I recently spent some time living in
Like Busuu, every other app I have found to learn another
language has only offered introductory lessons to a point where you need to pay
for additional lessons. Quite
frustrating for me indeed since of course my quests are not completely
satisfied until I have found the completely free methods. I believe I have now found it.
Before I get to the solution some time ago I saw a TED talk
about how Captchas are used to help complete scanned books using crowd
sourcing. If you have no idea what that
sentence actually means I suggest you watch the video for the link below. It is a great example of how the power of
masses of ordinary people can go about solving great problems with little
effort.
In this video a concept of learning language was explained
whereby you could learn a new language and at the same time help translate
pages on the web. What a great idea! Billions of people could have an opportunity to learn another language FREE
while helping translate the web for people to read in their native language. My son reminded me about this web site the
other day and to my surprise it is also available as an app! Well my friends
that day is upon us now for FREE language learning with the app Duolingo.
From here on I am going
to be talking about Spanish as the example with the understanding that many of
you will be interested in learning a different language. Just remember that by understanding the
sources of this information you may be able to find the language of your
interest in the same search locations.
Duolingo: This app offers several languages to learn. You need to start at the basic level, but
seems to go pretty far along in the process of learning that language. I have
not completed all the lessons yet so it is hard to say for sure. It has an entertaining interface which makes
it fun to learn gaining “hearts” for lessons accomplished allowing you to move
on to the next level.
Spanishdict: This is a great English Spanish dictionary you can use for reference which also has a few exercises.
Phrases: Includes definition of common phrases
Word Games: Has a word game to help remember key words.
There are many other free dictionaries for other languages as well.
Conjuverb: You can use this for looking up verbs to see their conjugations as a reference as well when you are doing more advanced exercises.
Flash Card: as a bonus there is a Flash Card option to help remember certain vocabulary and tense.
Again I am sure you will find other languages to conjugate as well. Flash Cards
What do you do if you need more lessons after that. What other apps are available since the other
apps seem to maker you pay to move forward.
Well there are two apps that are often overlooked, but an amazing source
of FREE information. Those apps are
iBooks and iTunesU. Both of these apps
have a wealth of free information from many universities and reputable authors.
iBooks: Within the iBooks application search for these FREE titles indicated below.
Level 1: Spanish you already know by Sean Young.
Level 1: Espanol 1 by David Nance interactive features,
Level 2: Esquemas Gramatical del Espanol by Carlos J. Duarte.
Anytime: Spanish Refresher by Stewart Anderson
iTunesU: within the iTunesU application search these FREE titles below.
From the Universite dePaul there is a series 101, 102, 103 taught by Claudia
Fernandez,
There is a 5 Minute Spanish series by David Nance.
Have you found another free language learning resource that
you like? Share it with us all in the
comments section below.
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