Language Resources

Language is not a barrier if you can follow any conversation based on context. If you read widely in any language and you are open to every possible idea irrespective of your own beliefs then you can relate to a wider set of contexts. That would make it easier for you to understand the intent of the speaker and you can turn into an active listener.

Here are some interesting sites that offer videos of talks by eminent people on a lot of general topics. Accents vary. You should still get the message. That should be your goal.

• • TED - Ideas Worth Spreading. We suggest that you turn off captions while watching. If you do not understand anything then turn on the captions and watch once in this mode. Then turn off the captions and try to follow the subject and also the accent so that you get used to the accent.

  • RSA Animate - you can find 500+ videos posted by RSA on YouTube.

If you are really good at English, then we offer you the 'The Jargon File' - "Every noun can be verbed. ...... English as a whole is already heading in this direction (towards pure-positional grammar like Chinese); hackers are simply a bit ahead of the curve."

Please note that we would not have read every sentence in each of the links we provide and also we may not have watched every video that might be posted in a given channel online. We may not subscribe to any of the views either. Refer to the first para in this page and learn to develop your own filters and get the point of the speaker while ignoring their idiosyncrasies.