Language learning

Check out these free resources that can support your language learning.

Learning and developing your use of language is an excellent way to build communication skills and cultural awareness. It can support travel, study and working abroad, which in turn can help you to gain new experiences, meet new people, and develop your employability skills.

OpenLearn free courses

The Open University’s OpenLearn platform offers free language courses including Chinese, English Language, Gaelic, Italian and Welsh with advanced content for French, Spanish and German. They include a variety of exercises to develop your reading, writing, listening and speaking skills, and to enhance your understanding of cultures associated with these languages.

Language learning apps

Apps like Duolingo, Memrise and Busuu are a great way to learn a language through short, interactive activities. Quite a lot of content on these apps can be used for free (without a subscription). They are particularly good for beginners who want a fun way to learn a new language.

Language learning books and e-books

The Library also has a range of language learning books and e-books (including some with audio content). These can be particularly helpful if you want to direct your own learning journey or focus on a specific area of grammar or vocabulary. Select a language from the list below to see a list of related books and e-books:

• Arabic
• Chinese
• French
• German
• Italian
• Japanese
• Korean
• Spanish

Foreign language films, newspapers and magazines

The Library also gives you access to Kanopy which contains over 25,000 films, documentaries and educational videos, including foreign-language content, and to PressReader which provides access to over 7,000 newspapers and magazines from over 90 countries in over 50 languages. These types of resources can help you to get to know about the culture as well as the language of another country.