the thorny issue of cultural identity, while developing an overarching perspective on the ‘politics of literature’. Please note that this book can be read for free, it is not licensed for editing or remixing.

Licence: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 (Note: This is an open access text which restricts remixing and adapting).

Beyond Autonomy in Eighteenth-Century British and German Aesthetics

Open access chapters within this copyrighted volume re-examines traditional interpretations of the rise of modern aesthetics in eighteenth-century Britain and Germany. It provides a new account that connects aesthetic experience with morality, science, and political society. In doing so, it challenges long-standing teleological narratives that emphasize disinterestedness and the separation of aesthetics from moral, cognitive, and political interests.

Licence: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 (Note: open access chapters within this copyrighted text are available but under their licensing remixing and adapting is restricted).

The Chatter of the Visible: Montage and Narrative in Weimar Germany

This open access book examines the paradoxical narrative features of the photo montage aesthetics of artists associated with Dada, Constructivism, and the New Objectivity. While montage strategies have commonly been associated with the purposeful interruption of and challenge to narrative consistency and continuity, McBride offers a historicized reappraisal of the 1920s and 1930s German photomontage work to show that its peculiar mimicry was less a rejection of narrative and more an extension or permutation of it—a means for thinking in narrative textures exceeding constraints imposed by “flat” print media (especially the novel and other literary genres).

Licence: CC BY 4.0

Deutsch im Blick – 2nd Edition

This textbook includes all 10 chapters of Deutsch im Blick. It accompanies the web-based first-year German program developed and in use at the University of Texas since 2008, and its companion site, Grimm Grammar. Deutsch im Blick is an open-access site with free and open multimedia resources, which requires neither password nor fees. For beginner and early intermediate students of German.

Includes: Pronunciation, group activities, cultural information, reading tasks, writing activities, and games

Licence: CC BY 4.0

Reviews: Available through the Open Textbook Library

The Drama of German Expressionism: A German-English Bibliography

Originally published in 1960, this open access bibliography with more than five thousand items provided an indispensable tool for those interested in the German expressionist plays. The volume contains a general bibliography on German expressionistic drama and as well as sixteen leading German playwrights: Barlach, Brecht, Bronnen, Goering, Hasenclever, Jahnn, Johst, Kaiser, Kokoschka, Kornfeld, Rubiner, Sorge, Sternheim, Toller, Unruh, and Werfel.

Licence: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 (Note: This is an open access text which restricts remixing and adapting).

Envisioning Socialism: Television and the Cold War in the German Democratic Republic

Envisioning Socialism examines television and the power it exercised to define the East Germans’ view of socialism during the first decades of the German Democratic Republic. In the first book in English to examine this topic, Heather L. Gumbert traces how television became a medium prized for its communicative and entertainment value. She explores the difficulties GDR authorities had defining and executing a clear vision of the society they hoped to establish, and she explains how television helped to stabilize GDR society in a way that ultimately worked against the utopian vision the authorities thought they were cultivating. Gumbert challenges those who would dismiss East German television as a tool of repression that couldn’t compete with the West or capture the imagination of East Germans. Instead, she shows how, by the early 1960s, television was a model of the kind of socialist realist art that could appeal to authorities and audiences. Ultimately, this socialist vision was overcome by the challenges that the international market in media products and technologies posed to nation-building in the postwar period. A history of ideas and perceptions examining both real and mediated historical conditions, Envisioning Socialism considers television as a technology, an institution, and a medium of social relations and cultural knowledge. The open access book will be welcomed in undergraduate and graduate courses in German and media history, the history of postwar Socialism, and the history of science and technologies.

Licence: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 (Note: This is an open access text which restricts remixing and adapting).

A Foundation Course in Reading German

A textbook published by University of Wisconsin-Madison and went through many versions over the years, it is designed to guide a learner who has no previous German experience to gain the ability to accurately understand formal written German prose, aided only by a comprehensive dictionary. 

Includes: Objectives, exercises, and answer keys

Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Friedrich Nietzsche’s Impact on Modern German Literature: Five Essays

These previously published essays discuss Nietzsche’s influence on Arthur Schnitzler, Carl Sternheim, Georg Kaiser, Robert Musil, and Hermann Hesse. As a Festschrift, it also contains a tribute to Herbert W. Reichert and a bibliography of his writings.

Licence: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 (Note: This is an open access text which restricts remixing and adapting).

From Goethe to Gundolf: Essays on German Literature and Culture

From Goethe to Gundolf: Essays on German Literature and Culture is an open access collection of Roger Paulin’s essays, spanning the last forty years. The work represents his major research interests of Romanticism and the reception of Shakespeare in Germany, but also explores a broader range of themes, from poetry and the public memorialization of poets to fairy stories – all meticulously researched, yet highly accessible.

Licence: CC BY 4.0

German Frame-semantic Online Lexicon

This open German-English vocabulary resource applies the linguistic theory of Frame Semantics to the language classroom in an effort to teach the meanings of vocabulary items and how to use them appropriately.

Includes: Videos, activities

Licence: CC BY 4.0

The German Poetry of Paul Fleming: Studies in Genre and History

This open access study reassesses the poetry of Paul Fleming (1609-1640) in the context of its own literary, historical, and social background. The four chapters focus initially on generic and historical context. The study of selected texts leads to more general considerations of the sources and significance of certain major themes. A number of poems by Fleming and poets contemporary with him uncovered in the twentieth century are evaluated here for the first time. The result is a substantially revised view of Fleming’s poetic development. Fleming is shown to have been a more complex and wide-ranging poet than was conventionally thought, one whose debt to Renaissance literary traditions has been underestimated.

Licence: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 (Note: This is an open access text which restricts remixing and adapting).

The German Studies Collaboratory

The Teaching Hub provides a central location for educational materials — syllabi, assignments, projects, activities, lesson plans, frameworks — developed by your German Studies colleagues.

Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0, unless otherwise noted

Germany on their Minds: German Jewish Refugees in the United States and their Relationships with Germany, 1938-1988

Throughout the 1930s and early 1940s, before closing its borders to Jewish refugees, the United States granted asylum to approximately 90,000 German Jews fleeing the horrors of the Third Reich. And while most became active participants in American society, they also often constructed their individual and communal lives and identities in relation to their home country. Author Anne C. Schenderlein gives a fascinating account of these entangled histories on both sides of the Atlantic, and demonstrates the remarkable extent to which German Jewish refugees helped to shape the course of West German democratization.

Licence: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 (Note: This is an open access text which restricts remixing and adapting).

The Global Lives of German Migrants: Consequences of International Migration Across the Life Course

Based on the German case, this open access book highlights the increasing flows of migration and the internationalisation of individual life courses. It analyses the experiences of migration across four central domains – employment and income, partners and families, health and wellbeing, as well as friends and social participation – which potentially have far-reaching consequences for social inequalities and life chances. The book showcases results from an innovative probability sample that is representative of German emigrants who recently moved abroad and remigrants who recently returned from abroad and compares their international experiences with the sedentary population in Germany. Stays abroad, whether temporary or permanently, have become the new normal for increasing numbers of people from highly developed welfare states. Unnoticed from mainstream migration studies, these countries are today not only major immigration countries but also important sources of international mobility. By providing an empirically founded prism of the global lives of German migrants, this book is a valuable resource for students and researchers of migration, social inequality, and the life course and provides practitioners with insights into these regularly overlooked aspects of international migration.

Licence: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 (Note: This is an open access text which restricts remixing and adapting).

Grenzenlos Deutsch: An open-access curriculum for beginning German

This full-year curriculum is intended as a no-cost alternative to current, more traditional textbooks in the field. It mixes materials rooted in real-world, contemporary communication scenarios, multimedia content, and online learning activities. The Grenzenlos Deutsch curriculum ensures that the topics of discussion in the language classroom are relevant to and reflect today’s world.

Includes: Interactive exercises and recommended media resources

Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

On the Literature and Thought of the German Classical Era: Collected Essays

This elegant collection of essays ranges across eighteenth and nineteenth-century thought, covering philosophy, science, literature and religion in the ‘Age of Goethe.’ A recognised authority in the field, Nisbet grapples with the major voices of the Enlightenment and gives pride of place to the figures of Lessing, Herder, Goethe and Schiller.

Licence: CC BY 4.0

This book covers the role of music in New German cinema.

Licence: Please note that this volume is available online for free, but is not licensed for reuse

Realism and Reality: Studies in the German Novelle of Poetic Realism

In this 1954 study of poetic realism and the “Novelle” form, Silz examines nine “Novellen” by Brentano, Arnim, Droste-Hülshoff, Stifter, Grillsparzer, Keller, Meyer, Storm and Hauptmann. Through his textual interpretation of each of these works Silz draws the threads of the transition from Romanticism to Naturalism as well as the development of the “Novelle” form.

Licence: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 (Note: This is an open access text which restricts remixing and adapting).

A Second Life: German Cinema’s First Decades

German cinema is best known for its art cinema and its long line of outstanding individual directors. The double spotlight on these two subject has only deepened the obscurity surrounding the popular cinema. This book covers the overlooked period of the first two decades of German cinema.

Licence: Please note that this volume is available online for free, but is still under all rights reserved and is not licensed for reuse

Studies in the German Drama: A Festschrift in Honor of Walter Silz

Sixteen of his former colleagues and students join in this volume in honoring Walter Silz. Concentrating on a single theme-the German drama-this volume contains essays and interpretations of plays ranging from Hrotsvit von Gandersheim to Bertolt Brecht. Eight of the sixteen essays deal with dramas from the area of Silz’s main concentration-the nineteenth century. Also included are a tribute to Silz and a bibliography of his writings.

Licence: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 (Note: This is an open access text which restricts remixing and adapting).

Studies in German Literature of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries: Festschrift for Frederic E. Coenen

Twenty-one distinguished American Germanists pay tribute to F. E. Coenen, previous longtime editor (1952-1968) of UNC Press’ Studies in Germanic Languages and Literatures series. Their essays-reflecting a variety of approaches-deal with many major (Goethe, Kleist, Droste-Hülshoff, Keller, Nietsche, Rilke, Kafka, Hesse, Brecht, Thomas Mann, Musil) and some minor figures who have influenced the literary scene after 1800 and add significantly to both scholarship in and interpretation of modern German literature.

Licence: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 (Note: This is an open access text which restricts remixing and adapting).

Treatment of Natives in the German Colonies

In preparation for the peace conference that was expected to follow World War I, in the spring of 1917 the British Foreign Office established a special section responsible for preparing background information for use by British delegates to the conference. Treatment of Natives in the German Colonies is Number 114 in a series of more than 160 studies produced by the section, most of which were published after the conclusion of the 1919 Paris Peace Conference.

Licence: Public Domain

Violent Modernists: The Aesthetics of Destruction in Twentieth-Century German Literature

Kai Evers’s Violent Modernists: The Aesthetics of Destruction in Twentieth-Century German Literature develops a new understanding of German modernism that moves beyond the oversimplified dichotomy of an avant-garde prone to aggression on the one hand and a modernism opposed to violence on the other. Analyzing works by Robert Musil, Franz Kafka, Karl Kraus, Walter Benjamin, Elias Canetti, and others, Evers argues that these authors are among the most innovative thinkers on violence and its impact on contemporary concepts of the self, history, and society.

Licence: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 (Note: This is an open access text which restricts remixing and adapting).

Willkommen: Deutsch für alle: Introductory German

Willkommen: Deutsch für alle is an innovative first-year German language e-textbook, designed as Open Educational Resource (OER), for learning German at the college/university level. It features a task-based, communicative approach which provides students with opportunities to communicate in German in a variety of contexts and situations. Through a wide range of activities, students develop and practice their language skills which they showcase at the end of each chapter by accomplishing a specific task. Willkommen: Deutsch für alle follows a blended-learning model, a combination of alternating in-class (face-to-face) instruction and interaction, and online (self-paced) individual learning. Both in-class and online activities encourage students to practice the three communicative modes (interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational) and thus the four language skills in an integrated manner. In-class activities provide opportunities for students to use their interactive language skills in a collaborative environment. Online activities aim to review materials from the previous lesson as well as allow students to engage with new information at their own pace. Willkommen: Deutsch für alle takes an inclusive approach to the depiction of people, contexts, and concepts. It views language learners, instructors and a wide range of individuals interacting in German as belonging to a large German-speaking community. Pedagogical as well as authentic cultural materials emphasize the diversity of speakers of German and are purposely inclusive of sexual orientation, race, and ethnicity.

Includes: Interactive exercises

Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Indigenous Languages

Bloomfield’s Texts

This website presents the texts collected by Leonard Bloomfield in 1930.  The website contains links to over eighty stories that are written in both Cree and English.  Since these texts were part of the public domain, the Internet Archive made them available, but this new presentation represents another strategy to further collect, preserve, and make available these stories which is an endeavor that began nearly a hundred years ago. Leonard Bloomfield was a linguist who was commissioned by the National Museum of Canada to record stories from master speakers and storytellers which became the book that was published in the 1930s called Sacred Stories of the Sweet Grass Cree. Aaron Fay [who programmed and presented this website] is skilled at programming and at presenting information which has allowed these stories to be archived in this user-friendly fashion.  Information pertaining to Aaron was difficult to locate, but Aaron is likely Indigenous and the Cree Literacy Network states that Aaron is heavily committed to learning the Cree language (Description take from Maskwacis Cultural College’s Indigenous Open-Source Annotated Guide licensed under a CC BY 4.0 Licence).

Licence: Public Domain

Chapter 11. Indigenous Languages in Essentials of Linguistics

This textbook chapter is about Indigenous languages. The chapter details how the settler government actively worked to endanger Indigenous languages. It also covers the importance of language in crafting Indigenous people’s identities. As well, it notes the skill sets that linguists’ can offer to help Indigenous Peoples in revitalizing and preserving their languages. It details preserving and learning the Mohawk language as well as learning about Mohawk culture. It also covers creating materials for teaching Mohawk and how speaking Mohawk is vital in reconciliation efforts (Description take from Maskwacis Cultural College’s Indigenous Open-Source Annotated Guide licensed under a CC BY 4.0 Licence).

Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0

Cree: Language of the Plains / nēhiyawēwin: paskwāwi-pīkiskwēwin

Cree: Language of the Plains is a comprehensive educational resource, offering a broad range of learning materials that is easily accessible to Cree language learners. This collection includes an updated and redesigned Cree language textbook, Cree language audio labs, and a Cree language workbook.

Licence: CC BY-NC-ND (Note: This is an open access text which restricts remixing and adapting).

First Voices Languages

This is an online space for Indigenous communities to share and promote language, oral culture and linguistic history. Language teams work with elders to curate and upload audio recordings, dictionaries, songs and stories. Some of this content is shared with community members only, and some is shared with the broader public.

Licence: Note that the copyright holder has made the content on the website available to use online, however they are not openly licence.

Little Cree Books

The Little Cree Books Project publishes short books for beginning readers in Swampy and Plains Cree.

Licence: CC BY-NC-SA, unless otherwise noted

Ojibwe People’s Dictionary

This online dictionary can be browsed or searched, and currently contains 17,000 word entries.

Licence: CC BY-NC-SA is applied to most of the website; however, some videos, photographs, and contributed materials are copyrighted. Please refer to individual resource licence information.

Italian Language and Culture

Italian Grammar Open Textbook

This resource provides lessons and activities for beginning Italian grammar.

Licence: CC BY-NC 4.0

Spunti: Italiano elementare 1

Welcome to Spunti: Italiano elementare 1 – a new, unique program, authored by the Italian faculty of Muhlenberg College, that takes the place of a traditional language textbook. Spunti is a fully designed course that a college instructor of Italian can use and adapt.

Includes: Interactive exercises

Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Spunti: Italiano elementare 2

Welcome to Spunti: Italiano elementare 2 – a new, unique program, authored by the Italian faculty of Muhlenberg College, that takes the place of a traditional language textbook. Spunti is a fully designed course that a college instructor of Italian can use and adapt.

Includes: Interactive exercises

Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Spunti: Italiano intermedio

Welcome to Spunti: italiano intermedio – a unique program, authored by the Italian faculty of Muhlenberg College, that takes the place of a traditional language textbook. Spunti is a fully designed course that a college instructor of Italian can use and adapt.

Includes: Interactive exercises

Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Tutt* a tavola!: Volume 1

This textbook is volume one of two for a beginning Italian course. Volume 1 has six chapters, each related to a particular cultural theme.

Includes: Songs and videos

Licence: CC BY-NC 4.0

Tutt* a tavola!: Volume 2

This textbook is volume two of two for a beginning Italian course. Volume 2 includes short literary texts in Italian.

Includes: Songs and videos

Licence: CC BY-NC 4.0

Japanese Language and Culture

Beginning Japanese for Professionals: Book 1

This textbook is designed for beginning learners who want to learn basic Japanese for the purpose of living and working in Japan. Unlike textbooks written primarily for students, whose content largely centers on student life, this book focuses more on social and professional life beyond school. As a beginning level textbook, this book includes many elementary grammar patterns (Japanese Language Proficiency Test Levels 5 and 4), but the vocabulary and situations are selected specifically for working adults. Explanations are kept concise so as to only cover key points. The main focus is on oral communication and the accompanying audio is to be used extensively. This textbook can be used for self-study, as part of an online course, or as a traditional college course.

Includes: Lesson reviews, drills and exercises

Licence: CC BY-NC 4.0

Reviews: Available through the Open Textbook Library

Beginning Japanese for Professionals: Book 2

This textbook is designed for beginning learners who want to learn basic Japanese for the purpose of living and working in Japan. Unlike textbooks written primarily for students, whose content largely centers on student life, this book focuses more on social and professional life beyond school. As a beginning level textbook, this book includes many elementary grammar patterns (Japanese Language Proficiency Test Levels 5 and 4), but the vocabulary and situations are selected specifically for working adults. Explanations are kept concise so as to only cover key points. The main focus is on oral communication and the accompanying audio is to be used extensively. This textbook can be used for self-study, as part of an online course, or as a traditional college course.

Includes: Lesson reviews, drills and exercises

Licence: CC BY-NC 4.0

Beginning Japanese for Professionals: Book 3

This textbook is designed for beginning learners who want to learn basic Japanese for the purpose of living and working in Japan. Unlike textbooks written primarily for students, whose content largely centers on student life, this book focuses more on social and professional life beyond school. As a beginning level textbook, this book includes many elementary grammar patterns (Japanese Language Proficiency Test Levels 5 and 4), but the vocabulary and situations are selected specifically for working adults. Explanations are kept concise so as to only cover key points. The main focus is on oral communication and the accompanying audio is to be used extensively. This textbook can be used for self-study, as part of an online course, or as a traditional college course. Audio files are also available online.

Includes: Lesson reviews, drills and exercises

Licence: CC BY-NC 4.0

The Collection of Creative Writing By Learners of Japanese リレー小説集

This project aims to promote creative writing skills among Japanese language learners and provide them with opportunities to publish their work to benefit future learners.

Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0

Digital Meijis Revisualizing Modern Japanese History at 150

This book was produced through the Meiji at 150 project, which convened over 60 scholars of Japanese studies from around North America, Japan, and Europe to situate Japan in global history and to interrogate the place of the Meiji Restoration in Japanese history, historical pedagogy, and cultural studies.

Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Ghost and the Japanese: Cultural Experience in Japanese Death Legends

This scholarly but accessible work shows how everyday beliefs and customs–particularly death traditions–offer special insight into the living culture of Japan.

Licence: Note that while this resource is free to use, it is not licensed for editing or remixing.

Japanese Irodori

The Japanese-language coursebook Irodori: Japanese for Life in Japan is a textbook for foreign people to learn basic Japanese communication skills that are needed for daily life and working in Japan.

Licence: Note that while this resource is free to use, it is not licensed for editing or remixing.

Japanese – Wikibook

This is an ongoing project that attempts to encompass all aspects of the Japanese language, including pronunciation, reading, writing, and grammar.

Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0

Preadvanced Japanese

This textbook is designed for students who have intermediate competency in Japanese, roughly at Level 2 on the ILR (The Interagency Language Roundtable) proficiency scale, and are working on reaching Level 3. This textbook can be used for self-study, as part of online course, and in a traditional classroom setting.

Licence: CC BY-NC 4.0

Reviews: Available through the Open Textbook Library

Latin

Open Greek and Latin Project

The ultimate goal is to represent every source text produced in Classical Greek or Latin from antiquity through the present, including texts preserved in manuscript tradition as well as on inscriptions, papyri, ostraca and other written artefacts.

Licence: CC BY-SA

Linguistics

Analyzing Meaning: An Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics

This book provides an introduction to the study of meaning in human language, from a linguistic perspective. It covers a fairly broad range of topics, including lexical semantics, compositional semantics, and pragmatics. The chapters are organized into six units: (1) Foundational concepts; (2) Word meanings; (3) Implicature (including indirect speech acts); (4) Compositional semantics; (5) Modals, conditionals, and causation; (6) Tense & aspect.

Includes: Discussion and homework exercises

Licence: CC BY-NC 4.0

Reviews: Available through the Open Textbook Library

Chapter 11. Indigenous Languages in Essentials of Linguistics

This textbook chapter is about Indigenous languages. The chapter details how the settler government actively worked to endanger Indigenous languages. It also covers the importance of language in crafting Indigenous people’s identities. As well, it notes the skill sets that linguists’ can offer to help Indigenous Peoples in revitalizing and preserving their languages. It details preserving and learning the Mohawk language as well as learning about Mohawk culture. It also covers creating materials for teaching Mohawk and how speaking Mohawk is vital in reconciliation efforts (Description take from Maskwacis Cultural College’s Indigenous Open-Source Annotated Guide licensed under a CC BY 4.0 Licence).

Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0

Essentials of Linguistics

This peer-reviewed open textbook covers the core areas of theoretical linguistics (phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics), supplemented with discussion of psycholinguistic and neurolinguistic findings.

Includes: Videos, interactive assessments.

Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0

How Language Works (Gasser) (LibreTexts)

This LibreTexts textbook looks at a range of introductory topics and themes related to linguistics, the science of language. It examines some of the biases we all have concerning language and uses this as a base for its exploration.

Includes: Exercises, instructor and student resources

Licence: GNU General Public License v3 (GPLv3)

Languages and Worldview

Asking and answering questions about what culture entails and examines the fundamental properties and intertwining nature of language and culture. This text explores linguistic relativity, lexical differences among languages and intercultural communication, including high and low contexts.

Includes: Videos, transcripts, and exercises

Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Reviews: Available through the Open Textbook Library

The Open Handbook of Linguistic Data Management

A guide to principles and methods for the management, archiving, sharing, and citing of linguistic research data, especially digital data. This resource would be suitable for graduate students.

Licence: CC BY-NC 4.0

Portuguese Language and Culture

Bate-Papo: An Introduction to Portuguese

This book was developed having in mind university students who speak English as their first language. We also took into consideration speakers of Spanish by highlighting some key similarities and differences between the two languages. The main focus of this edition is on Brazilian Portuguese. Occasionally, we highlight main differences between Brazilian Portuguese, Portuguese spoken in Africa and Asia, and European Portuguese. This e-book emphasizes meaningful communicative activities for a classroom setting, focusing on everyday language in Brazilian Portuguese.

Includes: Interactive activities and podcasts

Licence: CC BY 4.0

ClicaBrasil: Portuguese Language and Culture for Intermediate Students

ClicaBrasil was developed for intermediate-level Portuguese language courses at UT-Austin. People all over the world are now using it for different purposes: self-study, classroom instruction, tutoring, or as a pastime. The lessons in ClicaBrasil integrate reading, writing, listening and reading comprehension, grammar, vocabulary, oral communication, and cultural activities. Numerous video clips (157, to be precise!) show different Brazilians speaking about their lives, their culture, and their country support and enhance these activities.

Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Conversa Brasileira

Conversa Brasileira is an online open-access site that contains a series of 35 video scenarios in which Brazilians talk about their daily activities, everything from hobbies to shopping, and from traffic jams to soccer games. These materials are designed to help intermediate- and advanced-level learners of Portuguese to analyze the way that Brazilians really talk and improve in their own proficiency and fluency. This textbook provides a hard copy of all of the online materials, including the dialog transcriptions, English translations, and lesson notes that link to the original website.

Licence: CC BY 3.0

Português para principiantes

Português para principiantes is a time-tested text which can be used in conjunction with a variety of approaches to the teaching of beginning Portuguese. This media-rich text is designed to provide learners with a solid grammatical basis for using Brazilian Portuguese as well as regular opportunities to practice and improve their ability to read, speak, and understand the Portuguese language as it is used in contemporary Brazil.

Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Russian Language and Culture

“The Death of Ivan Ilich”: An Electronic Study Edition of the Russian Text

The Russian text of “The Death of Ivan Ilich” is presented for study in various formats: accompanied by an English translation; fully glossed, with explanatory and interpretive annotations; and supplemented by introductory remarks and an extensive bibliography.

Licence: CC BY-NC 4.0

Decoding the 1920s: A Reader for Advanced Learners of Russian

The materials presented in this book were developed for an advanced-level content-based Russian language course at Portland State University entitled “Russian Literature of the Twentieth Century: The 1920s.” Literature of this period is a major part of the Russian canon, but is notoriously difficult for learners of Russian to read in the original, due both to its stylistic complexity and the relative obscurity of its historical, political, and cultural references. And yet, this decade is crucial for understanding Russia – not only in the Soviet period, but also today. This was the period, when Mikhail Zoshchenko, Isaak Babel, Mikhail Bulgakov, and Andrei Platonov meticulously documented the birth of the “New Soviet Man,” his “newspeak” and Soviet bureaucratese; when Alexandra Kollontai, a Marxist revolutionary and a diplomat, wrote essays and fiction on the “New Soviet Woman”; when numerous satirical works were created; when Babel experimented with a literary representation of dialects (e.g., Odessa Russian or Jewish Russian). These varieties of language have not disappeared. Bureaucrats still use some form of bureaucratese. Numerous contemporary TV shows imitate the dialects that Babel described. Moreover, Bulgakov’s “Heart of a Dog” gave rise, due largely to its film adaptation, to catch-phrases that still appear throughout contemporary Russian media, satirical contexts, and everyday conversation. Thus, the Russian literature of the 1920s does not belong exclusively to the past, but has relevance and interpretive power for the present, and language learners who wish to pursue a career in humanities, media analysis, analytical translation, journalism, or international relations must understand this period and the linguistic patterns it established.

The textbook is intended for adult learners, and contains language assignments that would, on the one hand, help students transition to ACTFL’s Advanced proficiency level (i.e., be able to create “narratives, descriptions, and summaries … using paraphrasing and elaboration” (ACTFL 2012: 12).), but at the same time promote meaningful engagement with literary texts. The assignments in this textbook are multilevel ones, and thus offer a solution for multilevel classes that include literate heritage Russian speakers, Intermediate High, Advanced, or even Superior-level readers.

Licence: CC BY-NC 4.0

Spanish Language and Culture

Acceso: University of Kansas Collaborative Digital Spanish Project

This digital learning environment is designed to promote the acquisition of Spanish and the development of cultural understanding of the varied groups of people who share Spanish as a common language.

Includes: Instructor materials by request

Licence: CC BY-NC 4.0

Antologia Abierta de Literatura Hispana

A critical anthology of literary texts from the Spanish-speaking world. A focus on canonical authors and an attempt to include voices that have been marginalized. Each text includes an introduction and annotations created by students.

Includes: Excerpts of literary texts, annotations, author biographies and bibliographies

Licence: CC BY 4.0

Reviews: Available through the Open Textbook Library

Beginning Spanish ¡Empecemos por aquí!

Beginning Spanish ¡Empecemos por aquí! focuses on the development of communication skills in interpretive, interpersonal, and presentational modes while centering student voices. Activities engage learners in real exchanges of information on topics that are relevant to adult students. In addition to language-acquisition learning outcomes, this text supports learning outcomes in diversity, equity, inclusion, cultural sustainability, and social justice.

Includes: Audio files, exercises, glossary

Licence: CC BY-NC 4.0

Culturas hispanas a través de la pantalla / Hispanic Cultures Through the Screen

This text discusses representation of Hispanic cultures in media. It is presented in both English and Spanish.

Includes: assignments

Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Hola a Todos: Elementary Spanish I

A textbook for introductory Spanish.

Includes: Grammar and vocabulary pre-class activities, lectures, and post-class homework

Licence: CC BY 4.0

JUNTXS: Introductory Spanish

JUNTXS is an open-access educational resource that can be used in conjunction with a variety of approaches to support beginning learners of Spanish. This media-rich learning resource is designed to guide learners in their Spanish language learning journey through a critical and intercultural lens and to provide regular opportunities to explore, practice, and improve their ability to read, speak, and understand this language as it is used across the Spanish-speaking world.

Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Introducción al Español

Introducción al Español is a basic Spanish language textbook designed to develop reading, writing, and speaking skills of college students in classrooms across Canada. Different topics will be used to support the use and development of correct grammar skills and vocabulary. The material is presented in a reader-friendly, accessible way, with audio files accompanying vocabulary lists to reinforce correct pronunciation and H5P interactives included to engage and reinforce learning.

Includes: Audio files, interactive exercises

Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Leyendas y arquetipos del Romanticismo espanol, Segunda edicion

Leyendas y arquetipos del Romanticismo español is an introduction to nineteenth-century Spanish literature with a thematic focus on legends and archetypes. It presents Romanticism in the context of nineteenth-century literary and social movements. It is designed as a first anthology for intermediate Spanish students at American universities. Although brief, it includes poetry, drama in verse and short story. The works have been selected for their literary interest and the social importance of their themes. They are all by canonical authors.

Includes: Annotations, vocabulary notes, comprehension and discussion questions

Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Reviews: Available through the Open Textbook Library

Libro Libre: Beginning Spanish

A textbook for introductory Spanish that has been positively reviewed.

Includes: Activities, videos

Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Reviews: Available through the Open Textbook Library

La lingüística hispánica: Una introducción

This book, a work in progress, is aimed at students of Spanish in universities in the US and intends to offer a brief and simple introduction to the field of Hispanic Linguistics. It includes basic concepts in linguistics, essays that address topic of social relevance connecting linguistics to everyday life, and exercises to practice the concepts. Links to relevant material across the internet are also provided. The book is entirely created from texts and materials authored by mainly undergraduate students and it also includes the work and effort of student-editors, as part of a long-term open pedagogy project.

Includes: Exercises

Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Reviews: Available through the Open Textbook Library

A parar bien la oreja: cuaderno de comprensión auditiva

A parar bien la oreja: Cuaderno de comprensión auditiva es un esfuerzo colaborativo para crear y poner en práctica recursos didácticos que permitan a los estudiantes de español como lengua extranjera (ELE) acercarse a la comprensión auditiva desde un enfoque interactivo a través de recursos educativos abiertos (REA). Sin duda, la enseñanza y aprendizaje de lenguas extranjeras hoy en día implica una relación estrecha con la tecnología, tal y como lo propone el Marco Común de Competencia Digital Docente (2017).

Includes: Interactive exercises

Licence: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 (Note: for this resource assigning sections is permitted, but adaptations are not allowed without permission)

¡Que viva la música!: Repaso de conversación en español

Designed for intermediate learners, this text focuses on conversational Spanish.

Includes: Spotify playlist

Licence: CC BY-NC

Reviews: Available through the Open Textbook Library

Recorridos por la literatura hispana: Aventuras de don Quijote de la Mancha

The language of the Siglo de Oro can be an insurmountable barrier for many readers. This textbook provides historical information, narrative techniques, lists of characters, themes and keywords before they begin to read each chapter of Don Quixote. While reading, vocabulary glossed in comprehensible Spanish appears in the margin opposite challenging words. Cultural references and proverbs from the work facilitate a deeper understanding. Each chapter contains checks for understanding and ends with activities to build vocabulary. It includes required chapters 1-8, 10, 17 and 74 for AP classrooms.

Includes: Vocabulary glosses, activities

Licence: CC BY 4.0

Reviews: Available through the Open Textbook Library

Spanish I: Beginning Spanish Language and Culture

This peer-reviewed textbook contains themed chapters, which are divided into 8 sections. Each section has its own set of learning objectives, and is further separated into three types of assignments, Para estudiar en casa (with detailed explanations), Para practicar en casa (homework exercises), and Para practicar en clase (paired and group classwork activities). The individual exercises are geared towards acquisition of form and function, and the communicative classwork exercises promote interpersonal exchanges between students.

Includes: Audio files, exercises, activities

Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Reviews: Available through the Open Textbook Library

Spanish Grammar in Context

Spanish Grammar in Context is a unique website that provides detailed grammar explanations and examples of the Spanish language with accompanying practice questions. Unlike traditional reference grammars, each topic is explained using authentic video examples. These examples come from the Spanish in Texas project, which profiles Spanish as it is spoken throughout Texas today. Online practice quizzes are included for each grammar section.

Includes: Audio files and quizzes

Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

¡Voy en camino! [New]

¡Voy en camino! means “I’m on my way” in Spanish. Since learning an additional language and the culture is a journey in itself ¡Voy en camino! captures the voyage to get there. With its digital format and open publication ¡Voy en camino! is meant to serve the first two introductory Spanish language courses at Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) with Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC). ¡Voy en camino! is also meant to join the Spanish teaching open education community and provide access to learning to interested users.[Description from resource].

Licence: CC BY-NC

Yo puedo: para empezar

This text is designed for beginning Spanish students and incorporates a flipped-classroom approach.

Includes: Bilingual glossary, videos

Licence: CC BY-NC

Reviews: Available through the Open Textbook Library

Yo puedo: segundos pasos

Following on from the previous entry, this Spanish textbook is designed for those who have some basic knowledge of Spanish.

Includes: Bilingual glossary

Licence: CC BY-NC

Reviews: Available through the Open Textbook Library

World Literature and Cultures

The Anthology of World Literature 1650-present

By engaging with this resource which presents texts by diverse world writers from 1650 to the present, learners will: (1) engage with diverse world writers in translation, including canonical and less canonical texts, and (2) identify literary conventions and trends across genres. The texts are in chronological order, but can be adapted by the faculty in whatever way they see fit. Each text is introduced with a brief discussion of author, original language and time period, and the literary conventions the students can expect to see in the text.

Includes: Question sets

Licence: CC BY 4.0

Cànan tro Òrain: Lesson Plans Centred on Gaelic Song

Cànan tro Òrain is an open online Scottish Gaelic language educational resource for instructors. It contains language and culture lesson plans based on Gaelic song. Teachers are encouraged to use these lessons and adapt them to their individual needs.

Licence: CC BY-NC 4.0

Center for Open Educational Resources and Language Learning – Materials

The Center for Open Educational Resources & Language Learning (COERLL) is a National Foreign Language Resource Center funded by the U.S. Department of Education. The overall mission of these federally-funded centers is to improve the teaching and learning of foreign languages by producing resources (materials and best practices) that can be profitably employed in a variety of settings. COERLL’s work is organized around seven basic areas: Applied linguistic research, Teaching materials Language assessment, Teacher development, Less commonly taught languages, K-12 initiatives, and Outreach and dissemination. Languages covered include Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.

Licence: Various CC Licences

Introduction to World Literature Anthology

The texts contained in this anthology each perform a particular purpose and represent an aspect of the rich cultures that populate our world. By attending to the cultural significance of literary texts from around the world and connecting them via a unifying theme, we can begin to identify cultural similarities that make the world a more dynamic and interesting place to live. This anthology seeks to show the unity of world literature through a form of radical familiarity, while at the same time preserving and admiring the different cultures from which the literature was produced.

Includes: Question sets

Licence: CC BY 4.0

World Literature I: Beginnings to 1650

Since the dawn of language, humankind has exchanged stories, either through storytellers around a hearth or through scribes tirelessly copying various texts. This literature allows modern audience a window through which we can peer into the distant past. It provides vital clues for the interpretation of history, language, and culture. It is through literature that one may compare and gain a greater understanding of other civilizations. This anthology comprises three comprehensive collections that provide samples of literature from around the world and across the ages, ranging from some of the oldest tales that have survived into modernity to works from the 1650s. These texts provide an opportunity for readers to engage in extensive analysis of the works themselves and the societies that influenced and were influenced by them. This peer-reviewed World Literature I anthology includes introductory text and images before each series of readings. Sections of the text are divided by time period in three parts: the Ancient World, Middle Ages, and Renaissance, and then divided into chapters by location.

Includes: Question sets

Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0

Reviews: Available through the Open Textbook Library


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