Learn a Foreign Language on YouTube

The world has become one big global neighborhood thanks to the Internet in recent years. As a freelancer on the east coast of the United States, I can be talking one minute to a colleague across the country and the next minute working with a client in Europe, Australia, or Asia. These days you can talk to seemingly anyone — email them, IM them, call them, Skype them — you have so many options available.

There’s still one barrier to effectively communicating on a global scale though — language. If you can’t understand each other, it’s very difficult to communicate. Just as the Web helps close geographical divides, it can help you overcome language barriers too. There are many free online language learning programs available to help you learn a foreign language — just about any language you want!

Today let’s look at YouTube with a collection of free language learning videos that help you get started in learning any of 14 different languages online.

Arabic

The Arabic Alphabet: Part 1 from Arabic-Studio.com

– View the other parts of this series on learning the Arabic alphabet.

Basic Arabic Grammar: Lesson 1 from Arabic-Studio.com

– View the other parts of this series on learning basic Arabic grammar.

Chinese (Mandarin)

Learn Chinese with YangYang: Lesson 1

– Get more Mandarin Chinese language learning videos from YangYang.

Beginner Chinese Lesson: Part 1

– Get more beginner Chinese lessons from this poster.

English

Learning English: Lesson 1

– Get more English language videos from this YouTube user.

Learn English: Introduction to Phoenetics from EFLStar.com

– Get more YouTube videos from EFLStar.com to help you learn English.

French

Basic French: Lesson 1 from JeFrench.com

Get more video French lessons from JeFrench.com.

Learn French Vocabulary with Pictures: Vegetables from FrenchPod101.com

Get more French vocabulary with pictures from FrenchPod101.com.

German

The Best of German: Easy Tour (most common German words and phrases)

Get more language learning videos from this YouTube creator.

Learn the German Alphabet

Get more German language lessons online.

Greek

Learn Greek: Lesson 1: The Alphabet

Access more easy Greek language lessons.

Greek 101: Common Phrases: Level 1 with The Travel Linguist

Learn more about the Greek language with The Travel Linguist.

Hindi

Learn the Hindi Alphabet: Vowels fromhindiboloblog.blogspot.com

Learn more about the Hindi alphabet and language.

Learn Speaking Hindi: Lesson 1

Get more lessons from the Learn Speaking Hindi series.

Italian

Learn Italian with Sabrina – Lesson 1

Get more Italian language lessons in this series from LearningItalianLikeCrazy.com.

Italian 101: Common Words and Phrases: Level 1 from The Travel Linguist

Get more Italian lessons from The Travel Linguist.

Japanese

Learn Japanese Greetings

Learn more basic Japanese language skills with additional videos from this YouTube creator.

Learn Japanese Numbers 1-20 from GenkiJapan.net

Get more of these Japanese language learning videos.

Portuguese

Portuguese Language Pronunciation

Access more Portuguese language teaching videos in this series.

Brazilian Portuguese: Lesson 1 from LearnPortugueseNow

Find more lessons in the LearnPortugueseNow series.

Russian

The Best of Russian – Easy Tour

Find other language learning resources from this provider.

Russian 101: Common Words and Phrases: Level One

Learn more Russian, or other languages, with The Travel Linguist.

Spanish

Learn Spanish 1.1: Greetings and Introductions from SpanishDict.com

Learn more about the Spanish language from the videos uploaded from SpanishDict.com.

Spanish Class 1: Personal Pronouns from Spanish123.com

Get more Spanish lessons from Spanish123.com.

Urdu

Counting in Urdu from UrduForKids

Get more Urdu language lessons tailored for children — they’re fun for adults too!

Learn Urdu: Most Used Expressions

Access more free language learning videos in the Learn Urdu series.

Sign Language (American)

ABC Song / American Sign Language Alphabet

Get more signing videos from MySmartHands.com.

Sign Language Lessons: Common Phrases from Expert Village

Get more free YouTube videos from Expert Village on a variety of topics.

I was born in the US so I speak English fluently. I also studied the French language for several years formally (although I wouldn’t quite call myself fluent). I’m in the process of studying Greek. I also discovered a little over a year ago that I was actually born a dual US / German citizen, so the next language I pursue will likely be German so I can speak the language (at least a little) if and when I’m able to visit that part of the world where some of my family is from. I’ve always had a passion for studying foreign languages. How about you? What language would you like to learn?