Comments for 20+ Ways to Learn a Language Online

20+ Ways to Learn a Language Online

2008-05-19T21:00:00Z

Earlier today we mentioned a plugin for AIM that would translate what you type on the fly into another language. That's an exceptionally useful tool, but the far more fluid and accurate way to speak to people in another language, is to actually learn the language. Thankfully, there are a wide variety of ways to learn languages online, many of them available for free. Below is a list of more than 20 ways you can go from knowing how to say "Hello" to fluency.

]]> Language Lessons

Mango Languages: 12 different online language courses presented in conversational format with prices starting at free.
Vocabulix: Free vocab building lessons in Spanish, German and English, as well as other languages, with a baked in social network.
Pod Network: Spanishpod - Frenchpod - Chinesepod - Free online lessons in three languages.
BBC Languages: A host of language learning tools and self-contained online courses from the BBC.
eLanguageSchool.net: Free lessons for learning 10 different languages online.
Linkua: An online marketplace of real-life language tutors. There's nothing like learning a language directly from a native speaker.
LiveMocha: This site combines lessons, with an online community allowing you to practice speaking with native speakers, which dovetails nicely into the next set of sites.

Now that you've learned the basics, you need to practice. That's not always easy if you've been learning on your own and no one around you speaks your new language. The sites below will help you hook up with a native speaker -- usually over VoIP -- to practice speaking.

Practice Speaking

SharedTalk: A language exchange covering 113 languages from the makers of the popular RosettaStone language learning software.
xLingo: A language exchange that lets users create and share flashcards with each other.
Palabea: Reviews of language learning software in addition to an online language exchange.
iTalki: A language exchange with a Yahoo! Answers-style QnA site, and a wiki-based public knowledge base for 10 different languages.
Huitalk: Forums, articles, vocabulary lists, and a language exchange using Skype.
Interpals: A large language exchange from a popular penpal social network.
Mixxer: A free language exchange using Skype built by Dickinson College.
TT4You: A free global language exchange site.
Language Buddy: A free language exchange with 115 supported languages.
Convesation Exchange: Text and voice chat, email, or face-to-face meetings can bet set up via Language Buddy to improve your conversational skills.
Lingozone: Build vocab skills by playing game of Word Ladder and Hangman, while making friends with whom to practice speaking.
Language Exchange Network: Think Craigslist for language learning; this site has super-simple language exchange classified listings.
MyLanguageExchange: One of the oldest online language exchanges (this site was a Yahoo! Internet Life pick in 2001), it claims over 1 million members speaking 115 different languages.
Language Exchange: A language exchange application for the Facebook platform.

Bonus Site: ASL Fingerspelling: Test your American Sign Language chops by watching online spelling demos and guessing the word.

Comment from Mircea on 2008-05-19

2008-05-19T21:15:50Z

And if you need something urgent to be translated the Google Translation is very helpful: http://www.google.com/translate_t

Another one is Babelfish (now a Yahoo property): http://babelfish.yahoo.com

Comment from Norman Clarke on 2008-05-19

2008-05-19T21:55:06Z

If you're working on vocabulary in a foreign language, take a peek at wordcurious.com, which allows you to create lists of vocabulary items based on a particular topic. For example, if you're studying "food terms" in your Russian class, you can make a list of all the words you're memorizing for your lesson, and share them with your classmates or students.

Full disclosure: I am the creator of the website. I would not ordinarily post such a blatant plug for a site that I created, except that it's a weekend hobby project created for me and my wife, and doesn't have any ads.

Comment from Robert on 2008-05-19

2008-05-19T21:55:20Z

One of the most innovative I've seen is SpeakShop http://www.speakshop.com These folks pair you directly with native speakers in their home countries.

Comment from Dan on 2008-05-19

2008-05-19T23:32:56Z

Sadly I must join Norman in plugging my site: a Chinese-English dictionary service, nciku.com. We have a similar word list function on our site and some other pretty nifty tools like a handwriting recognition feature so you can see what that Chinese tattoo you got while plastered really means.

Not to totally promote myself, other good dictionary sites for people wanting to learn Chinese are: dict.cn, iciba.com, chinesepod.com (as you mentioned), and adsotrans.com.

Comment from Gabe Morris on 2008-05-19

2008-05-19T23:51:15Z

a few to add:

friendsabroad.com
myngle.com
yabla.com

Comment from Spanish on 2008-05-19

2008-05-20T00:24:57Z

A good site for Spanish translation and lessons is: www.spanishdict.com

Comment from Franchu on 2008-05-19

2008-05-20T01:13:08Z

You can add to the list:

Soziety.com that is a skype based language learning platform

Comment from Paul Griswold on 2008-05-19

2008-05-20T01:43:55Z

Japancast.net free Japanese podcasts - plus search the archives for free lessons on how to write in hiragana and katakana.

Comment from spilltojill on 2008-05-19

2008-05-20T02:18:49Z

great list! So many places to check out!

Comment from HappyTutors.com - Connect Tutors with Students & Parents on 2008-05-19

2008-05-20T02:27:27Z

happt://www.HappyTutors.com is a free online community for tutors, teachers, instructors, coaches, students, tutees, parents and anybody else who enjoy learning and teaching.

Our Mission
- Promote Lifelong Learning & Teaching
- Connect Tutors & Learners Worldwide

Currently, we have hundreds of learning specialist, experienced instructors and knowledgeable university students have list their tutoring service on HappyTutors.com, including many professinal language tutors from more than 20 countries in the world.

Welcome everyone to HappyTutors.com

The HappyTutors.com Team
~ Connect Tutors with Students & Parents~

Comment from Todd on 2008-05-19

2008-05-20T02:31:20Z

Thanks for the link to the Mixxer. We've also added a wiki so that users can submit writing for corrections and suggestions by native speakers.

I should also mention that we use WordChamp a great deal at Dickinson. Their reading aid is very good, adds glosses from dictionaries to any web page. http://www.wordchamp.com/lingua2/Reader.do

Todd

Comment from Nestor on 2008-05-19

2008-05-20T03:21:33Z

If you are familiar with podcast technology and like this format I'll recommend http://www.eslpod.com to learn english.

Starting from free this site is full of podcasts oriented to help you to learn english through real world scenarios and also learn expression commonly used by the US folks.

Comment from Jared on 2008-05-20

2008-05-20T07:10:48Z

For those looking for language exchange in Barcelona, check out http://www.talkconmigo.com

Comment from tbl on 2008-05-20

2008-05-20T07:47:27Z

Great plugins if You use Firefox.

http://googlesworld.spaces.live.com/lists/cns!40C1D04F1DB92E50!133/

Comment from Wendy on 2008-05-20

2008-05-20T08:24:00Z

I would like to point out an up-and-coming wiki Language Portal.

http://en.bab.la - Learning Languages

It has language quizzes, vocabulary trainer, online dictionary and much more.

Comment from Mark on 2008-05-20

2008-05-20T10:10:56Z

I'd also like to recommend Ingolingo if you're looking for some vocabulary style training. It's pretty good, in my very biased opinion!

Comment from Heike Philp on 2008-05-20

2008-05-20T11:16:29Z

How about LANCELOT learning? LANCELOT stands for LANguage learning with CErtified Live Online Language Teachers.

A LANCELOT trainer is a trainer who meets his students in a virtual classroom. It is not free but affordable because of groups tuition.

A LANCELOT trainer has to be certfied as a language trainer and has to have years of experience in teaching a language in a real face-to-face school. Then they take a 3-months course to learn how to teach in virtual classrooms. The lessons are structured and complemented with e-learning material, yet they are fun and highly interactive because they are conducted with small groups of students from all over the world.

It all depends whether you enjoy learning on how to ski with friends or whether you would like to take skiing lessons. Why not do both in small groups lead by a skiing instructor?

www.lancelotschool.com
heike.philp[at]lancelotschool.com

Comment from JOSE BARRERA on 2008-05-20

2008-05-20T19:15:31Z

i am interested in working for you. i want to learn other languages, and i want to help other people as well. I speak english, spanish and french.

Comment from Barry on 2008-05-22

2008-05-22T10:01:46Z

www.busuu.com!

I would like to add to this list a brand-new language learning community called www.busuu.com!

It has a very nice design and a lot of online learning content with photos and voices of professional voice artists!...and its completely for free!

Check it out!

Comment from Talking Books Librarian on 2008-05-23

2008-05-23T15:44:29Z

Great, thanks for this list! I think I will link to your post in my blog (might not be next week until this happens though)!

Thanks again,
Talking Books Librarian at http://talkingbookslibrarian.blogspot.com

Comment from Talking Books Librarian on 2008-05-23

2008-05-23T15:44:59Z

Great, thanks for this list! I think I will link to your post in my blog (might not be next week until this happens though)!

Thanks again,
Talking Books Librarian

Comment from Diseño web on 2008-05-24

2008-05-24T21:58:27Z

Bueno, ahora lo que falta son ganas de aprender :)

Comment from Posicionamiento web on 2008-05-24

2008-05-24T21:59:30Z

Nice links, just what I was looking for

Comment from Brian Barker on 2008-05-26

2008-05-26T13:24:20Z

May I put in a word for Esperanto?
I say this not only because it is a living language, but has great propadeutic values as well.

Detail can be seen at http://www.esperanto.net

Comment from Diseño Web - Websdirect on 2008-06-11

2008-06-11T16:06:17Z

great but google translate is the best

Comment from stormwhistle on 2008-06-15

2008-06-16T03:10:57Z

This are very useful resources. Do you know of any resources to learn sign languages online?