Language-related websites in and about languages other than English?

July 1, 2008 8:24 PM

Non-English speakers: what are your linguistic resources of first resort on the 'Net? Where are the Finnish/French/Serbian/Spanish/whatever websites where you read, write, comment, discuss, ask or answer about your native (or bilingual-competence) language, or about language and linguistics in general, just not in English?

For bonus checkmarks: if the site in your answer has any feature that you haven't hitherto found in an otherwise equivalent English resource, please explain them to the mefites who may not speak your language.

Note: I am not looking for resources for language learners, but for the type of resources frequented by people who are already competent in a language.

posted by kandinski to writing & language (5 comments total)

When I get stuck in an English word, I search it in the Word Reference forums.
posted by clearlydemon at 9:04 PM on July 1, 2008

(I look it up in the Word Reference forums sounds better. Damn.)
posted by clearlydemon at 9:06 PM on July 1, 2008

My fellow translators and I swear by KudoZ. The discussion tends to gravitate around specific terms and their translation more than anything else, though.

There are also zillions of pretty active language discussion boards in Yahoo! Groups which might be worth checking out, although those are more of a hit-and-miss affair.
posted by doctorpiorno at 10:36 PM on July 1, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

(french)
I use http://www.olf.gouv.qc.ca/ressources/gdt.html to translate technical terms, and then this site http://bonpatron.com/ to check and correct the grammar.
This is just a dictionary http://www.le-dictionnaire.com/
posted by PowerCat at 5:42 AM on July 2, 2008

For Dutch:
taalunieversum.org, the website of De Nederlandse Taalunie.

woordenlijst.org, part of taalunieversum.org with the official spelling of every Dutch word.

VRT Taaldatabanken, the Belgian public broadcaster's website about spelling, grammar and language usage.

These are all rather passive resources, though.
posted by lioness at 2:02 PM on July 4, 2008