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DIY language learning resources

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Oso-the-Bear

DIY language learning resources

Post by Oso-the-Bear »

Hi everyone. I have been teaching myself Spanish completely by myself for free on the internet. This is a list of resources for fellow language learners, based on my experiences with Spanish, but all of the resources here are available for multiple languages. Please contribute your own favorites!

ImTranslator: Web Browser translation add-on/extension
ImTranslator is my favorite of all the browser extensions I've tried for translating web content on my computer. You can easily switch the translation displayed of the same text selection between Google's translation and Bing's translation and a couple of others, giving you several options or perspectives on the same selection.

HelloTalk - mutual learning exchange with native speakers
www.hellotalk.com/
This app/site is an easy, anonymous, and free way to interract with native speakers of your target language who are learning English. It has various convenient messaging and voice formats. There are a lot of apps and sites like this, but I can vouch that this one has a nice community of intelligent language learners and it is not overwhelemed by some of the more negative trends found around the internet. I also hear good things about ConversationExchange and iTalki.

EXTR@ - Sitcom for language learners (French, German, English, and Spanish)
www.youtube.com/results?search_query=extr%40
Extr@ is a fun lighthearted sitcom designed for language learners about an American learning the language while living in another country with new friends. There are 13 episodes each filmed in French, German, and Spanish, which can be found free on Youtube.

Duolingo!
www.duolingo.com/learn
The best free language learning program. I prefer the website to the app. And even though the forum is gone, the sentence discussion threads on each practice sentence will still be a great resource for Q&A and resource sharing.

Google Translate app - live real-time video text translation
I just wanted to highlight this really cool feature of Google Translate's app, where my phone's camera is continuously displaying on the screen, and if I hold it up to a sign or a book, then I can watch the words in the picture translate before my very eyes!

DICTATING VOICE-TO-TEXT
I guess this is more of a technique than a resource but I can't emphasize this enough. I talk in Spanish to my phone and simply try to get it to understand me and correctly print what I said. I had to go into my settings and get it to download a Spanish keyboard, otherwise it would try to make English gibberish out of my Spanish. I can now easily toggle between keyboard languages. So whether typing messages, drafting documents, or answering language questions, I speak in Spanish and then double-check what my phone thinks I said. And if my phone keeps misunderstanding the same thing, I know I'm probably mispronouncing something or making a grammar error.

READINGS

The Fable Cottage (Italian, French, German, English, and Spanish. )
http://www.thefablecottage.com
Classic fairy tales re-told in clever modern ways. Easy material that is genuinely fun to read at any age! You can read with or without English translations and tips, and subscribe for animated videos.

Beelinguapp
beelinguapp.com/
This app/site provides a substantial amount of content even with their free membership for language learners of all levels in a number of languages. You can have side-by-side text with read-along audio in a great format that is easy to navigate and control at your own pace. They have all kinds of readings, stories, news, culture, science, etc., and new content always being added!

Side-by-side readings with audio at Alba (French, English, and Spanish)
albalearning.com/audiolibros/textosparalelos.html
You can find advanced readings and classic literature at this site, and some easier material - I enjoyed going through Aesop's fables (Fábulas de Esopo)! At that link for "parallel texts" you can see from the flags which languages are available together for each reading. Some also have read-along audio, such as Poe's Tell-Tale Heart.

GRAMMAR GUIDE - Cliff Notes Study Guides (French and Spanish i and ii)
www.cliffsnotes.com/study-guides
My favorite grammar guide - clear, comprehensive, and concise, highlighting the key points, lots of good examples ... succinct yet thorough summarization is, after all, what Cliff Notes does, right?

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Explorer
Portugal

Re: DIY language learning resources

Post by Explorer »

Hi @Oso-the-Bear, it's nice to see you here.

Context Reverso: a tool based on data gathered from millions of texts on the internet (official documents, movie subtitles, product descriptions, etc.). It provides multiple examples of how to use words in real-life situations.

https://context.reverso.net/

🇬🇧 🇪🇸 🇵🇹 🇫🇷 🇩🇪 | Learning: 🇯🇵 |

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HeyMarlana
Canada

Re: DIY language learning resources

Post by HeyMarlana »

Solo learning is great, but also has challenges if you can't get proper speaking practice. This is copy/pasted from one of my old topics, learning alone:


If anyone else is learning a language that isn't so common (or else it's a language that you're having a hard time finding a native speaker in your area), these are tips and tricks on how to keep your speaking-skills fresh.

  1. Count to yourself. Counting not only helps you keep up with your knowledge on how to say the numbers, but it's also a language drill. The repetition of saying the words helps exercise your palate to maintain its form when you say other words in your new language. Similarly, you can do this by naming the days of the week, and months of the year.

  2. Ask someone to quiz you. Even if your friends or family aren't learning your language and don't understand what you're saying, having them pop a phrase or word will get you thinking and to say it out loud. Getting someone else in on your learning even if they don't speak the language with you can still help you practice.

  3. Sing. Learn a song that you like from a recording artist who is a native-speaker. Don't just translate what the song means, but sing it so you can emphasize certain lyrics the way the artist does. Sing along with them as you hear the song, then sing it to yourself - even if it's alone (in the car, in the shower).

  4. Incorporate your new language into your daily life. If I tell my husband that I forgot to buy bread at the store, I'll quickly determine if it's a sentence I could easily say in my new language. If so, I'll say it. Even if it's just muttering it to myself. Some of our easiest things we say around the house are phrases we're learning. "I need that." "I forgot." "That's right." "Where is [this]?"

  5. Talk to your pet. Similar to talking to yourself, but better: you have an audience. These are ways you can try out what you can say with greetings and simple phrases meant to be spoken to or with someone. Your pet won't mind. They might walk away, but at least they won't laugh at you. "Hello, Lily." "Are you a good girl?" "Come here." "I love you." "Where's your toy?"

  6. Read an article out loud. Find something that interests you online in the language you're learning. If it's an article about skiing, cooking, traveling - whatever your interest, read it out loud to practice reading and speaking. Learning what's being written can also come in handy for future conversation if it's a subject that you're actually interested in. (Aside from magazine articles, I also favour reading the dictionary and saying the new words out loud to improve my vocabulary.)

Remember...do something nice for yourself today.

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SweNedGuy
Belgium

Re: DIY language learning resources

Post by SweNedGuy »

Think of a country where your target language is spoken alongside another language you know. Lots of information will be available in (at least) the two national languages. You want to learn French? There will be plenty of Canadian information available in both French and English. You should try reading the French version and check whether you understood well by reading the English version. It's a great way to boost your passive knowledge.

Regional languages can be learnt in the same way, provided you speak the main national language of the country.

Speaking :netherlands: :fr: :uk: :es: Learning :de:(B2-) :it:(B1) Image :sweden: :portugal: Image (A)

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justheaven

Re: DIY language learning resources

Post by justheaven »

I didn't know about Cliffs Notes, that's a great resource not only for learning languages. I can't wait to check out all of the guides.

My personal favorite is https://speechling.com/dictation/spanish

It's audio dictation practice. Besides Spanish (Latin American and from Spain) it has English, French, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, German, Italian, Portuguese and Russian. And the best thing: The audio is by real people, not computer generated. And you can further customize Male/Female voice, and your level (Beginner to Expert) and if you want there are even topics you can choose form, like Asking for Help, Weather, etc. If you're a beginner there are nouns, verbs, adverbs etc. It's a great site!

N🇧🇬 A2:es: C1:us:
"That youngster's naturalness is impressive."Duolingo

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