For those who are in language training, or who simply want to take advantage of some extra time to work on their language skills, the Ottawa Public Library has some language resources available. You’ll need an active OPL library card for it to work, and if it prompts you for a PIN you don’t know, it is probably the last four digits of your phone number. If you’re not in Ottawa, your local library likely has similar setups.

On the OPL website, choose Browse / Online Resources and then one of the following resources.

A. THE CANADIAN ENCYCLOPEDIA

While at first glance this may not seem like a “language resource”, it has lots of info about Canada and it is available in both English and French presented at a fairly junior reading level.

I already mentioned in an earlier post (OPL resources: Research tools while working from home) that the library has french and english newspapers and journals too. Other french resources include Encyclopédie Découverte and Encyclopædia Universalis.

B. CANTOOK STATION

In addition to a large number of french e-books available in the regular library catalog, this is a separate collection available as well.

C. FRENCH AUDIOBOOKS (Cloud Library)

For those early to studying, audio books are a bit of a challenge often because the language is more complicated and it is hard to sustain your interest for long. Many people prefer short podcasts (as I did), and I have separate posts about the tools I used (French update – Great online resources (#2017-008)). But if you’re game, or just far enough along in your studying to follow the storylines, it’s a great way to attune your comprehension.

D. NFB CAMPUS

I debated whether or not to include this one in the regular resources, simply for all the documentaries that it promises. However, I saved it for here instead, because many of them are available fully bilingual.

E. MANGO LANGUAGES

While I could have probably started with this one, given that it is directly linked to language training, I haven’t been able to test it yet. It says you can log in from OPL, but I didn’t see the right setup to do that at first glance. I’ll try to go back to it, but I didn’t want to hold up the list while waiting to test it.

Of course, if you can access CSPS or other online materials, you should. In the meantime, these ones may help.