A list of useful links provided on the Duolingo forum by user noneofyour769259.
Archived at https://archive.ph/RCOAL.
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Here are some (mostly free) language-learning resources that I've compiled, from the forums and elsewhere. Since the forums are closing soon, I figured I'd share them here while I still could. Copy and paste these somewhere safe.
Flashcards:
Quizlet—Basic flashcard app with different study options. Though the free version doesn't include spaced repetition, it does have many perks for language-learning, such as voice-to-text engines that let users hear words in their target language when they click on an icon. That way, they can memorize how the word sounds, not just how it looks in text—a huge plus for listening and ear-eye training (learning to associate letters in a target language with sounds) practice.
Brainscape—Like Anki, but with better user experience/interface design, a free option, and access to pre-designed flashcards. Unlike Quizlet, Brainscape uses principals of cognitive science (e.g., spaced repetition, metacognition) to enable users to memorize information more effectively. The free version doesn't give users access to creating their own voice recordings, and both the free and paid-for versions lack voice-to-text engines.
- Brainscape: The Best Flashcards App | Make Flashcards Online
- Check out Brainscape's blog for scientific language-learning tips: Languages | Brainscape Academy
- Especially this article: The best way to learn a language online—your complete toolkit | Brainscape Academy. (I got most of the resources on this list from there.)
There's also Memrise, but I don't know much about it.
Personally, I use Quizlet for vocab (because of the voice-to-text engines) and Brainscape (because of the spaced repetition) for grammar.
Digital Dictionaries:
- https://www.linguee.com/
- https://www.wordreference.com/
- https://www.reverso.net/text_translation.aspx?lang=EN
Speaking:
- Language exchange sites:
- Tutoring sites:
- Bonus:
Ear-Eye Training:
Songs/lyrics in other languages: International Lyrics Playground - Song Lyrics From Around The World. Foreign Language Lyrics, Christmas and Holiday Lyrics!
You can also try listening to audiobooks, podcasts, etc. while reading their texts/transcripts at the same time. (See 'Listening.')
Easy Languages: YouTube channel where people go out onto the streets and interview native speakers in their languages. Fantastic for immersion, ear-eye training (there are captions in both English and the target language), and learning about culture. I highly recommend this resource for learners of all levels, even absolute beginners—it's important to start immersing yourself as often and early as possible. It can be a little overwhelming at first, but it's fun and you learn so fast!
Reading:
- News articles in other languages: https://libguides.mit.edu/flnewspapers
- Other articles: https://medium.com/—search for keywords in target language
- Books & magazines: Free eBooks | Project Gutenberg, ICDL - International Children's Digital Library (childrenslibrary.org)
- Toucan (free browser extension that helps you learn languages as you browse the web): Toucan - Learn a new language just by browsing the internet. (jointoucan.com)
Listening:
Podcasts & radio (free trial): TuneIn | Free Internet Radio | Live News, Sports, Music, and Podcasts. You can also try Spotify and YouTube.
News:
- Beginner:
- 20 Minutes (French)
- News in Slow Italian (Italian)
- Hola qué pasa (Spanish)
- Advanced:
- France Info (French)
- Euronews (Italian)
- BBC Mundo (Spanish)
- Google News
- Beginner:
Audiobooks: Try sites like Spotify, YouTube, and Audible (let you listen to previews of audiobooks for free).
Some other sites include:
LibriVox—free, public domain audiobooks.
Audiobooks.com | Get 3 Audiobooks Free—offers a free trial.
For TV shows, movies, songs, and other media, try YouTube. Seriously—I've listened to 4 entire Harry Potter audiobooks (working on my fifth) and watched the whole Hobbit trilogy in Spanish on YouTube for free.
Games:
Online language learning games | Digital Dialects
has rare and endangered languages and dialects
Misc.:
- TypeIt - Type accent marks, diacritics and foreign letters online—Not really a teaching resource per se, but still useful.
- A-Z All Languages - 1000 Most Common Words—Frequency lists of vocab for more languages than I bothered to count. Languages follow the Pareto principle, meaning that learning the 1000 or so most common words will allow you to understand about 85% of speech and the 5000 most common will let you understand around 80% of writing. This site isn't 100% reliable—e.g., I think it just gathered the 1000 most common words in English, then translated them into other languages, leading to the occasional inaccuracy (e.g, the English word 'can,' as in, 'to be able to' being translated to 'can' as in 'tin can'), so use your discretion. Still, given the countless hours of data entry this site saves you from doing, and the utility of frequency lists, I'd definitely recommend this resource.
- Free Online Language Courses | Live Lingua & Internet Polyglot Projects—An enormous archive of free language courses and materials in over 130 languages.
- You might find this article helpful: Less Commonly Taught Languages: How to Find Resources (fluentin3months.com)
Hope this helps.
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