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The end of Authentik



I was disappointed to learn today that the Authentik Language Learning company has folded after many years of producing high quality newspapers, magazines and, latterly, online content.

I can recall using the Authentik French newspapers with their accompanying cassettes back in the 1980s. From Dublin University, they were latching on to the craze for "authenticity" in language learning. They would take texts from other sources, republish them, add exercises and produce tapes from radio broadcasts. Originally I'm pretty sure they only catered for A-level, but later on they went into lower levels and producing online content. Teachers would copy from them or get students to subscribe themselves.

My memories of the newspapers are very positive ones, though I do remember thinking it was slightly paradoxical that the newspapers were called Authentik when in fact they were not, if you see what I mean. Never mind, the concept was excellent and the exercises they produced were challenging and well conceived. When good audio recordings were rare and teachers often relied on taping poor quality long wave radio broadcasts for lessons, it was refreshing to get decent sounding material.

It looks like they have finally succumbed to falling numbers of subscribers, online competitors and the wealth of freely shared teacher resources. It's tough to produce paper magazines for such a small market. I wonder if they were quick enough to produce a competitive online package.

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