You probably know that English is the most widely spoken language in the world. Of the world’s approximately 1.5 billion English speakers, an overwhelming majority speak it as a second language. Yet, here in the United States, we are facing something of a crisis in teaching, and learning, English as a second language (ESL)

In 1980, 70% of this country’s foreign-born population spoke a language other than English at home. By 2010, that number had grown to over 85%. Yet, according to the 2012 Census, half of the foreign-born population self-reported that they speak English less than “very well” (including 19% who responded with “not well” and 10% who claim not to speak English “at all”.)

This is why Transparent Language has been busy making English language lessons for speakers of more than 30 of the world’s languages. English is the language that we as a company get the greatest demand for, in all levels of proficiency. Parents, educators, and libraries work with us to bring English language-learning materials to their communities.

We currently offer paired beginner-level English lessons for speakers of multiple languages. The translations in each lesson are paired with translations in the native speaker’s language. Currently, these courses are offered in the following languages.

Amharic, Levantine Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic,

Bengali, Bosnian, Burmese,

Chinese Mandarin, Czech, Dari,

Farsi, French, Georgian,

German, Greek, Haitian Creole,

Hebrew, Hindi, Hmong,

Indonesian, Italian, Japanese,

Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian,

Malay, Norwegian, Pashto, Polish,

Brazilian Portuguese, European Portuguese,

Romanian, Russian, Somali,

Latin American Spanish, Swahili,

Tagalog, Tamil, Thai, Turkish,

Urdu, Cyrillic Uzbek, Vietnamese

The newest additions are English for Hebrew Speakers and English for Tamil Speakers.

English for Hebrew Speakers offers a detailed beginner English program with novice vocab lessons.

English for Tamil Speakers provides core and auxiliary novice level vocab lessons, along with a beginner’s level English program.

All of our ESL courses can be used independently through self-guided learning, in a school or library computer lab, or with an instructor.

Got questions? We posted an earlier blog detailing all of our English language materials, as well as information about our fun and challenging game of English proficiency and knowledge for learners and native speakers alike, Which is English?

We remain committed to providing the most practical, pedagogically sound English language learning materials for all levels. Try it out yourself with a free trial  or at a library near you.