LibGuides: Open Educational Resources: Languages

Language Resources

This is a selection of openly licensed textbooks that has been created for free use in courses. These resources may be adopted for use as classroom text, modified to create new texts, or used as a supplemental learning tool to aid in understanding key concepts.

Center for Open Educational Resources and Language Learning
The Center for Open Educational Resources & Language Learning (COERLL) is funded by the U.S. Department of Education to improve the teaching and learning of foreign languages by producing resources (materials and best practices) that can be profitably employed in a variety of settings.

French Textbooks

Francais Interactif by Carl Blyth; Karen Kelton; Nancy Guilloteau

An open multimedia textbook from the University of Texas at Austin, that is meant for a first-year French course. The text is licensed under a Creative Commons CC-BY 3.0 Unported license.
Histoires D'Avenirs by Annabelle Dolidon; Stephanie Roulon

An open text for students in intermediate or advanced French courses. It is based on nine French science fiction stories. The text is licensed under a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC 4.0 International License.
Liberté by Gretchen Angelo

An open, first-year French textbook that takes a "true communicative approach." The text is licensed under a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-SA 2.0 Generic license.

German Textbooks

Deutsch im Blick

An open, web-based first-year German program developed and in use at the University of Texas. The text is licensed under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 International license.
A Foundation Course in Reading German by Alan Ng

An open text written for learners with no previous German experience, to aid them in understanding formal written German prose. It is licensed under a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-SA license.

Japanese Textbooks

Beginning Japanese for Professionals by Emiko Konomi
ISBN: 9781329996779

An open Japanese textbook designed for beginning learners to learn basic Japanese. It is intended for individuals who wish to live or work in Japan, focusing on social and professional life. It is licensed under a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC license.
Preadvanced Japanese by Emiko Konomi

An open textbook designed for students who have an intermediate competency in Japanese. It is licensed under a Creative CommonsCC-BY-NC license.

Portuguese Textbooks

Conversa Brasileira by Orlando Kelm
ISBN: 9781937963057

Publication Date: 2013-07-27

An open textbook from the University of Texas at Austin, for intermediate and advanced learners of Brazilian Portuguese. It is licensed under a Creative Commons CC-BY license.
Português para principiantes by Severino J. Albuquerque

Português para principiantes is a time-tested text which can be used in conjunction with a variety of approaches to the teaching of beginning Portuguese.

Spanish Textbooks

Antologia Abierta de Literatura Hispana by Julie Anne Ward (ed.)

This open text is a critical anthology of literary texts written in Spanish. Each text has an introduction and annotations written by students. It is licensed under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 International License.
Leyendas y arquetipos del Romanticismo español, Segunda edición by Robert Sanders

Leyendas y arquetipos del Romanticismo español is an introduction to nineteenth-century Spanish literature with a thematic focus on legends and archetypes. It presents Romanticism in the context of nineteenth-century literary and social movements. It is designed as a first anthology for intermediate Spanish students at American universities. Although brief, it includes poetry, drama in verse and short story. The works have been selected for their literary interest and the social importance of their themes. They are all by canonical authors.

Below are locations where you may find novels that are openly licensed or in the public domain, available for use in courses or for your own enjoyment.

Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg is a collection of more than 57,000 free eBooks, most of which are classical works that are in the public domain in the United States. It contains a large collection of foreign language texts. Below are links to some of the language collections.

French Courses

Open Learn
Open Learn is a platform that contains a broad array of free and open courses. The copyright permissions v ary according to the individual item.

Japanese Courses

MIT Open Courseware
MIT has a large number of 'open' courses that relate to literature. Most contain syllabi, course readings and/or reading lists, assignments, and exams that are available for download under a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license. Selected course topics Include:

Japanese I, by Masami Ikeda-Lamm and Yoshimi Nagaya
Japanese II, by Masami Ikeda-Lamm and Emiko Rafique
Japanese III, by Takako Aikawa and Emiko Rafique
Japanese IV, by Ikue Shingu, Yoshimi Nagaya, and Ayumi Nagatomi

Spanish Courses

Spanish I, by Margarita Ribas Groeger and Solivia Marquez
Spanish II, by Margarita Ribas Groeger, Jose A. Ramos, and Solivia Marquez
Spanish III, by Douglas Morgenstern and Jose A. Ramos

General Resources

Live Lingua
Live Lingua is a website that contains a collection of public domain language learning materials for more than 130 languages. Many of the materials originate from Peace Corps language courses. All are in the public domain.

French Resources

A Vos Plumes! French Writing Center
A French writing center to help students of French improve upon their writing skills, which also provides teachers with resources to aid them in this process. The site is licensed under a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0 United States License.
Chansons Francaises
A companion to the Francais Interactif text from UT Austin. This site contains French-language songs from thirteen different musicians, along with activities for students to complete related to the individual songs. The site is licensed under a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND 2.5 Generic license.
French a la Mode
An open website that contains activities for French learners in beginner and intermediate level courses, suitable for independent study or practice. All materials created by the site are licensed under a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND 3.0 Unported License.

Spanish Resources

Review of Elementary Spanish - Tatiana Calixto, Universit of Michigan
OpenMichigan has published a number of course materials related to introductory spanish courses, including a variety of listening activities. The works are licensed under a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-SA license.
- Grammar Podcasts
- Segmentos de Peliculas para Imperfecto y Preterito
University of Texas Open Spanish Materials
COERLL, from the University of Texas at Austin, has provided a number of open Spanish resources, including texts, cultural resources, and supplemental activities.