Free Online Uzbek Resource Collection

Quality language learning material is absolutely essential for teaching oneself a foreign language. These days we are fortunate to be able to harness the power of the internet and gain access to thousands of free websites and documents for just about every language.

The abundance of the internet is a double-edged sword: sometimes the endless amount of choices makes it difficult to pinpoint worthwhile material for your self-study. Luckily, since Uzbek is a less commonly taught language, the sea of resources can be automatically narrowed down, almost making Uzbek material simpler to find.

This page will house links to the Uzbek language learning materials I've found and will hopefully be updated with any new discoveries. If you know of a website, video, course, network or any other Uzbek-related  resource that's not listed here, or find a broken link, please feel free to comment below or email me at uzbekbrian at gmail dot com.

I've scoured the web and found a lot of surprisingly good stuff, enjoy!

Learn Uzbek Online for Free: Brian's Uzbek Resource Collection

Main Coursebooks
* DLI Uzbek Textbook (Recommended)
* Peace Corps Uzbek Language Competency (Recommended)

Multimedia Practice
* DLI Field Support Uzbek Language Survival Kit (Recommended)
* Uzbek Conversational Dialogues from IUB (Flash) (Recommended)
* Uzbek Intermediate Reading and Listening Project (Flash) 
* Uzbek Intermediate Video and Audio Modules (Flash) 
* GLOSS Modules from the Defense Language Institute (Recommended)
* DLI Uzbek Headstart Course 
* DLI Uzbek Familiarization Modules 
* My Languages Uzbek Audio
* Sample Lesson 2 of Uzbek Module from IUB (Flash)

Basic Essays
* Wikipedia Uzbek 
* NVTC Languages of the World Uzbek 
* UCLA Language Materials Project Uzbek 
* Omniglot Uzbek 
* Transparent Language Uzbek 
* Introduction to the Uzbek Language

Useful Web Pages
* Introduction to Uzbek Structures Mini-Course (Recommended)
* Uzbek-English, English-Uzbek Online Dictionary (Recommended)
* Excellent Uzbek Thematic Vocab Glossary (with Grammar Info)
* Concise Thematic Dictionary Indiana Univeristy (Recommended)
* GBarto's Uzbek Minicourse 
* GBarto's Self Talk Uzbek Course with Vocab Mnemonics
* Simple Uzbek-English Vocabulary List 
* Uzbek Tense/Aspect/Modality System
* Great Example of Spoken Uzbek on YouTube 
* Useful Uzbek Phrases 
* My Languages Uzbek Phrases 
* Uzbek Language Flashcards & PDFs
* BBC Uzbek Audio 
* Uzbek Wikibooks (Intro, Grammar, 2 Lessons Finished)
* Global Recordings Network Uzbek 
* Uzbek Language Phrases 
* Brief Information on Uzbek Language (Flash)
* Uzbekistan Country and Language Profile (Flash)
* Uzbek Cyrillic and Latin Alphabet Chart

Other Files
* Introduction to Uzbek: An Elementary Textbook
* A Comparative Study of Two Altaic Languages: Uzbek and Korean 

Authentic Practice
* BBC Uzbek 
* Voice of America Uzbek 
* Uzbek Wikipedia

Book Ideas for Purchase
* Uzbek: An Elementary Textbook 
* Hippocrene Uzbek-English/English-Uzbek Phrasebook and Dictionary
* Modern Literary Uzbek
* Dunwoody Press Uzbek Textbook 

Thank you to the following pages for your contributions:
So You Want to Learn a Language: Uzbek 
Links 4 Languages: Uzbek 

Introduction to Uzbek and Uzbekistan

Assalomu alaykum!

Before beginning with lesson and resource posts I want to share some quick profile information on Uzbek and Uzbekistan, because most people are unfortunately not familiar with this country or its language.

Name: Republic of Uzbekistan

Population: 28 million

Capital: Tashkent

Area: 450,000 sq km

Major language: Uzbek

Currency: som (UZS)

PPP: $85 billion

GDP: $37 billion

Why Study Uzbek?

Why should someone learn Uzbek? What's the point? Why am I learning it?

Well, besides my general love of interesting languages, here's a couple reasons I thought of:

* Uzbekistan is one of the major developed countries in Central Asia, a region with a long and diverse history e.g. as part of the Silk Road. It holds many of this region's history's most dynamic cities, cultural sites, and natural landmarks.

* Uzbekistan has a growing importance in the world economy, especially for cotton, gas, coal, oil, and important minerals. Central Asia in general is a largely untapped region whose growth opportunity is excellent.

* Uzbekistan is largely a Muslim country, and Islam is a religion that is widely misunderstood and in need of people who can learn to respect it and also help promote basic freedoms in situations where fundamentalism has taken place.

* Uzbek is a Turkic language, which is one of my favorite language families for its creative grammar and lilting sound. Uzbek has the bonus of being all romanized as compared to languages like Kazakh and Kyrgyz which still use the Russian (Cyrillic) alphabet.

* Uzbek is a rare and sort of obscure language with a cool "chic factor" (impress your friends!) and also opens you up to opportunity should the US government ever need to enlist translators or ambassadors etc to visit Uzbekistan.

* And many more reasons. You can find your own!

Here are two resources on reasons to study Uzbek:
* "Why Study Uzbek?" @ University of Chicago Central Eurasian Studies
* Uzbek FAQ @ Indiana University Center for Languages of Central Asia

More around the web:
* Uzbekistan: Wikipedia Entry
* Uzbekistan: CIA World Factbook

* Uzbekistan: Department of State
* Government Portal of Uzbekistan

* Uzbekistan: Lonely Planet Travel
* Uzbekistan: Wikitravel Guide

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more!

Xayr,
Brian

Welcome to Uzbek Brian

Assalomu alaykum va xush kelibsiz!
Hello and welcome!

My name is Brian Greco, I'm 16 years old, and I'm from Pennsylvania. Welcome to my new new blog, Uzbek Brian, featuring my journey learning Uzbek, the national language of Uzbekistan.

I created this blog because I love languages, and while I appreciate just about any place, one of the hearts of my interest is the elusive region of central Asia and its fascinating languages.

Uzbekistan is a place that has always piqued my interest and I'm excited to travel there one day. Having found a bunch of Uzbek language resources online and in print, I've decided to start learning and see where it takes me.

I've been recently inspired by the prospect of intensive study of Uzbek at Arizona State University's Critical Language Institute. I think I will be attending it this summer and wanted to document my learnings and findings until then. (Update 4/21: I'm set to go!)

Further on in my journey I hope to take a huge trip through central Asia and actually visit Uzbekistan along with other nearby countries like Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Russia and China. How awesome would it be to actually stay and live the culture of such amazing places! We'll see.

Over the years I've started many projects and blogs and have often fallen out with them, so I'm looking forward to a fresh start with this website, Uzbek Brian, and invite you to join me as we venture into the world of Uzbek.

Thanks for stopping by and feel free to comment, email me, and subscribe to the blog to stay in the know with new stuff.

Xayr,
Brian