130+ languages. 35+ indigenous languages. ASL. Advanced lessons up to CEFR C2.

There’s a lot to learn in Transparent Language Online!

Last year our priority was to add more content in our most popular languages (think Spanish, French, ASL, Chinese, etc.)

2024 took us in another direction: more ESL, indigenous languages, and less common language pairings (think Danish for Ukrainian speakers.)

Maybe those languages are “less popular”, but their impact is no less significant for the people who need or want to learn them.

Supporting English Language Learners (and the librarians who support them!)

Ok technically English is one of our most popular languages. It was the 2nd most learned language in Transparent Language Online this year. (Just behind Spanish.)

The 300+ hour English collection in the platform is crucial for thousands of public libraries in the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, and Australia who support immigrants, refugees, and other English language learners integrating into their communities.

In 2024, we made it our mission to support not only the learners, but also the librarians!

• Supporting English Language Learners Guide – Real advice from 15+ real librarians running successful ELL programs! All packaged into a free guide available to all librarians who need help with outreach, finding ESL materials, and expanding their ESL programming. Get your free copy here.
• Supporting English Language Learners Panel Discussion – Three librarians gathered to share their advice with more than 250 of their peers, from training volunteers to running conversation circles. Watch the recording here.

What’s next for supporting librarians and the ELLs in their communities?

• More panels, workshops, and other events to help librarians learn from their peers! Stay tuned for invites in 2025.
• More Beginner ESL courses for new language pairs (2 in the works already!)
• Localizing the platform’s UI into more languages to give ELLs a more seamless learning experience

Supporting less common language pairs

Libraries all around the world are a lifeline for immigrants and refugees in their communities. That includes Denmark, where libraries are looking for more ways to support thousands of recent migrants (the preferred term in Denmark) from countries like Ukraine and Syria.

To fill the gap in Danish learning materials, we’ve added the “Danish for Migrants” course in Transparent Language Online, available for speakers of 8 languages:

• Arabic
• Chinese
• Dari
• English
• Farsi
• Polish
• Turkish
• Ukrainian

Newcomers to Denmark will learn how to navigate a new culture in a new language. 27 units cover must-know Danish for daily life, including topics like:

• Meeting neighbors
• Using money
• Using public transit
• Renting an apartment
• Paying for utilities
• Obtaining work authorization
• Interviewing for jobs
• Getting medical care & prescriptions
• Enrolling kids in school & talking to their teachers

On the other side of the coin, Danish libraries serve Danish speakers!

And very few courses exist for Danish speakers to learn a foreign language—unless they learn it via English.

To support multilingualism among Danish citizens, we’ve added courses for 14 languages that are taught entirely in Danish:

• Arabic
• Chinese
• Dari
• Dutch
• English
• French
• German
• Italian
• Japanese
• Norwegian
• Portuguese
• Russian
• Spanish
• Swedish

What’s next for supporting these kinds of less common pairs and under-resourced languages?

We’ll be looking for more public libraries or organizations to partner with to fill in language gaps in their countries and communities! (If that sounds like you, reach out to us at libraries@transparent.com.)

Adding 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 a whopping seven new languages:

• Dinak’i: An Athabaskan language spoken by the Upper Kuskokwim people in Alaska
• Ekpeye: A Niger-Congo language spoken in southern Nigeria by the Ekpeye people
• Iñupiaq: An Inuit language spoken in northern Alaska, integral to the culture and daily life of the Iñupiat people
• Lingít: spoken by Tlingit people in Southeast Alaska and western Canada
• Lishán Didán: A modern Jewish Aramaic language historically spoken by Kurdish Jews, maintained in diaspora communities particularly in Israel
• Natchez: A dormant language once spoken by the Natchez people in the southeastern United States, now being revitalized by descendants and linguists
• Taqbaylit: A Berber language spoken by the Kabyle people in northern Algeria

Keeping learners focused

Remember how we said there’s a lot to learn in Transparent Language Online?

Progress rings in the redesigned learner dashboard keep learners focused on what matters most:

✅ Completing your next lesson.
✅ Meeting your daily goal.
✅ Reviewing regularly.

It’s like closing the fitness rings on your Apple watch, but for language learning. Close your rings, learn a language.

What’s next for making it easier, faster, and more fun to learn a language?

• A redesigned mobile app that makes it easier to keep up with your studies anytime, anywhere (seriously, it’s so good, we can’t wait)
• An improved Learned Vocab Refresh system that makes it quicker and more fun to review your vocabulary
• Updates to the daily learning goals to make it even more compelling to keep learning and meeting your long-term language goals

Welcome, UniversalClass!

In case it wasn’t obvious, we love working with librarians. (And considering we’ve been voted 9x Platinum in the Modern Library Awards, we thiiiink they love us too.?)

We’re very happy to have partnered with UniversalClass to bring even more learning opportunities to library patrons.

A UniversalClass for Libraries (available as a separate subscription) includes 600+ accredited continuing ed courses—everything from Excel to feng shui. We’re excited to work even more closely with libraries to make those courses available to lifelong learners, DIYers, job seekers, and upskillers!

That’s a lot to look forward to in 2025. We can’t wait.

Until then, happy holidays & happy learning!