Multilingual children's books that can be read online
December 18, 2013 10:21 PM Subscribe
International Children's Digital Library Treasure trove of children's books that can be read online in many languages from Amharic to Vietnamese.
I was so excited about this, but -- I wish that the implementation had been better. I'm aware that I'm asking for the moon here, but when I looked for books from China, there weren't any; when I looked for the small handful of books that had been translated into Chinese, the text was displayed in an ugly font and very small. (Having to copy-and-paste to read doesn't exactly provide you with a good picture book experience.)
Typography is really important in picture books. The Japanese ones, oddly, look fine to me, even the ones that had to superimpose translated text.
posted by Jeanne at 5:01 AM on December 19, 2013
Typography is really important in picture books. The Japanese ones, oddly, look fine to me, even the ones that had to superimpose translated text.
posted by Jeanne at 5:01 AM on December 19, 2013
Great find, but implementation makes it pretty hard for a child to read and enjoy books on this website. (and children's books aren't very useful to adult language learners) The mechanism of turning the page is awkward for languages that read right to left because one needs to counter-intuitively click right to turn to the page on the left.
My kids read Japanese, so I will share this with them, but a web browser not the customary way we read together. If the books could be downloaded to an e-reader, I think that would go a long way.
posted by Tanizaki at 8:09 AM on December 19, 2013
My kids read Japanese, so I will share this with them, but a web browser not the customary way we read together. If the books could be downloaded to an e-reader, I think that would go a long way.
posted by Tanizaki at 8:09 AM on December 19, 2013
From their FAQs, under Book Contribution, it seems like they wouldn't have the rights to provide these in any other format than what they have.
4. How does the ICDL protect the interests of rights holders?
The ICDL includes a copyright notice and an acknowledgment of the rights holder’s license with the University of Maryland in all displays and publications for each book in the collection.
The ICDL also employs technological measures that are designed to prevent the downloading, printing, and unauthorized further display and/or distribution of the books in the collection. Rights holders may choose the security levels they prefer for each title, which are described in our Copyright License.
posted by Celsius1414 at 8:52 AM on December 19, 2013
4. How does the ICDL protect the interests of rights holders?
The ICDL includes a copyright notice and an acknowledgment of the rights holder’s license with the University of Maryland in all displays and publications for each book in the collection.
The ICDL also employs technological measures that are designed to prevent the downloading, printing, and unauthorized further display and/or distribution of the books in the collection. Rights holders may choose the security levels they prefer for each title, which are described in our Copyright License.
posted by Celsius1414 at 8:52 AM on December 19, 2013
Alternatively, one could try:
Archive.org: Children's Library
Project Gutenberg: Children's Literature Bookshelf and Children's Picture Books Bookshelf
Open Culture: 200 Free Kids Educational Resources: Video Lessons, Apps, Books, Websites & More
Googling individual titles with desired language can also be helpful.
posted by Celsius1414 at 8:58 AM on December 19, 2013 [2 favorites]
Archive.org: Children's Library
Project Gutenberg: Children's Literature Bookshelf and Children's Picture Books Bookshelf
Open Culture: 200 Free Kids Educational Resources: Video Lessons, Apps, Books, Websites & More
Googling individual titles with desired language can also be helpful.
posted by Celsius1414 at 8:58 AM on December 19, 2013 [2 favorites]
I was wondering if there were any books from Morocco or Egypt, so I found the 'search by country' link and spun the globe till I got to Africa. Which is, apparently, a country to this site. No further breakdown by country or language.
On preview, there is a drop-down box to pick a country, but boy, is it unintuitive.
posted by QuakerMel at 5:53 AM on December 28, 2013
On preview, there is a drop-down box to pick a country, but boy, is it unintuitive.
posted by QuakerMel at 5:53 AM on December 28, 2013
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posted by Mezentian at 12:17 AM on December 19, 2013