learning language

15 Web Tools to Enhance Language Learning

Posted on September 22, 2009 by Karen Schweitzer | CATEGORIES: self education

With the world becoming more culturally diverse everyday, it is becoming increasing important for everyone to learn a new language. Whether you are learning for your career, education, or just want to increase you knowledge of other languages, the Internet provides a wide variety of tools that can enhance your learning experience. Here is a list of 15 free language learning tools to explore today:

Popling – Popling is free online web software that is great for practicing language vocabulary without any real effort. This unique software works by having a window (flash card) pop up at certain intervals on your desktop. You can either click on the window to study the full flash card or ignore it and the window will disappear.

Radio Lingua Network – The Radio Linga Network offers free online podcasts that you can use to enhance listening comprehension and language learning skills for 20 different languages. The podcast episodes range from one-minute quick lessons to longer, five-minute lessons.

Livemocha – Livemocha is a free community language learning tool with online interactive lessons, user created courses, and language partners that are ready to practice with you. The language partners are a great way build your language confidence though conversations with live native speakers. You have the option of either using conversation exercises or submitting text and audio files to native speakers for corrections and edits.

Palabea – With this large international language learning community, you can interact with native speakers, find audio and visual learning aids, improve writing and grammar, and even find native speakers in your hometown. Through these tools, Palabea gives everyone the opportunity to learn or study their foreign speaking skills on an international web platform.

Freelang.net – Freelang.net offers free language dictionaries, translations, blogs, and forums to help you increase your language skills. These tools are an excellent way for you to improve your reading, writing, and speaking skills in the language you’re studying. This site also provides links to other translation software, learning tools, and more.

ForiegnWord.com – This site features four different tools that foreign language learners can use to translate text, find language links, and gain access to 265 online dictionaries. Just one of the tools featured on this site, Translate Now, provides access to 28 translators in over 38 different languages.

Lingro – Lingro is a free site with open content dictionaries that provide free online learning in 11 different languages. With this site, you can increase your language comprehension and understanding through online translations, word lists, games, a collaborative dictionary, and more.

Babbel – The Babbel site is a free online learning portal for Spanish, English, German, French, and Italian. Within this site, you will find multimedia learning methods and tools that are easy and fun to use. Babbel also offers a language exchange community with more than 400,000 registered users.

Transparent Language – Transparent Language provides language software that has helped millions of individuals worldwide with language learning. On this site you can find several free resources and tools, including language software, blogs, games, articles, and learning communities to enhance your language skills.

Open Culture – This free site provides podcasts for learning 37 different languages. The podcasts cover everything from Arabic to Yiddish and are perfect for beginner, intermediate, and advanced learners. You can listen to lessons instantly on your computer or download them in MP3 format for listening on the go.

SharedTalk – SharedTalk is an online language learning community that provides tools to practice and study a multitude of different languages. With this site, you can use language partners, voice chat, text chat, and email to enhance your language skills while helping other people to enhance theirs.

Lang-8 – This site encourages language learners to practice writing skills by writing in the language they are studying. Once your writing assignment is complete you can send it to a native speaker for editing and corrections. This site also works as an online exchange community–you will be asked to read and correct the writings of others who are studying your language.

Digital Dialects – Digital Dialects offers free interactive learning games for 58 different languages. The games provide practice with beginning phrases as well as vocabulary builders to help language learners increase their knowledge. The site is updated regularly with new material.

Translation2 – With four free online translators, Translation2 is a good site for increasing your understanding and comprehension in language learning. Translation tools include a text translator, dictionary, text to speech translator, and an IM translator. The text to speech translator is an excellent way to practice pronunciation and can be embedded in emails or web pages.

Karen Schweitzer is an education writer and Guest Blogger for PickTheBrain. She is the About.com Guide to Business School. She also writes for OnlineCollege.org, an accredited online college resource.

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  • http://heycoachj.blogspot.com Coach J

    I just stumbled across this blog and boy, am I glad I did! I’ve been trying to learn a second language and I was desperate for more resources. Thanks for this list!

  • http://theprincedom.wordpress.com bretthimself

    I can’t believe busuu.com wasn’t mentioned. It’s awesome for learning languages through social networking.

    • Del

      Why can’t you believe it? She’s got more options than space to write about them. A lot of sites are going to get missed. Just relax.

  • http://www.free-speed-reading.com/ Bob

    I think my site is helpful for learning advanced techniques of reading your own language, though that’s not much the point of the article I suppose. I also like busuu.com

  • http://www.lingq.com Steve Kaufmann

    I would have like to see LingQ.com mentioned as well. Nevertheless, the point is that there are a lot of resources available on the web for language learning.

  • http://www.anxiouscandy.com Faramarz

    Nice post now maybe I’ll actually get round to learning a foreign language

  • http://www.learnchineseeveryday.com/ Min Min (Learn Chinese Everyday)

    Nice article.
    Just to share with you, I have a Chinese learning website – Learn a Chinese character a day.
    Check it out at LearnChineseEverday.com.

  • http://www.learnchineseeveryday.com/ Min Min (Learn Chinese Everyday)

    Nice article.
    Just to share with you, I have a Chinese learning website – Learn a Chinese character a day.
    Check it out at LearnChineseEveryday.com.

  • http://www.fluentfuture.com fluentfuture

    fluentfuture is a social networking language exchange. You can learn a language for free meeting members who speak other languages and teaching each other. Or you can pay rated teachers for individual lessons.

  • http://www.civicjunkie.com Scott

    Another great language learning site is http://smart.fm
    It’s also has a lot of other things to learn besides languages.

  • http://www.ideaflea.com/ Nicole

    Free online webmaster tools to optimize your web site. Visit http://www.webtoolhub.com/

  • http:///www.positivewayoflife.com Josten

    i definitely had to add this to the favorites. I have been wanting to learn a new language for sometime now. With this i know it will not be so hard.

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  • http://langlearn.openquality.ru/ Alaska Capt

    Please, take a look at this tool:
    http://langlearn.openquality.ru/

    This tiny program is intended for people interested in foreign language learning. The idea is that you grasp language by reproducing patterns of native speakers.

  • http://www.daydayupchinese.com Al Jensen

    I’d like to recommend a site for learning Mandarin Chinese http://www.daydayupchinese.com

    It’s a free online textbook including audio. It’s meant to be the most comprehensive structured learning resource for Chinese on the web.

  • stephen

    I recommend http://www.vocabfish.com for building vocabulary in a foreign language quickly. Vocabfish uses an online flashcard method. Languages can be practiced in any pairing and in any direction. Access to English, Spanish and French is free. Other languages like Portuguese, German, Polish, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Arabic can be accessed with a very inexpensive ($10) yearly subscription.

  • cycleboy

    Many of the tools I’ve seen have pre-loaded vocabulary. This may not be appropriate. What I would like is a tool that would ‘flash’ up a word and require me to put in the translation. However, I want to tailor the list of words to those I need. I have seen a tool to create my own flash cards, but it’s simply a MS Word document and there’s no clue as to how it will operate.

    Many years ago I developed such a tool for MS-DOS. Unfortunately, I am now learning Japanese and the tool cannot cope with this and converting it to Windows/Linux is beyond my ancient software skills.

  • Mike

    I am using text to speech software Panopreter Plus(http://www.panopreter.com) on Windows 7 when learning foreign language, it improves my listening and pronunciation skills dramatically, I use it to make audio books too, it’s very simple to use and powerful. Glad to share with you.

  • http://www.myvocabbook.com Sheldon West

    I’ve started using http://www.myvocabbook.com recently, I definitely recommend it…put any words you want to learn there and it seems you’ll never forget them! I think you can share vocab with friends too if you want

  • F. Javier Millán

    Good article! I think it’s missing http://www.mylingo.org, though!

  • wahab

    great article ; thank you

  • AJP

    You should check out Voxy.  It’s a great English-learning website for Spanish speakers.  

  • http://www.facebook.com/rappscott Scott Rapp

    We’re just getting a new website started that hopes to incorporate many of the disparate sites into one. It helps you learn words through flashcard style reviews, and helps you find new words through videos and online articles. We hope it’s going to be a hit, and would love for you to take a look.
    http://www.studystre.am -> Englishhttp://www.studystream.es -> Spanishhttp://www.studystream.jp -> Japanese

  • A learner

    also missing http://www.strategiesinlanguagelearning.com awesome site to help improve language learning with tips, insights and understanding driving it all

  • MerlinLeroy75

    Good article! I think it’s missing http://www.lingueo.com 

  • SarahB

    Try out 
    http://www.learn-german-language-online.com/

    A great tool for people learning German – and some great tips on learning a foreign language in general.

  • http://www.facebook.com/brian.doslea Brian Thomas

    another great site is http://www.worldwordexchange.com

  • http://www.facebook.com/brian.doslea Brian Thomas

    another great site is http://www.worldwordexchange.com

  • Christinejernigan

    Very well done. I mention many of these tools in a book I’m writing for parents interested in learning a second language so they can teach it to their children. You might find the videos that I’m making now quite interesting: http://www.youtube.com/getbilingual              Hands on ways to learn a second language even if you’re not a “language person’

  • SarritaBonita

    Accioapps.com is a great reference for languages.  They have cool phrasebook and dictionary reference apps.  Oh, and two really fun word games.

  • http://twitter.com/myenglishteache MyEnglishTeacher

    Great sites. Thank you for sharing!

  • Bettina

    Great article and really great suggestions! We`ve also just created a free online Vocabulary trainer 
    http://www.languagecourse.net/vocabulary-trainer.php

  • Sallyj5689

    This great :) Thanks for sharing!
    http://www.easylanguageexchange.com/ is also great. Practice speaking with the natives, Great for all language learners.

  • http://www.isustainableearth.com/ Sustainable Earth

     You should also look at the Kahn Academy and other online courses that can boost your skills and many are free.

  • StoryboardThat

    A very different approach – http://www.storyboardthat.com.  You can create short stories in a different language to practice basic skills

  • Rinat C.

    Frazeit is also an efficient tool to understand how words are used in context.
    http://fraze.it

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