Title

Chinese Videos

China - History, Geography and Commerce

Ancient civilisation - the middle kingdom. The dynasties. Genghis Khan. Marco Polo. The Opium Wars. Chinese migration. The Manchu dynasty. The Nationalist revolution. Mao Tse Tung and the communist victory. The cultural revolution. The democracy movement. Geography: mountains and rivers. The diversity of climates and regions. Urban and rural areas. The south of China. Meals. Produce markets. The workplace and the typical working week.

(40 min) - Year of Production 1995

China - Culture and Cuisine

The media: television, radio and newspapers. Family planning and the population explosion. Family life - differences between mainland and Hong Kong behaviour. The roles of men and women in the family and the workplace. Courtship and marriage. Religion: Buddhism and Christianity. Confucianist philosophy. The education system. University study. Patterns of employment. The role of the government. Traditional and modern dress. Arts and crafts: pottery, calligraphy, traditional Chinese watercolours, poetry. Music. Chinese opera. Literature. Cuisine: rice, noodles, specialist meals like Peking Duck. Chopsticks. Tea and rice wine.

(40 min) - Year of Production 1995

Chinese - The Language

Pronunciation. Distribution of Mandarin and Cantonese speakers. Body language. Chinese characters - derived from pictograms. Tones. The punctuation system. Migrations of words. The relationship to Japanese. The basic sentence structure. Adjectives and adverbs. Plurals. Idioms. The Cantonese dialect. Tones compared to Mandarin. Cantonese body language.

(36 min) - Year of Production 1995

Set of 3 China videos

French Videos

France - History, Geography & Commerce

Charlemagne. The Bourbon dynasty. The French Revolution. Napoleon. The nineteenth century. The world wars. Charles De Gaulle. Geography: Mountains, forests and seas. The river systems. Diversity of climates: French Riviera to Normandy. Position of the French language in world commerce. Currency. Travel: expressways, TGV, the Paris Metro. Landmarks: the Gare d'Orsay, the Louvre, The Eiffel Tower. Accommodation and housing. City living. Cafes and restaurants. Tipping.

(35 min) - Year of Production 1995

France - Society

Different classes of society. Television and radio. The young and the old. Family life. Weddings. The position of the elderly. Traditional family occasions. Roles of men and women within marriage and within society. Care of the children. Religion: Catholicism. The education system. Typical school life. Subjects studied at school. Vocational training system. T he workplace. Unemployment and the social security system. French factories. Political parties and the government system.

(35 min) - Year of Production 1995

France - Culture & Cuisine

Traditional and modern dress. The fashion scene. Arts and crafts: fine woodwork, pottery, tapestry, sculpture, painting. The Impressionists. Music and drama. Ballet. Modern theatre and cinema. Literature: existentialism. The 'Left Bank'. The Academie Francaise - position on the preservation of the language. Traditional cuisine. Boulliabaise, pate, truffles. Cheeses of France. Desserts. French wines. Champagne. Liqueurs.

(34 min) - Year of Production 1995

France - Written & Spoken Language

Pronunciation - differences from the conventional English style. Dialects and accents. Regional variations in speed. Urban and rural differences. Body language. Typical hand gestures. The writing system. Punctuation. The cedilla. Use of the accent. Migration of words to and from the language.

(24 min) - Year of Production 1995

France - Grammar & Vocabulary

Position of French within the family of languages. The basic structure of French grammar. Major parts of speech recognised. Verbs - tenses. Masculine and feminine words. Nouns: collective, plural forms. Pronouns. Adverbs and adjectives. Other parts of speech. French dictionaries. Idiomatic phrases and sayings. Greetings and farewells.

(25 min) - Year of Production 1995

Set of 5 France videos

German Videos

Germany - History, Geography & Commerce

The Franco-Prussian war. Bismarck. World War I. Between the wars. The rise of Hitler. The devastation of the Second World War. The Berlin Wall. Geography - the major regions of Germany. Mountains and rivers. The Rhine. Climate. Position of the language in world commerce. Currency. Travel and transportation. Accommodation. Food and drink.

(35 min) - Year of Production 1995

Germany - Society

The German media: television and newspapers. Family life. Relationship between children and adults. German youth culture. Typical German housing. The roles of males and females within society, the workplace and marriage. Courtship. Religion. The education system - an explanation of the schooling. Examinations. Vocational training. Unemployment. The workplace and industry. The work ethic. Trade unions. The role of government. Elections and political parties. The Greens. Environmental issues.

(32 min) - Year of Production 1995

Germany - Culture & Cuisine

Traditional and modern dress. Arts and crafts: porcelain, glassware etc. Musical education - Classical music. Opera. German rock music. The theatre. Literature: Brecht, Goethe, Schiller. Gunter Grass. Cuisine: beef and pork di shes. Dumplings. sauerkraut. Schnitzels. Sausage. Breads. Desserts. Coffee and cake. German beer. Wines - Riesling, Moselle. Social life.

(31 min) - Year of Production 1995

Germany - Written & Spoken Language

Pronunciation - the gutteral sounds. Difficulties for the non-native speaker. The stress within the word and the sentence. Making new words from a combination of other words. Dialects and accents. High German. Body language. Shaking hands in greeting. Writing: gothic script. The umlaut. Migration of words to and from German.

(26 min) - Year of Production 1995

Germany - Grammar & Vocabulary

Position of German within the family of languages. Common errors in translating to and from English. Basic features of the grammatical structure of a sentence. Verbs - verb endings. The case system. Tenses. Nouns - masculine, feminine and neuter. Articles. Pronouns. Adverbs and adjectives. Vocabulary. Idiomatic phrases and sayings. Homespun philosophy. Slang.

(28 min) - Year of Production 1995

Set of 5 Germany videos

Indonesian Videos

Indonesia - History, Geography & Commerce

Javanese history. The legacy of the Dutch. The Nationalist movement. The Hindu and Muslim legacy. Islands, mountains and volcanoes. The equatorial climate. Rice terraces. Rules and ethics of business life. The currency. Travel within and between the islands. Rural and city life. Typical Indonesian housing. Accommodation - losmens. Food and beverage.

(27 min) - Year of Production 1995

Indonesia - Society

The diversity of Indonesian culture. The division between rich and poor. Economic growth. Television and newspapers. Population growth - 'two children is enough'. Traditions within the family. Treatment of the elderly and children. The role of the man and woman within and outside the family. Courtship behaviour. Religion: Hinduism, Buddhism. Islam - Ramadan. The education system. Subjects studied at school. University. The workplace. The tourism industry. Agriculture. The working week. Political parties and the head of state.

(30 min) - Year of Production 1995

Indonesia - Culture & Cuisine

Traditional dress: kabaya and sarong. Arts and crafts: wood carving, batik, the Gamelan orchestra. The shadow puppets: wayang kulit. Literature. Cuisine: satay, gado-gado, nasi goreng, noodles, soto. Desserts: sticky rice, banana cookie. Exotic fruit: durian, mangistan, salak. Manners and customs of eating.

(28 min) - Year of Production 1995

Indonesia - Written & Spoken Language

Pronunciation. Inflection in the word and the sentence. Tonal variations. Signification of a question. Bahasa Indonesian. Local dialects. The Dutch influence. Body language. Expression of anger and affection. Misunderstandings. Writing and spelling. Punctuation. Migration of words to and from the language.

(21 min) - Year of Production 1995

Indonesia - Grammar & Vocabulary

Indonesian within the family of languages. The basic structure of grammar. Common errors in learning the grammatical system. Similarities and differences to English. Status of person speaking and being spoken to. The major parts of speech. Verbs and their peculiarities. Nouns. Pluralisation. Prefixes and suffixes. Pronouns. Adverbs, adjectives and other parts of speech. Words of degree. Vocabulary. greetings. Common sayings. Farewells.

(28 min) - Year of Production 1995

Set of 5 Indonesia videos

Italian Videos

Italy - History, Geography & Commerce

The Etruscan civilisation. The Roman empire. The papal states. Middle Ages and the arrival of the Renaissance. Re-unification - Garibaldi and Cavour. Italy in the world wars. Post-war re-building. Modern Italy. Geography: lush, fertile north and rocky, infertile south. Mountains and rivers. Diversity of climates. Seasonal festivals. Urban and rural lifestyles. Currency. Transportation and travel. Street life - the passagietta. Tourist highlights. Venice. Rome. Florence. St Peter's Basilica. Housing and accommodation. Typical meals. Eating out - tipping.

(34 min) - Year of Production 1995

Italy - Society

Media: newspapers and television. Italian classes. Family life - rural and urban values. The central place of the family. Young people and the elderly. Traditional family occasions. Roles of men and women in the family and in society generally. Courtship and marriage. Religion - the Catholic church. Controversial issues. The Pope. The education system. Schools and universities. The workplace and industry. The working week. Trade unions. The role of government and political parties. Italian bureaucracy.

(32 min) - Year of Production 1995

Italy - Culture & Cuisine

Traditional dress. Fashion and the fashion industry. Renaissance architecture. Artworks. Leatherwork and lacemaking. The opera. Cinema. Literature. Cuisine: fresh ingredients. Pasta - all the varieties. Lasagne. Minestrone. Pizza. Regional cuisines. Rissotto. Garlic and herbs. Italian cheeses. Desserts. Cakes. Italian wines. Liqueurs. Coffee - how to have it?

(33 min) - Year of Production 1995

Italy - Written & Spoken Language

Pronunciation. Hard and soft consonants. Placement of the stress within the word. Questions. Dialects. Conversational style and etiquette. Body language. Italian greetings. Contributions of the Italian language to the vocabulary of music, fashion and theatre.

(25 min) - Year of Production 1995

Italy - Grammar & Vocabulary

Italian within the family of languages. Conventions in conversation: young to the elderly, males to females. Verbs and verb endings. Tenses. Nouns. Plurals. Articles. Pronouns. The polite form. Adverbs and adjectives. Vocabulary. Idiomatic phrases and sayings. Greetings and farewells. Teenage slang.

(29 min) - Year of Production 1995

Set of 5 Italy videos

Japanese Videos

Japan - History, Geography & Commerce

Ancient and Medieval Japan. The code of the samurai. The Meiji era of reform. Japanese expansionism - World War II. Hiroshima and post-war reconstruction. The economic miracle. Geography: seas, mountains, volcanoes. Diversity of climates between the major islands. The position of the language in world commerce. Basic rules and etiquette of doing business. Transportation and travel within the country. Accommodation and housing - ryokan and tatami mats. Basic meals and nourishment.

(32 min) - Year of Production 1995

Japan - Society

Japan - a homogeneous society. Television and newspapers. Popular sports. The comic book culture. The class system and status. Family life. Divisions between the young, middle aged and elderly. The role of the man and the woman within the family and in society. Courtship and marriage. Religion - Shintoism, Buddhism and Christianity. The education system. Subjects in the curriculum. Vocational training and university. Contrast with western approaches to schooling. The workplace - major corporations and corporate culture. Trade unions. The political system and the role of government in planning and supervising economic development.

(34 min) - Year of Production 1995

Japan - Culture & Cuisine

Traditional dress - kimonos. Arts and crafts: bonsai, Kabuki theatre and the Noh theatrical tradition. The geisha. Traditional Japanese musical instruments. Literature. Cuisine. Sushi and sashimi. Soy sauce. Tepanyaki, sukiyaki and teriyaki. Deep fried tempura. Sake and soft drinks.

(21 min) - Year of Production 1995

Japan - Written & Spoken Language

Sounds that are unique to Japanese. Inflection within the word and the sentence. Dialects and accents within Japan. Young people's slang. Body language. Common misunderstandings. The evolution of the writing system: hiragana, katakana and kanji - their applications. Calligraphy. Migration of words to and from the language. Male and female use of the language.

(25 min) - Year of Production 1995

Japan - Grammar & Vocabulary

Japanese within the family of languages. The basic structure of the grammar system. The simple polite form. Verb forms. Nouns. Words for family relationships. Plurals. Adjectives and Adverbs. Idiomatic phrases and sayings. Expressions of good luck and good fortune. Folklore.

(29 min) - Year of Production 1995

Set of 5 Japan videos