Did you know you can now check out books in Hindi? This is just the latest addition to the library’s World Languages collection, which continues to grow, with plenty of options for residents who read and speak in different languages.
“Every day I look at the Japanese books,” said Eriko Yamamoto, who regularly checks out books. Yamamoto recently moved from Japan to Arlington Heights, and began using the library after her husband recommended it as a place to learn English.
She enjoys reading fiction books in her first language. “Because America has many, many English [books], I forget to read [in] Japanese,” she explained.
Vera Ardizzone also makes use of the library and its resources. Originally from Mongolia, Ardizzone speaks Mongolian, Russian and English. She moved to the United States in 2002, and began living in the Northwest suburbs in 2014.
Yamamoto and Ardizzone are just two of almost 500 registered students who participate in the library’s English as a Second Language (ESL) classes.
“I love this library, there are lots of ESL programs here,” Ardizzone said. She attends classes three days a week, and takes advantage of resources such as News for You, a newspaper publication geared towards ESL speakers.
“I like to read and watch the classics, but the real classics are too much. That’s why I like the library – they have many books for ESL [speakers].”
The library has more than 3,000 books, eBooks and eAudiobooks in languages including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Russian and Spanish in addition to newspapers and magazines in eight languages and more than 1,000 movies in nearly 50 different languages. The library’s world music collection features more than 350 albums in Spanish, Portuguese, German, Hawaiian and more.
“I want to bring this library back to Japan,” Yamamoto said. “I love this place, [it’s] so interesting. I walk around every aisle to find books or magazines or newspapers.”
No matter what language you speak, you can always discover, learn, read and create at the library. Learn more at our World Languages page.