Posts Tagged ‘using the web’
Feb
Feb
Finding the sounds of Italian
Category: General, Italian · Tags: alphabets,Google,learning materials,using the web,YouTube
Some people have the fortune of a life that allows lots of travel, and for them, the best way to learn a language is, without a doubt, immersion in a country that speaks the language. For most of us, though, our careers or families keep us planted in one spot for most of the year.…
Feb
Feb
Really getting started
Okay, so we’ve spent a week learning little more than the Italian alphabet, and you’re starting to wonder how anyone can be fluent in a year at this pace, right? Obviously, they can’t, but I still insist that this was the most important week you will have spent on the way to your goal. Everything else is just learning! Okay, okay, don’t panic. I’ve still got a lot of tricks up my sleeves to share with you. We’re definitely going to make it more interesting and fun.
Feb
Feb
The best free dictionary money can buy!
By now, you know how to pronounce words, and you’ve gotten started learning new words. But you probably don’t feel like you know anything really useful yet, and that’s not fun. So let’s change that.
Feb
Feb
Learn useful Italian phrases
Okay, so we’ve already been using the internet as an amazing learning tool. We found fantastic alphabet lessons on YouTube, we’ve found the best free dictionary money can buy, and we’ve already been doing free interactive lessons at LiveMocha for several days now. I’ll bet you never realized there was so much information available to you for free to help you learn! Well, folks, we’ve barely scratched the surface. Today, we’re heading back over to YouTube to learn some “useful Italian phrases”.
Feb
Feb
Use music to learn a new language
When I first learned Spanish, I was focused on learning words. I went overboard with books, web sites, exercises — I studied grammar, I learned vocabulary, I learned proper usage, mastered more than a dozen verb tenses. In the end, I found I could say almost anything I wanted, express almost any thought.
The irony was that I couldn’t understand a bit of what others were saying to me. For all of my knowledge and study, I was basically helpless — an island of output, completely immune to the sea of input around me.
Feb
Feb
Use Google Reader to learn languages
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.
Apr
Apr
The internet is your reality simulator
The internet is full of potential for use in endless unexpected ways. Today, we’re going to talk about two uses which are really not terribly amazing, but which are incredibly useful to the language learner.
Apr
Apr
Andrea Bocelli now gives me Italian and German!
One theme I really like to emphasize is using music to learn. In fact, one of my most popular posts was the one about learning Italian from Andrea Bocelli. Using music to reinforce your vocabulary is great because it makes learning fun. That’s the most important thing, because if you don’t enjoy it, you’re not going to do it.
Apr
Apr
Busuu – another social tool for language learning
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.
Apr
Apr
A top-notch online German dictionary!
Category: General, German · Tags: dictionaries,learning materials,using the web,vocabulary
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.