Your project for this summer: learn a language.
If youâre on this blog, then itâs probably safe to assume that youâre awesome and that youâre a budding linguist whose projects for this summer include learning a language or two.Â
Iâve been using several online sites to learn various languages for a while now. Theyâre all free (to an extent; some offer premium memberships and let you do really brilliant things, but Iâm a student and also a self-confessed stinge, so thatâs out of the question for me).
Hereâs a short list Iâve compiled (Iâve rated them out of five stars):
-Â http://www.busuu.com/Â * * * *
Languages: Russian, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Portuguese (Brazilian), Turkish, PolishÂ
Iâve been on this site the longest, but only because it was the first site I found, thanks to an ad in WordReference. Itâs attractive, clear, good for learning vocabulary. There are reading, writing and listening exercises. Speaking is for premium only. You go through units and levels and are rewarded âbusuuberriesâ (these donât actually do anything - they merely look pretty on your profile.) There are tests at the end of each unit, and you can âstarâ vocabulary so you can look through it again.
Itâs a very community-based site, so you mark peopleâs writing exercises and natives will mark yours. You can chat to people from all over the world, which is great for speaking/writing practice.
The only downside is that it isnât very helpful on grammar, even if youâre on premium.
-Â http://www.livemocha.com/Â * * * * *
Languages: Bulgarian, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Dutch, Esperanto, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Mandarin, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Portugal and Brazil), Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu
I havenât been on this site long; the layout confuses me a bit at the moment, but Iâm sure that once I get used to it, itâll be fine.
Itâs a lot more thorough than Busuu. The grammar units are a lot more helpful (and you donât need to be a premium member). And of course, the variety of languages is absolutely astounding. If only my life were longer and my memory better - I would attempt them all!
You earn âmochapointsâ and also get a âTeacher Scoreâ - again itâs a community-based site where users help one another. This âTeacher Scoreâ aspect is good in controlling the quality of peopleâs marking, something Busuu doesnât have.
Like Busuu, you can chat to people from all over the world. There are reading, writing, listening and speaking exercises (and you donât have to be a premium member!) as well as tests; you can also create flashcards.
-Â http://www.lingq.com/Â * * * *
Languages:Â French, Russian, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Swedish, Korean
A great variety of languages. I havenât been using this site for long, but from what I see, itâs really useful. Its structure is different to Busuu and LiveMocha. You can download podcasts and their transcriptions for free. You can save your vocabulary and create flashcards. Another community-based website, it allows you to Skype with native tutors using Skype - at the end of the discussion, you get a report, which is added to your database (I think you have to be premium to get this though).Â
Again, you have to be a paying subscriber to get access to all of LingQâs materials, but from what I gather, members can get access to it if they create and upload lessons.
There are other sites that are useful in language-learning too:
-Â http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/
The BBC has the best resources for everything. Their lessons here are completely free and interactive, but I find they are rather brief. Theyâre more for people who are in a hurry to learn a language before going on a holiday etc. The lessons offered are very practical though.
-Â http://polyglotproject.com/
Languages: French, German, Russian, Spanish, English, Polish, Danish, Italian
When I found this site, I couldnât contain my excitement (OK, I know, Iâm a language nerd). Itâs a fairly new site, but they recently added Russian (and some other languages), which made it a hundred times more awesome.
This site allows you to read classic literature in their original languages, completely free and online. If thereâs a word you donât know, all you have to do is click on it to get a translation; this word is then added to your own personal vocab list. Bear in mind that the translations can be quite literal because it uses Google Translate.
-Â http://www.about.com/education/
Languages: French, German, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin, Spanish
Yes, I know, unfortunately there isnât Russian. Iâve subscribed to French and Spanish. There are different writers for different languages, of course, and they all do things a little differently. About.com is a great source to refer to; there are clearly structured lessons and thereâs pretty much everything you need to know about the grammar of a language. If you subscribe, youâll receive a weekly newsletter about the language and/or the culture. Laura K. Lawless, the French Language guide, writes articles in French and provides an English translation next to it; Gerald Erichson, the Spanish Language guide sends a daily âWord of the Dayâ in Spanish, as well as the weekly newsletter.
-Â http://www.conversationexchange.com/
This site allows you to contact natives from different countries for language exchanges. There are three different types: Face to face (of course, youâll have to be living in the same area for that), Correspondance (i.e. a PenPal scheme), and Text/Voice chat (via Skype, MSN etc.). Itâs simple and fulfils its purpose.
-Â http://fsi-language-courses.org/Content.php
I havenât actually used this site (yet), but it looks amazing. Developed by the US government, the range of languages is absolutely incredible (it even has Amharic!). Itâs quite basic, but itâs still impressive.
-Â http://ikindalikelanguages.com/index.php
Just found this. Its lessons are quite short and few in number, but this site is worth taking a look.
-Â http://russiantvradio.blogspot.com/
This site lists some great links to Russian TV, radio and films.
I also recently found a user on Youtube who uploads full-length films in Russian with English subtitles (YES!) :Â http://www.youtube.com/user/PyccoTypucmo
Finally, this blog has a page dedicated to Russian karaoke, if thatâs something youâre intoâŚÂ http://russianlessonsonline.com/
Right, thatâs it! Iâve provided you with all the sites you need to become fluent in a language, so thereâs no excuse not to learn a language now! GO GO GO!
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