The Equipment Every Language Learner Needs

by Reid Wilson, Editor of Language Learning

first appeared: Language Learning #26

I've been amazed by some people going overseas to do serious language learning without bringing some very basic but essential equipment. (It reminds me of the plumber who came to our house last week and soon asked us if he could borrow a screwdriver. He hadn't brought any tools with him, and perhaps not surprisingly two of the four things he "fixed" while in our home weren't working again by the end of the day and the third was messed up again by the end of the week.)

Anyway, I'll offer to you three lists, one the absolute minimum for anyone doing language learning anywhere, whether primarily in a classroom or self-directed, one for the serious language learner who will be doing the kinds of things that Language Learning talks about, and one being the ideal list of what I would bring if I were to now go somewhere intent on learning the language. I'd also recommend any field linguists reading this to stick with list #3 too.

Everything on this list assumes one per language learner, not one per family.

List one: Just don't show up without this, please.

1. A good quality cassette recorder with the following features:

• a tape counter
• a "rem" (remote) jack next to its "mike" jack
• the option for both batteries and a DC jack
• a DC adaptor, although it may be better to buy it once you get overseas
• an external speaker and a headphone jack

2. A good microphone with the following features:

• Two plugs, one for "rem" and one for "mike", which means that it has a switch that turns the cassette recorder on and off.
• Battery powered  (It usually means it's a higher quality better microphone, or at least it's not a cheapie.)
• Hand held but not too huge that you wouldn't want to use it in public. An additional lapel mike can also be nice, but make that your second microphone purchase.

3. Lots of good voice quality blank tapes, or the assurance that you'll be able to get plenty wherever you are going. 60-minute tapes tend to be much more durable than 90-minute tapes; stick with them for language recording.

List two: For the serious language learner who will be spending a significant amount of time doing language learning.

All of the above, plus:

4. A computer with a sound card and speakers. (Ideally one per learner, but I realize that's not always possible.) We'd recommend at least a Pentium II with a large hard drive to make the most of MP3 file creation. The full version of Cool Edit 2000 should be installed.

5. A portable MP3 player. (This is like a Sony Walkman but it plays MP3 files instead of cassettes.) We love ours, and can put over two hours of Arabic on it and then listen to it while we walk, do housework, ride the bus, or study. (Once again, ideally you would have one per learner, but they are still a little expensive unless you hunt for a great deal.)

6. A patch cord that connects your tape recorder's earphone jack and your computer's microphone jack, and vice versa. It took me months to find one overseas, although it is vital if you will be making MP3 files. (Which you should be!) A patch cord could also be a great help for someone living in a place where the language being studied is not spoken, because it can connect a short-wave radio or computer to a cassette recorder, allowing one to record radio or internet broadcasts in the language being studied.

List three: The super ideal

All of the above, plus:

7a. An additional high quality tape recorder, which I would keep in my home/office. That way I can take the other one out and about and I can loan to it friends and language helpers who could record themselves and others without me having to be around.

or

7b. A high quality digital recorder. One day soon cassette tapes will no longer be used by serious language learners. Already we only use ours for recording and transferring to the computer for MP3ing. If we had a good digital recorder we could be tapeless. I'm not sure of the quality of these things, though, so a good high-quality tape recorder may be better.

8. A CD-R drive with which I could regular transfer my MP3 files to CD in order to save my disk space. That way I can also share my files easily with my language learning friends.

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