Guide to Finding Non-English Languages

You can limit searches in WestCat and in some periodical indexes to materials in languages other than English. In some of these sources you can only search the broad category of "non-English." In others you can specify the specific foreign language you want. Below is a list of those options in our most frequently used databases and indexes.

Books

WestCat. Click the "More Limits" button in the Guided Keyword search page. Then you can restrict a search to a specific language. Unfortunately, WestCat requires you to also limit a language search by some keyword or combination of keywords. You cannot simply search for all the books in Korean, you have to specify either a Korean word or group of words, or, alternatively, you can search for Korean language books by using English words. The library has many more books in German, Spanish, French, and Italian than it does in other languages. We are acquiring a substantial number of books in Arabic, Chinese, and Japanese, but we also have some books in languages not taught at WMU but still useful for some researchers, in languages like Cherokee, Tamil, and Yiddish.

WorldCat. Lists over 49 million books, journals, newspapers, AV materials, computer discs, and many other forms of publication in libraries world-wide in a great many languages. Set limits in the pull-down menu for English, Spanish, German, French, Latin, Korean, Russian, and many others. "Show all languages" provides even more language choices.

ARTFL Project. French language texts online.

Digital Librarian. Provides links to many free electronic book sites under "Languages" and "Literature."

World Literatures. A list of foreign language text sites compiled by the University of Texas, Austin. Includes sites like the Electronic Text Collections in Western European Literature and University of Virginia's Electronic Text Center.

Articles in Journals and Magazines

A few of these indexes also provide some or complete full-text access to articles. Most of the following databases allow you to limit your search to English only or non-English citations but some permit more specific language options. Sometimes you will need to choose the advanced search option in order to see how you can limit a search by language.

AGRICOLA. Set limit to English or non-English.

America: History and Life. Click the browse button to see the many languages available.

Art Abstracts. Set limit to English or non-English.

Art Index Retrospective. Enter the language name in the search box and choose Language of Document in the drop down menu. Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Swedish are available.

Arts & Humanities Citation Index. (Web of Science) In the Full Search set search limits to many specific languages.

Arts and Humanities Search. (FirstSearch) Set limit to English or non-English.

ATLA Religion. Set limit to English or non-English.

Biological and Agricultural Index. Set limit to English or non-English.

BIOSIS Previews. Click the "Change" button to set search limits. Choose one of the many languages. Click OK.

CINAHL. Set limit to English or non-English.

Criminal Justice Abstracts. In the advanced keyword search choose "Language" from the drop down menu after "in" and enter the language in the search box.

Digital Dissertations. Enter the language in the search box and choose "Language" from the drop down menu after "in."

ECO (Electronic Collections Online). Enter the language in the search box and choose "Language" from the drop down menu.

Ei Compendex Plus. Click the "Change" button to set search limits. Choose one of the many languages, including sub-fields of engineering. Click OK.

Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management. Choose "Language" from the drop down menu and enter the language in the search box.

ERIC. Set limit to English, non-English, or multi-lingual.

Ethnic NewsWatch. This database is searchable in Spanish. Language of Article can be specified in the advance search (English, Spanish, Bilingual.) The Ethnic Group may also be specified.

Fact Search. Set limit to English or non-English.

Geobase. Set limit to English or non-English.

GeoRef. Set limit to Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, or Spanish.

Handbook of Latin American Studies. This database can be searched in English, Spanish, or Portuguese. Though most of the materials are in Spanish, the subject terms and annotations are mostly in English. Place names may be in English or the vernacular.

Historical Abstracts. Click the browse button to see the many languages available.

Humanities Abstracts. Set limit to English or non-English.

Index to Legal Periodicals and Books. Set limit to English or non-English.

Inspec. Set limit to English or non-English.

Library Literature. Set limit to English or non-English.

MEDLINE. Set limit to English or non-English.

Metadex. In the Advanced Search choose "Language" from the drop down menu and enter the language in the search box.

MLA Bibliography. Set limit to English or non-English.

Music Index Online. In the Expert search, limit to one of many languages.

PAIS International. Set limit to English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, or Various.

Paperchem. Set limit to Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian, or Spanish.

Philosopher's Index. Click the "Change" button to set search limits. Choose one of the many languages. Click OK.

ProceedingsFirst. Set limit to English or non-English.

PsycINFO. Set limit to English or non-English.

Repére. French language periodicals published in Quebec. Search in French.

RILM Music Abstracts. Set limit to English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Russian, or Spanish.

Science Citation Index Expanded. (Web of Science) In the Full Search set search limits to many specific languages.

Social Sciences Citation Index. (Web of Science) In the Full Search set search limits to many specific languages.

Sociological Abstracts. Set limit to English or non-English.

Union Lists of Periodicals. Set limit to English or All Languages.

Web of Science. In the Full Search set search limits to many specific languages.

Wilson Select Plus. Set limit to English or non-English.

Worldwide Political Science Abstracts. In the Advanced search choose "Language" from the drop down menu and enter the language in the search box.

International Newspapers

OnlineNewspapers.com. Links to thousands of newspapers arranged by geographic region and country.

NewsLink. Links to international newspapers are listed by geographic region and country.

Lexis-Nexis Academic. Choose Guided News Search in this index. In step one, choose Non-English Language News. In step two choose Dutch, French, German, Italian, or Spanish Language News. You may search a specific publication.

Foreign Language Encyclopedias

The following multi-volume foreign language general encyclopedias vary in currency, but they do provide a convenient general source for someone wishing to practice reading the language or to look up historical information. Other encyclopedias can be found by limiting WestCat to a specific language, and entering encyclop? in the Guided Keyword search screen.

Encyclopaedia Universalis. (French) AE 25 .E3 1990 (Ref). Third ed. Supplements through 1990. The first 23 volumes contain about 5,000 articles on all topics. The "Thesaurus-Index" has shorter articles on many topics.

Brockhaus Enzyklopaedie. (German) AE 27 .B922 1996 (Ref). 1996- A standard scholarly German encyclopedia containing over 260,000 entries, with many illustrations. Predominantly short articles, with longer ones on countries and major topics.

Enciclopedia Italiana. (Italian) AE 35 .E5 (Ref). No volumes past 1952. A useful Italian encyclopedia.

Dai Nihon Hyakka Jiten. (Japanese) AE 35.2 .D3 (Ref). No volumes past 1967. A richly illustrated general encyclopedia with brief entries. Also functions as a dictionary. Two atlases and an index which includes brief identifying information, thus functioning as a reference work by itself.

Enciclopedia Universal Illustrada Europeo-Americana. (Spanish) AE 61 .E6 (Ref). Supplements through 1996. Has long articles, bibliographies, good illustrations, as well as short articles. Good on biography, maps, art, word etymologies, and for the supplements.

Web Searching

Search engines like Google, Yahoo, AlltheWeb, Hot Bot and Lycos provide a list of languages in which to search but to find these lists sometimes you have to go to the advanced search page. Some search engines provide limited language choices, others will do a search on foreign words anyway, while still others will not find any results.

Google has Language Tools, which include searching in many languages, limiting searches to pages from certain countries, a crude translation service for five major languages, and the possibility to use the Google interface in one of dozens of languages.