Yearlyglot

When learning a new language, it is important to consume as much of that language as possible, in order to help your ears and brain adjust to hearing that language spoken. Outside of actual conversations, one of the best ways to do this is by listening to the news.

There has been a lot of talk about the iPad since it’s announcement, but it’s been a lot of reaction and uninformed opinion, and very little helpful advice for using the iPad to learn languages

If you’ve been doing the LiveMocha, it’s likely that you’ve finished by now. And if you haven’t been doing it — either because your language isn’t offered, or because you just don’t like LiveMocha — you’re even more likely to need some new materials. And if you’re not already done with LiveMocha at this point, it’s probably time to be done anyway. It’s an excellent free resource for getting you started in a language, but it’s not good enough to get you to the next level.

I am a big fan of WordReference, as most of you already know, but I saw this web site mentioned in a post by Benny after the first week of his three-month mission in Germany. After having a look, I thought it was a great tool to add to the language-learning arsenal, and worth a mention here.

I have already shared several free online language learning resources in previous posts, but there are always more to try. Recently, someone pointed me to a new one which I hadn’t heard of yet, called Busuu. I tried it out, and today I want to share with you my thoughts.

At this point, depending on what language you have selected, some of you might be coming to the end of your LiveMocha programs. If that’s the case, you are now faced with the dilemma of finding new learning materials, and of keeping yourself motivated.

While looking into the rudiments of Esperanto on a bit of a weekend whim, I tweeted, somewhat jestfully, that I could imagine someone being able to acheive fluency in Esperanto in one week. That remark was met with a friendly challenge and even a starting point, and so I’ve decided to give it a try.

I don’t like to do a lot of work when I’m learning a language — it requires too much time and effort, and it burns you out quickly. One thing that eats up a lot of time and feels like a lot of work is clicking around on a dozen web sites every day.

After you decide to learn a new language, it’s hard to know where to start. Classes and tutors can be expensive and inconvenient. Many books can be frustrating. And software solutions tend to be extremely expensive! I like to spend as little as possible on learning materials. In most cases, you can find something just as good for free on the internet. However, sometimes it’s just better to have something you can carry with you. A phrasebook is one of those things.