Cool Thing Of The Week: FSI Language courses

Our government, obviously, has a strong interest in training its agents in foreign languages. As such, the Foreign Service Institute has spent a great deal of time and money developing language courses for diplomats, field agents, and other government officials. The thing is, since these courses were developed with taxpayer funds, they were never copyrighted or patented, since technically the patent holders would be all US citizens. As such, sever companies, such as Barrons and AudioForum, have made a ton of money by packaging and selling these courses for hundreds of dollars. Or you can get them for free. FSI Language courses is a site dedicated to hosting digital versions of these courses. They are uploaded by people who purchase old copies of the originals, then scan the books in and convert the old cassette tapes to mp3's. As such, many courses are incomplete, but you should still check it out. A word of caution, this is not "Learn Spanish in a Flash!!!!!!" The courses are focused on grammar, pronunciation, and over learning. They were also designed for classroom use. That said, they're regarded as being highly effective. I'm a suspicious fellow, so I've decided to try out the Basic Spanish course and keep a detailed log, periodically testing myself. I'll post monthly progress logs here on The Tartar Sauce. This way, I've committed to something publicly, which means I'll actually do it. After all, I don't want to lapse in my obligations to Strangers on the Internets. That would just be unconscionable. Note: This is the original site, though it is updated less often the the first one I linked to. You should check both out, as one might have material the other is missing.