Arabic For Global Exchange Course
Basic Chinese Course – Introduction to Social and Leisure Activities
Basic Chinese Course – Restaurants and Hotels
Basic Chinese Course – Talking About Your Family
Basic Chinese Course – Talking About Yourself
Basic Chinese Course – Using Transportation: Travelling by Bus, Taxi and Train
Basic Chinese Language Studies Course
Basic French Language Skills For Everyday Life
Basic German Language Skills Course
Basic German Language Studies Course
Basic Spanish Course – Restaurants and Dining Out
Basic Spanish 1 Course: Getting Started
Basic Spanish 2 Course: One Step Further
Beginner French Course: In the City
Beginner French Course: Food and Drink
Beginner German Course: Food and Drink
Beginner Italian Course: Food and Drink
Beginner Spanish Course: Food and Drink
Conversational German Course – First Contact
Conversational German Course – From Family to Shopping
Conversational German Course – From Time of Day to Eating Out
Conversational German Course – From Using the Phone to Pastimes and Holidays
Discovering Ancient Greek and Latin
French Language Studies Course
French Language Studies Course – Dining Out, and Describing People and Places
French Language Studies Course – Fashion, School, Work and Finances
French Language Studies Course – Holidays, At Home and The Media
French Language Studies Course – Introduction
Getting Started on Classical Latin
Improve Your Understanding of Spoken French Course
Improve Your Understanding of Spoken German Course
Improve Your Understanding of Spoken Spanish Course
Improving Your French Language Skills Course
Intermediate French Course: Le Quatorze Juillet
Intermediate French Course: Ouverture
Intermediate Italian Course: Describing People
Introduction to Spanish Course
Introduction to Swedish Course
Introduction to the Chinese Language Course – First Contact
Introduction to the Irish Language Course
Italian Language and Culture Course: Advanced
Italian Language and Culture Course: Beginner
Italian Language and Culture Course: Intermediate
Japanese Language Course : Introduction to Japanese Conversation
Japanese Language Course: Introduction to Japanese Phrases
Japanese Language Course: Introduction to Japanese Scripts
Japanese Language Course: Time and Parts of Speech
Language and Creativity Course
Language in the Real World Course
Learning a Second Language Course
Mandarin Chinese Course: First Steps in Chinese
Mastering French Grammar and Vocabulary Course
Translation as a Career Course
Tsinghua Chinese Course: Start Talking with 1.3 Billion People
Understanding Language and Learning Course
Estimates of the number of human languages in the world vary between 5,000 and 7,000. However, any precise estimate depends on the arbitrary distinction (dichotomy) between languages and dialect. Natural languages are spoken or signed, but any language can be encoded into secondary media using auditory, visual, or tactile stimuli – for example, in writing, whistling, signing, or braille. This is because human language is modality-independent. Depending on philosophical perspectives regarding the definition of language and meaning, when used as a general concept, “language” may refer to the cognitive ability to learn and use systems of complex communication, or to describe the set of rules that makes up these systems, or the set of utterances that can be produced from those rules. All languages rely on the process of semiosis to relate signs to particular meanings. Oral, manual and tactile languages contain a phonological system that governs how symbols are used to form sequences known as words or morphemes, and a syntactic system that governs how words and morphemes are combined to form phrases and utterances.
Human language has the properties of productivity and displacement, and relies entirely on social convention and learning. Its complex structure affords a much wider range of expressions than any known system of animal communication. Language is thought to have originated when early hominins started gradually changing their primate communication systems, acquiring the ability to form a theory of other minds and a shared intentionality. This development is sometimes thought to have coincided with an increase in brain volume, and many linguists see the structures of language as having evolved to serve specific communicative and social functions.
Languages are processed in many different locations in the human brain, but especially in Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas. Humans acquire language through social interaction in early childhood, and children generally speak fluently by approximately three years old. The use of language is deeply entrenched in human culture. Therefore, in addition to its strictly communicative uses, language also has many social and cultural uses, such as signifying group identity, social stratification, as well as social grooming and entertainment.