Monday, May 2, 2011

DiY Learning: Languages

Want to learn a new language but don't have any free evenings to sign up for a class? Or just prefer studying on your own?

Learning a new language is one effort where you can only progress so far on your own. Eventually you'll have to practice speaking it with others. These resources can start you off:

Free Web Tutorials, Podcasts & Online Classes
  • ielanguages has a mix of both free and fee-based resources. Some of these include links to the website owner's graduate school research projects in linguistics, for those of us who like the nitty-gritty on how languages start and develop.
  • Word2Word is a clearinghouse site for free online courses and chat sites, translation services and dictionaries.
  • The BBC has a languages site that offers basic tutorials and games for skill-building
  • LangMaster offers 3 levels of the most popular European languages.
  • For listings and descriptions of languages of the world, some with links to informational or learning sites, see 123 World
Portable Audio Resources
  • For quick travel phrase audio learning, I've liked the In Flight and Rush Hour programs.
  • Speak in a Week also provides basic phrases but the learner also needs use the cue cards that come with it.

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