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Search Examples
Articles in Databases
Internet Sources
The Marvin K. Peterson Library has a wide and interesting assortment of resources for foreign language study, including print materials and electronic sources. Use this guide as a starting point in your study of a foreign language.
Library Catalog: Find Reference and Circulating Materials
Use the Library Catalog to find circulating and reference materials, including books, audio-visual holdings and periodical titles.
Use our other library catalogs link for books not in the UNH catalog. You may order these by interlibrary loan.
(For periodical articles, see the Articles section.)
Our catalog uses the Library of Congress (LC) classification system and subject headings. LC assigns call numbers (letters and numbers) according to the book's primary subject.
♦Library of Congress call number ranges for language and literature books in both the Reference and Circulation Stacks:
P-PA - Philology and Linguistics (General); Greek Language and Literature; Latin Language and Literature
- P - Philology. Linguistics
- PA1-3049 - Classical (Greek and Latin) Philology. Classical Literature
- PA3050-4505 - Greek Literature
- PA5000-5660 - Byzantine and Modern Greek Literature
- PA6000-6971 - Roman Literature
- PA8001-8595 - Medieval and Modern Latin Literature
PB- PH - Modern Languages. Celtic Languages.
- PB - Modern Languages
- PC - Romanic Languages
- PD - Germanic Languages. Scandinavian Languages
- PE - English Language.
- PF - West Germanic Languages
- PG - Slavic Languages. Baltic Languages. Albanian Language
- PH - Uralic Languages. Basque Language.
PJ-PK - Oriental Philology and Literature, Indo-Iranian Philology and Literature
- PJ - Oriental Languages and Literatures
- PK - Indo-Iranian Languages and Literatures
PL-PM - Languages of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania; Hyperborean, Indian, and Artificial Languages
- PL - Languages and Literatures of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania
- PM - Hyperborean, Indian, and Artificial Languages
PN - Literature (General)
- PN1-1551 - Literature (General)
- PN1560-3307 - Performing Arts. Drama. Motion Pictures. Theater
- PN3311-4500 - Prose. Oratory
- PN4699-5650 - Journalism
- PN6010-6790 - Collections of General Literature
PQ - French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese Literatures
- PQ1-3999 - French Literature
- PQ4001-5999 - Italian Literature
- PQ6001-8929 - Spanish Literature
- PQ9000-9999 - Portuguese Literature
PR, PS - English and American Literature
- English Literature
- American Literature
PT - German, Dutch, and Scandinavian Literatures
- PT1-4897 - German Literature
- PT5001-5980 - Dutch Literature
- PT6000-6467.36 - Flemish Literature Since 1830
- PT6500-6593.36 - Afrikaans Literature
- PT7001-7099 - Scandinavian Literature
- PT7101-7338 - Old Norse Literature: Old Icelandic and Old Norwegian
- PT7351-7599 - Modern Icelandic Literature. Faroese Literature
- PT7601-8260 - Danish Literature
- PT8301-9155 - Norwegian Literature
- PT9201-9999 - Swedish Literature
PZ - Fiction and Juvenile Belles Lettres
For a more elaborate breakdown of these subclasses, consult the Library of Congress Classification Outline: Class P - Language and Literature.
Let's say you want to look for books on the German language. The best way to look for such books is to perform the following subject browse search:
German language
You will then see a number of entries with that subject heading, along with several more precise subdivisions. Here are two examples, with subdivisions listed after the subject:
German language -- Conversation and phrase books
or:
German language -- Dictionaries
You can repeat the above search for any language you are studying (Arabic, French, Swedish, etc.).
Note:
There is a distinction between linguistic study (the study of a language's grammar and syntax) and the study of a language's literature (its poetry and prose). A subject search for German literature, for example, will not bring up any grammar books in the results list, but it will call up books on the literature's criticism and interpretation. For example, German grammar books are in the PF section, while works of German literature are in the PT section.
If you want to find a book written in a particular language, just choose limits at the bottom of the catalog search screen, and the next screen will allow you to select most languages, from English to Zuni. If the library has an item in that language, the search will turn it up. This works best with a keyword relevance search.
Literature is not sorted by genre (drama, poetry, fiction, etc.). Literature is divided up according to author nationality in the Library of Congress system.
Remember that the language in which a particular book is published or translated does not matter. If it pertains to German literature, for instance, it will have a PT call number.
Look for search tips at the bottom of the catalog search page. For more detailed search strategies, consult our Catalog Tutorial.
Articles in Databases and Journals -- For Languages and Literatures
♦Searching Databases:
The following databases contain articles written in foreign languages and may also provide information on foreign literatures:
The psychology databases in EBSCOhost also contain articles in other languages, including French, Spanish, German and Italian.
The Education Journals & Wilson Education Abstracts database from ProQuest offers some articles in French and Spanish.
FirstSearch
Provides access to many useful databases such as Dissertations from North America and Europe, Periodical Abstracts, and many more. Search groups of databases (by topic) or by individual database.
Available in the library only. Ask at the Information Desk for a librarian to log you on with a password.
Full-text publications written in Spanish, with content on health, technology, business, culture, current affairs, and much more.
Comprehensive periodical resource with more than 60 million database records. A useful source for most popular, business, and professional topics. Some articles in foreign languages, especially French and Spanish.
For news articles in foreign languages, select Major World Publications to search non-English language news sources.
Literary Reference Center (LRC) from EBSCO is a fully-searchable, comprehensive literature database that offers a vast amount of information from literary journals, books, literary encyclopedias and other pertinent reference works. Contains literary criticism in English and other languages, especially French and Spanish.
♦Searching Journal Titles:
The link below will allow you to browse our journals by language focus.
♦Multi-Language/Language Learning Sites:
Though not a language site per se, About.com has useful information geared toward the study of many languages and cultures. Just type in "_________ language" and you will find links to the appropriate page, if one exists. These pages are often written by people who have advanced degrees in the languages about which they are writing; check the credentials of the writer.
Contains more than 2,400 language links, arranged by "tabs" that are labeled according to the following categories: languages, schools, commercial, reviews and jobs.
MyLanguageExchange.com lets you find online native speakers of the language you want to learn. In return, you practice your native language (the language they want to learn) with your language partner.
Western European Studies Section, Association of College and Research Libraries
Links to Western European languages and literatures.
Yamada Language Center: Language Guides
The "rival" to iLoveLanguages, from the University of Oregon. Includes a useful "Virtual Language Lab."
♦Archives/Literature Collections
Bibliomania: Free Online Literature and Study Guides
Biblioteca Augustana: Index of Latin Literature
Digital collections, including Spanish classics.
Deutsche Nationalbibliothek - German National Library
From the Institute for Learning Technologies.
For digital images of Medieval manuscripts.
Electronic Text Research Center (ETRC)
From the University of Minnesota.
Electronic Text Collections in Western European Literature
Full text from the University of Virginia library.
Bibliothèque Nationale de France.
Greek and Roman literature and philosophy. From MIT.
Major Online Text Collections by Language
From Columbia University.
This page from the University of Pennsylvania lists archives covering most languages, both classical and modern, obscure and familiar.
Gregory Crane, Editor-in-Chief, Tufts University.
"The first producer of free electronic books"--website description. All e-books are created by volunteers.
Latin and Greek texts (free), with some re-distribution restrictions.
Rosetta Project Digital Language Archive
"A global collaboration of language specialists and native speakers building a publicly accessible online archive of ALL documented human languages."--from the website. A project of the non-profit Long Now Foundation.
University of Chicago Electronic Open Stacks
Image-based texts.
♦Dictionaries and Translation
(Note: most machine-generated "free" translation is not precise, to say the least. For translation of any serious documents, contact a professional human translator, who will charge a fee. Many of the translation sites also list resources for those seeking work as translators. )
Dictionaries:
Foreign Language Dictionaries (Yahoo! directory)
Linguist List (Bilingual and Multilingual Dictionaries)
From Eastern Michigan University and Wayne State University.
Logos Library - Word by Word Multilingual Library (formerly Wordthèque)
Translation:
AltaVista: Babel Fish Translation
American Translators Association
♦English as a Second Language (ESL)
The following sites are useful for students whose first language is not English. Some sites are geared toward teachers of ESL:
From Marty Levine, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Secondary Education at California State University, Northridge.
For teachers of ESL.
Lanternfish ESL Worksheets and Lesson Plans
TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages)
Sites for ESL teachers and students
Test of English as a Foreign Language
♦Foreign Language Newspapers
Newspapers Online Around the World
Online Newspapers (from the Internet Public Library)
♦International Search Engines
♦International Telephone Directories
♦Language Data Maps
Database containing language maps of the world.
Data on English and other languages spoken in the United States. Includes data maps.
♦Language/Area Studies Sites from the American Library Association
Overview Sites:
Specialized Sites:
♦Video Downloads (Free)
Learner.org: Foreign Language (Annenberg CPB Project)
Look for the "video on demand" icon to watch and listen to these popular public television language series, all of which include a dramatization component as well as grammatical instruction:
Any Questions? Ask at the Information Desk, call us at (203) 932-7189, or e-mail us.
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