TRANSLATED GUIDES CAN BE FOUND AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE.
Project I-586 is about justice.
It is about providing the same language learning opportunities to all people. It is about giving access to the best resources and ideas to everyone. It is about using the privilege I have as a native English speaker to help others. In the 6th verse of the 58th chapter of the book of Isaiah as recorded in the Bible, the prophet Isaiah wrote:
Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
For some time it has seemed unjust to me that the best writing, the newest ideas and the most innovative new resources for language learning have remained out of reach for the majority of the world who have not yet learned English. It seems a terrible irony that most information about effective language learning, information that can and will help people learn English more effectively is almost entirely written in English and therefor out of the reach of those who have not yet learned it.
It is as if an exclusive club has been created and only English speakers are invited to join.
The rest of the world then is left to the status quo – school systems that function as an exercise in futility and for those who can afford it, a feudal system of private language schools that are taking in money hand over fist to meet the real needs of students desperate to learn English.
The opportunities to learn English however are greater now than any time in the history of the world. Resources are plentiful. Opportunities for practice are available. With the Internet, the world has changed but English education remains stuck in the past. Electricity has been invented but we are still reading by candle light.
Together we can loose the chains of outdated and broken systems.
Together we can set the oppressed free.
Together we can make a difference.
Project I-586 plans to do something about this. I will start by translating the EDLL Guides and giving the translated versions away for free. The English versions will still be for sale through the Everyday Language Guides page, but I’ll be giving away the translated versions. Next I’d like to begin to get The Ten Week Journey translated into other languages. I’d also like to help encourage those of you who are regular readers of blogs like The Everyday Language Learner, to begin to write about independent language learning in your native language. If you need help knowing what to write about, read here.
But there is more to come. More to do. You can help too. Perhaps the greatest thing you can do is to go out and learn English or another language on your own for free. Learn it so well that your friends and family are amazed. Then teach them to learn language on their own.
Together we can change the world.
I realize that the rhetoric here is strong. This is an issue I am passionate about. But I also realize that there are justice issues in the world that are far more urgent and far more dangerous.
Learning English is not in the same ball park as setting a young girl caught in sexual slavery free, but it is where I have found my calling for now. Learning English does provide more opportunity and for many a chance for a better life. That is what Project I-586 is about.
As a beginning, I am working with Turkish. I have created a site called İngilizce Öğrenmek (Learning English) through which I am helping Turks find the very best online learning opportunities. Through it I will be offerning The Ten Week Journey, a newsletter teaching the principles of independent language learning and I’ll give away all of my translated guides. I live in Turkey and know Turkish so it has been a natural place to begin.
But I would like to add more languages.
I am not completely sure how it will work, but I want to explore ideas and would like to find partners to move into other languages. Where will I begin? I am not sure. Russian sounds good though. And then Polish and Portuguese. And then the world!
As I develop this idea, I’ll be updating this page, so keep checking back!
And be sure and share your ideas in the comments below or by emailing me!
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I-586 Titles
(All versions are also available at the Amazon Kindle Store for $ .99)
The EDLL Guide to Sustaining
English, Polish, Turkish, Turkish/English Parallel Text
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