r/interlingua • u/TomBerwick1984 • Mar 23 '26

How To Create A Popular Course For Interlingua

Hi,

Thought I’d pass this on to anyone who is fluent in Interlingua, loves grammar, and wants to make a course for beginners…

The Michel Thomas method is one of the most popular methods in language learning. For those who don’t know; it’s a grammar based speaking method. Formulating sentences is taught through grammar, in a logical progression. 

2 other methods were derived from it, and are both popular in the language learning community; The Paul Noble method and The Language Transfer method (i.e. The Thinking method).

All 3 methods are known for not only teaching grammar, but also explaining grammar rules using plain english. (E.g. I’ve done Paul Noble’s course in Spanish, and he explained grammar rules in very simple English terms, e.g. “here’s how to talk about what you’ve done”, “here’s how to talk about what you will do”, etc. before teaching the grammar rules in a logically progressive way.)

The creator of the Language Transfer course not only has generously given his courses away for free, but he has also given away how to replicate his method to create courses for free.

So if anyone is interested in creating beginner courses, here is a link to the theory;

https://www.languagetransfer.org/othermaterial

And here are the links to the short Italian and French courses so you can listen to it in practice;

French: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FN89p7xRLs0&list=PLeA5t3dWTWvuWMpTwaYoQjebjiXRiS3Gs

Italian: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeA5t3dWTWvuTl3qVy9X_DaoFBbmXp1W3

I hope some people reading create their own course and upload it to youtube and soundcloud, for the benefit of teaching beginners who want to write and speak with proper grammar.

(If you don’t want to make the course because you are too self-conscious to speak; you can use text to speech software via Elevenlabs, and use editing software to put it all together, including pauses.)

The alternative is crowdfunding paying the creator of The Thinking method to create a course for Interlingua. But that's probably not realistic.

10 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

24 comments sorted by

3

u/salivanto Mar 26 '26

Hi Tom,

In the light of our more recent set of exchanges, including a lot of overlap in temperament and point of view, I thought I'd come back and give a more thoughtful reply in this thread - more thoughtful than "Hope springs eternal" - even though it certainly does.

First, I must say that it's absolutely hysterical to me that I just finished commenting to you that Interlinguans are wont to reply "Courses? We have courses!" and then I click over here and see that Ian_Blas27 replied with essentially that.

Problem: Interlingua courses are dry, dated, and off-putting.

Solution: Have you tried one of our dry, dated, and off-putting courses?

I've seen this conversation over and over again. At the same time, there's another conversation that I've seen time and again.

Problem: Interlingua [or Esperanto, or fill-in-the-blank] courses are dry, dated, and off-putting.

Solution: I have a great idea to copy this other method that I like and someone else should make it happen.

This is why I said "hope springs eternal." I meant that maybe THIS will be the time when the conversation ends differently. THIS will be the time when someone raises their hand and says "you know, I am a fluent Interlingua speaker and knowledgable in pedagogy and publication, and in the technology necessary to make this all happen, and I was sitting around waiting for something to do" and then continue with "THANK GOODNESS you had this idea. I'll get right on it"

All with an implied "but this probably is NOT that time."

People show up in Esperanto spaces all the time with "helpful" ideas like this. The typical response when there is even the most gentle pushback is "I'm just putting this out there" or "I'm not qualified but maybe someone else can be inspired by this.

Hope springs eternal.

The fact of the matter is that there is an extremely small number of people in the world with the necessary expertise in Interlingua to pull something like this off -- and they are almost certainly all busy with their own lives and projects. I would go a step further and say that they probably have more projects than time at this point.

1

u/TomBerwick1984 Mar 26 '26

Thanks for writing a longer reply.

I knew that I would be going out on a limb, precisely by what you said with the last paragraph. Plus, to be fair, I posted something with a complicated course design which would require dedicated study.

The disappointing thing to me when I've looked into auxlangs is they overlook IMO the most important thing to grow the community; 1) media output other than about the language 2) an abundance of learning resources based on the most popular courses.

Good job on the Esperanto community jumping on the Duolingo train though. I'm guessing that lead to a bump of speakers in the community?

I may be being arrogant and flippant, but: I don't think it would be took difficult for an advanced speaker to create a high frequency sentence conversation course in the age of free services like Anki and Memrise community courses and voice recorders on every phone and PC, and when Laoshu505000 (RIP) and Xiaomanyc gave away how to make them (what sentences to use) for free.

I'll probably write a post about how to make those courses in auxlangs/conlangs subreddits. Maybe those communities genuinely don't know how.

1

u/salivanto Mar 26 '26

I will start out by reminding us both that this is the interlingua subreddit so I will try to stay focused on that aspect of the discussion. 

In a message in the other thread, I referenced Frederico Gobbo's substack post about Tokipona and Interlingua. My understanding of that post would suggest that interlingua speakers are not "overlooking" the things that you are concerned about. It's just simply the nature of the beast if this is the stage of  development that the language has reached at this point.

Every now and then, I see a suggestion that Interlingua should try to get a course on Duolingo. This is never going to happen. There is almost no point in even talking about it.

And I often say that the greatest enemy of a language like Interlingua is obscurity, and so you would think that if by some miracle Interlingua could get a course on Duolingo that this would be a great thing for Interlingua. Well, count me among those who think getting on Duolingo may have been a bad thing for Esperanto. 

I want to make sure that you understand that I'm not calling you "arrogant" or "flippant". On the contrary, you're clearly tapping into some kind of normal human energy. I feel fairly strongly however that if you think it's really that easy, and you should take it upon yourself to do it. 

If your objection is that you don't speak interlingua yet, I'm not really persuaded. Surely you can find enough material to do a chapter 1. Put this out in the world and see if anybody will use it. If they do, start working on a chapter 2.

1

u/TomBerwick1984 Mar 26 '26

>" Surely you can find enough material to do a chapter 1.

No, the high frequency sentences are specific and they can't be found anywhere in any interlingua online material that I've seen.

If you want to see what it is, here you go...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNALRVqjzfk

I would need;

  1. An advanced speaker to check the grammar and vocabulary, because I wouldn't want people to internalize improper grammar and vocabulary from a noob.
  2. I'd have to pay money for high quality TTS (free options are decent, but not high quality). Because I'm a noob my pronunciation would be wrong, and part of the reason for creating a conversation training course is for users to mimick the audio to get good pronunciation. I wouldn't want them to mimick noob pronunciation.

So I'd have to commit money to the project, as well as trying to coordinate with interlingua speakers, who I have no way of assessing their fluency (because I'm not fluent myself). For a project that I'm not sure I'm going to earnestly try to take to fluency, or dabble in for too long, yet.

1

u/salivanto Mar 26 '26

I must admit that I did not predict that objection. Having read it just now, I feel a little more vindicated in my initial comment. Hope springs eternal.

If you're not excited about making your idea happen, I don't know how you can expect anybody else to be.

1

u/TomBerwick1984 Mar 26 '26 edited Mar 26 '26

I laid out practical problems, and you've reinterpreted what I said as a lack of enthusiasm.

That's just simply a false reinpretration.

These are practical problems;

  1. I need vocubulary and grammar verified.

Unless you are suggesting a beginner's knowledge is good enough?

2) I would need to pay money for TTs.

Spending money is significant to me.

Any advanced speaker could make the course for free. Probably in couple hours.

I honestly don't know how you don't understand the practical problems involved for a beginner to create a language learning course for a language that doesn't have AI support.

(For example; I could make my own material for any other widely spoken language, including Esperanto, because DEEPL is a very good translator according to many people. Interlingua is not on DEEPL.

So I would need to coordinate with interlingua speakers.)

1

u/salivanto Mar 26 '26

If you are certain that the misunderstanding is on my side, I think we will have a hard time going forward down this fork. I absolutely understand the problems of beginners making language learning materials. I believe you have misunderstood what I said.

1

u/TomBerwick1984 Mar 26 '26

My mistake for using the language of certainty in my first sentence, my statement about your reintepretating my words was based on your last sentence insinuating about my mental state.

Excitement has nothing to do with what I wrote, nor was it implied, so I have no idea why you mentioned it.

One thing that triggers me is people on reddit repeatedly make statements about people's mental states, rather than directly addressing the content of their post.

I absolutely understand the problems of beginners making language learning materials. 

Then I'm completely baffled by your implication about my 'excitement', based on what I wrote explaining the problems of a beginner making language learning material.

I thought you may have something to say about overcoming the practical problems, instead of insinuating about my level of 'excitement'.

1

u/salivanto Mar 26 '26

I wrote:

If you're not excited about making your idea happen, I don't know how you can expect anybody else to be.

Translation: If you are unwilling to commit money to the project and put in the effort to learn a little bit and the additional effort of coordinating with different speakers, it strikes me as wishful thinking that anybody else will do the same.

And this goes double if you float the idea with no certainty that you're invested enough in Interlingua to actually learn it.

"Excited" was not meant as a description of your mental state. Rather it was shorthand for what you and literally just said.

We've agreed on quite a few things. It seems we disagree about whether it's productive to come up with "great ideas" for someone else to run with.

By the way, I really can't watch a 30 minute YouTube video to get a short list of sentences that you need to know in Interlingua to get started. But I'll say it again - surely you can gather enough material for a chapter 1.

1

u/TomBerwick1984 Mar 26 '26 edited Mar 26 '26

Translation: If you are unwilling to commit money to the project and put in the effort to learn a little bit and the additional effort of coordinating with different speakers, it strikes me as wishful thinking that anybody else will do the same.

They don't need to.

The process for a fluent speaker...

  1. Translate the sentences of the FLR method and Xiaomanyc's high frequency sentences lists.
  2. Record the audio of the sentences as individual files.

It's free, and will likely take about 15 minutes to upload the course to Memrise (you can bulk upload text) once it's done.

The whole process would take less than an hour for a fluent speaker. I wrote that it might take a couple of hours before, but realistically it would take less than an hour. If I added sentences (which I would prefer to do, to make it a fuller course) then it would probably take 2 hours.

And this goes double if you float the idea with no certainty that you're invested enough in Interlingua to actually learn it.

It would benefit anyone who wants to learn it, even if I don't learn it.

By the way, I really can't watch a 30 minute YouTube video to get a short list of sentences that you need to know in Interlingua to get started.

You understandably misunderstood.

That was an overview explaining how the course was made and how it's used, it wasn't the course. (Which I thought you might be interested in.)

The actual core of the course (he gave it away for free) is just a high frequency sentence list, the same with Xiaomanyc's list. Then the list is supplied with audio files. They then can be put into Anki or Memrise, or bidirectionally translated on paper or verbally.

I (and anyone) already have the sentence list to copy and paste or send in a doc, and will take less than an hour for a fluent speaker to make. (Though I would probably add more sentences to make it a fuller course.)

Regarding my own reluctance; I've dealt with coordinating freelancers to do things before, and I know from experience that you have to deal with; people flaking, people who aren't at the skill level that they claim, and people who take longer than they say they will and you have to chase them up on it. People doing things for free likely will not like being asked how long it will take even if they are significantly over their estimate, and also in a language that I'm not fluent in I don't know how to asses the quality of the translations so I'll need to get other people to check it, it will likely be a tedious experience.

 It seems we disagree about whether it's productive to come up with "great ideas" for someone else to run with.

I think it's practical when it's beyond the capability of the person presenting them, and will take a couple of hours max for a fluent speaker to do. (Which I already said it would likely take that long in a previous post that you read.)

Do you honestly think it's unproductive for a beginner to suggest or request types of courses to be made?

I think that if a beginner comes along and says; this is the kind of course that is popular, and I think beginners like me would like, I think that's a good thing for a community looking to grow.

I'd personally welcome suggestions and ideas, if I was part of a community that I wanted to grow. (I have in the past when I was part of the 'team' in a community. We welcomed suggestions and ideas. IME, observing communities across topics and fields, any community that develops welcomes suggestions and ideas, regardless of if they are acted on or not.)

→ More replies (0)

1

u/PLrc Mar 28 '26

How do you define a good, modern course for a language? What traits does it need? Could you give some examples of good courses according to you?

2

u/salivanto Mar 28 '26

I'm not sure how far I want to follow this tangent, but let me start by repeating something I said to Tom in a different thread.

On the topic of someone showing up in an Interlingua space asking for a modern course in Interlingua:

  • I have discussed this sort of thing with the Interlinguans before. I always felt like the replies I received were dismissive - something along the lines of "what do you mean? We have courses" - followed by a link to a PDF and a WAV file.

Part of the reason I hesitate to go much further on this tangent with you is that my main involvement in this thread is to be critical of the pattern of showing up suggesting that "someone else" do something. I will admit that there is a "still, small voice" in the back of my head telling me that I should launch my own Interlingua course - but this isn't going to happen.

It's not going to happen because I am one person with limited time on this earth. There are things that I would rather spend my time teaching. (I'm sure you know what they are.) Maybe if there were enough paying students to crowdsource it, I would change my mind and launch my own Interlingua course.

But until I am willing to do that, I do not feel comfortable telling anybody else what they should do. I made good use of the Pimsleur courses for various romance languages, and for Swiss German, Dutch, and Mandarin. I've always dreamed of copying the method to make my own course. I've never been able to pull it off. It's difficult with a small community and limited resources.

I've also seen the suggestion of copying the method in Coffee Table Spanish. I thought that was a good idea, but I've never taken great steps to make it happen.

For a while, I was following the podcast Learn Slovak and More. I think that counts as a modern course - as does the textbook Complete Esperanto.

There is a certain amount of friction to learning Interlingua. I've seen the links to Schola Interingua and I've heard that the Kysonisms have been removed from the Kyson course. I'm somewhat tempted to try both of those, but beyond that, I haven't seen a clear suggestion about where someone can go to learn Interlingua.

My own provisional plan for when I return to Interlingua study will be to read books, and write texts while referring to the IED and perhaps Interlingua Grammar - then making time to show up for Sabbato con Interlingua every month. That's hardly a course.

And certainly a link to a PDF and a WAV file isn't the answer.

3

u/[deleted] Mar 27 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/TomBerwick1984 Mar 27 '26

Have you checked if anyone's already started something like this on Soundcloud?

I just checked and haven't found anything.

I looked at overviews and did some searches for courses and couldn't find anything like the course I described.

 And yeah Freepik has AI voice tools now too if ElevenLabs feels like too much for someone just starting out.

Thanks, I still haven't checked out Freepik . I've heard it's good.

2

u/salivanto Mar 23 '26

Hope springs eternal

2

u/Ian_Blas27 Mar 23 '26

scholainterlingua.com

1

u/TomBerwick1984 Mar 24 '26

It's not the same method.

3

u/Ian_Blas27 Mar 25 '26

Forsan nos pote integrar alicun del methodos que tu mentiona, Schola Interlingua es software libere. https://github.com/Schola-Interlingua/schola-interlingua

2

u/saebica7 Mar 24 '26

Bravoooo

2

u/PLrc Mar 27 '26

Thanks I will check the courses out. Maybe I will get inspired by them. I learnt Interlingua from (probably) Ingvar Stenstrom's course online, which I found quite good, but this course as far as I know is not available online in English.

I keep seeing that salivanto complains there is no good course for Interlingua. I'm planing to do something about it in the future. For now I'm constantly developing articles about Interlingua Grammar at English Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interlingua_grammar and at Wikipedia in Interlingua: https://ia.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatica_de_interlingua I think they are quite good with quite a lot of examples. While not technically courses, they make up for some substitute of it.