Foreign Language and Literature Resources
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.
Search Examples
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.
- 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.
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.
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.
Subject Headings in Languages and Literatures
♦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.
AllStays World Languages Archive
Links to sites that offer beginning language courses, including American Sign Language.
♦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
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.
"The first producer of free electronic books"--website description. All e-books are created by volunteers.
♦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
♦Foreign Language Newspapers
Newspapers Online Around the World
Online Newspapers (from the Internet Public Library. Includes regional papers.)
♦International Search Engines
♦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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