My knowledge of any language other than English is shaky to say the least. I know some survival phrases in Spanish and French, I can be polite in Chinese, but that’s where my world languages skills end. So in an effort to attempt to learn enough to be polite in other languages, I’m using BBC Quick Fix.
BBC Quick Fix offers a selection of essential phrases for forty languages. The list of phrases varies slightly for each language, but they all include greetings and other essential polite phrases like “I’m sorry I don’t speak Icelandic.” All lists can be printed. You can also hear all of the phrases pronounced. The pronunciations can be downloaded as MP3 files to take with you on your iPod or phone.
Applications for Education
BBC Quick Fix isn’t a replacement for actual instruction in a language, but if you need to quickly learn a few phrases it’s a good resource to have bookmarked. Listening to the audio recordings should help you learn pronunciations better than you could by just reading the phrases.