According to Oxford dictionary the word of the year is “rizz”… mkay.

For us, the word of the year has been depth!

Learners have always been able to choose from a lot of languages in Transparent Language Online. 120+ languages at this point.

This year we focused on adding more courses and more levels to our most popular languages. ASL, Chinese, French, Spanish, and more.

We’re also making sure more people in more places can access languages. From more libraries partnerships to offline learning.

Welcome, Pennsylvania!

Pennsylvania is now the 5^th state currently offering Transparent Language Online free to patrons of public libraries across the state.

PA joins MA, NC, TN, and VA. If you live in any of those states, your library card gets you free access to our platform, including all the exciting new updates below!

And if you’re anywhere else, search your zip code here to find a participating library near you.

Learn offline

You now have more to choose from in terms of courses—and when you learn. You can now download lessons in the mobile app to learn when you’re offline!

More intermediate & advanced materials

Ok, let’s get to all those new courses we promised. Beginners are covered in 120+ languages. And now our most popular languages go up to CEFR B2 or even C2.

• Real World Collection

Push past the plateau with the Real World Collection—our most advanced materials ever, ranging from CEFR A2-C2.

Choose from 50-100+ hours of intermediate and advanced lessons that help you consume more real-world authentic sources with confidence. Read the news. Listen to podcasts. Watch YouTube videos. Just like a native speaker.

Available in Arabic (MSA and Levantine), Chinese (Mandarin), Farsi, French, Indonesian, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Tagalog. (Note: not all languages have all levels, see availability in the table here.)

• Intermediate “for Professionals” Courses

In 2022, we launched our Beginner Professionals course (CEFR A1-A2) in Chinese, French, Russian, and Spanish.

Now you can make deeper personal and professional connections in French, Russian and Spanish. Progress from CEFR A2 to B1 with 80+ hours of vocab, grammar, conversations, and culture.

• Workforce English Essentials

Don’t let language barriers come between you and your customers.

Get yourself (or your employees) conversation-ready ASAP with Workforce English Essentials. Choose from 50 hours of modules to create custom courses for your sales reps, customer service team, and beyond.

Available now for native speakers of Arabic, Spanish, and Ukrainian.

More ASL

• Beginner ASL expanded

Last year we launched the Beginner ASL course with the experts at Signing Savvy. After it cracked our top 10 languages in just 3 months, they helped us double it. 8 new units. 242 new signs. 33 more hours of American Sign Language instruction.

• ASL for Librarians

Some of the biggest supporters of our ASL course—librarians! So we made them a course of their own: ASL for Librarians. 15 hours of basics to help you communicate with Deaf and hard of hearing patrons.

More Chinese

In 2022, we launched two new beginner Chinese courses: tones and radicals. Now the trifecta is complete with the pinyin course.

If you’re new to Mandarin and don’t know where to begin, join the 30×30 Challenge launched this year by our Chinese experts! In just 30 minutes per day for 30 days you’ll tackle tones, radicals, and pinyin and be well on your way.

More indigenous languages

We are proud to still support 7000 Languages in their mission to preserve and promote indigenous languages with technology. This year, 7000 and their local partners added:

• Kalmyk: As part of their 2023 Fellowship Program, 7000 Languages published a new Kalmyk course, created by fellow, Liubov Darzhinova. The 7-unit course goes beyond our basic vocab course to teach the alphabet, culture, conversations, and grammar.
• Tanacross: The Doyon Foundation created a second Tanacross course with more than 60 lessons arranged in a seasonal activity format, September through June. Created in honor of Irene Arnold.
• Upper Tanana: The Doyon Foundation also published a second Upper Tanana course with a similar structure of 60 lessons arranged September through June. Created in honor of Avis Sam.
• Shugni: A new language for 2023, spoken by about 50-75k people in Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and China. The Badakhshan language partner created a Shugni Vocabulary Course. It’s a collection of 17 lessons that present groups of Shughni words that are still existent.

You can see all 30+ indigenous languages here, marked with asterisks. (Note: these languages are only available to our library learners. Find a participating library near you here.)

What are your language goals for the year ahead? Let us know in the comments and we’ll give our best recommendations.

Happy holidays & happy learning!