Wanna learn languages? Go online!

Have you ever wanted to learn languages but never found the time nor the right place to do it? Well, here’s your shot!  

All you have to do is get your I-pod, download all the foreign music you like and download the lyrics of the songs you’re listening to. That’s how, experts say, you’ll easily learn and enjoy at the same time! There’s no need for teachers, books or tests! You’ll find yourself speaking different languages in no time!   However, if you like a more traditional approach, you’ll find many interactive programs online to help you. Some of which are: 

1)    Practice English online! (http://www.1-language.com/ ). In this page you’ll find different tools for learning such as flash games, grammar quizzes and more. You can also get info for studying abroad and (here’s the best part) there are also other languages available such as Italian, Spanish and more!  

2)    Learn French online! (http://www.frenchassistant.com/default.asp). Here, you’ll get practice online French language lessons and question generator. And it’s free!!  

3)    Learn German online! (http://www.deutsch-lernen.com/). You’ll find 10 German lessons for total beginners and 24 German grammar lessons for advanced learners are complemented by numerous interactive German exercises, an introduction to new German orthography and 2 online German tests to improve and to evaluate your German proficiency. You’ll be able to study tips, famous quotations, an online dictionary to translate German terms into over 70 languages and international pen pals!!! 

4)    Learn Italian Online! (http://www.iluss.it/). Wanna test your Italian language level, learn Italian with our online courses, build your Italian language vocabulary, listen to Italian texts and dialogues, read Italian short stories, learn Italian verbs? Here’s the right place!   So, once you make up your mind, tell us about it!Any comments? Suggestions? Leave them here!!!!

Already speak Spanish, check Edutainment in Spanish 

Stay tuned…

KIKI

The right way for learning Japanese!

Hi there!

I just discovered another amazing site, this time about the japanese language.  I have been always interested in oriental stuff, such as martial arts, manga, anime, and all that cool stuff that this guys have. Not even talk about japanese katanas (swords). However as an anime fan, I am still reading the subtitles in english of my japanese animes.

I read somewhere that japanese was much easier than chinese, since it has less verbs conjugations and a simpler structure. So that gave me some hope…

I began reading some tutorials then, but I then realized that I hadn’t a clue of how to pronounce the words (or neither how they sounded), so it wasn’t actually really useful.

I now discovered Japanese Lessons Blog that seems to be pretty cool:

JapanesePod101.com is an innovative and revolutionary approach to mastering the Japanese language at your own pace – take the classroom with you, and spend as much time as you need on each lesson! Today’s lesson is designed to give you a taste of our Beginner Lessons series, which will introduce you to the language and progressively build your grammar and vocabulary until you’re ready to move on to the Intermediate Lessons. In this lesson, we work on introductions so that you can start using your newly aquired Japanese skills immediately! After listening, stop by JapanesePod101.com for more materials, and be sure to leave us a post!

However the best part are not the articles, but actually the material: it has sound recordings of japanese lessons in order to help you learn how to pronounce the words! Often, each article has a sound attachment, but there is also a category where one can view just the listening lessons

Aki is the principal voice of the recordings and she seems very cute! 😉 Check it out!
The best is that it contains multiple  levels for newbies, begginers, intermidiates, and even a survival-phrases-kit in case you are going to Japan.

In case you don’t like this blog, there are also software in the market that can help you learn.
A good choice seems Learn to Speak Japanese that can be downloaded as a free trial by clicking here.

Learn To Speak Japanese (the Roman character version) is specially developed for people who are learning a new language. It includes 245 scenes of common conversation and 850 words of basic vocabulary. It is presented in a small screen format so you can study while doing other work at your computer. This software will make every second of your time useful.

Even more there are Audio courses that be purchased on CD-Rom like Talk Now!
We recommend Talk Now! for any  language beginner who wants an entertaining self-study course to learn basic phrases, colors, numbers, food, shopping, time, countries, etc.    Talk Now! is designed for people who want to learn a language quickly. It’s fun, fast, and makes learning easy. If you don’t have time to become fluent, but need the basics in a hurry, then Talk Now! is for you.  

Please tell us about your experiences,

Konichiwa!

Questor

Computer Games and Edutainment

Marc Accetta suggests:

Although computer games are not as popular as an educational tool as edutainment television, educational computer games are gaining popularity. Games like ‘Transition Math K-1’ use bright graphics to draw children in and keep them interested in counting, shapes, and telling time. Using a combination of different things like text, sound, graphics and animation, edutainment through the use of computer games can enhance the process of education and make it more enjoyable than most traditional teaching methods.

Click on the link below to see how the computer game ‘The Sims’ can be transformed to use as edutainment in a foreign language classroom… http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2248657652376529907&q=edutainment+computer+games&hl=en.

It’s actually good, worth checking out!!!!

Games encouraging language learning are not uncommon these days but these one is accurate and user-friendly!

for more visit Marc Accetta’s Blog!

stay tuned…for more..

KIKI

Learning Languages while playing commercial games?!

Yes!
That sounds completely crazy…

However, the following video explains how to use commercial hits such as Sims 2 and Grim Fandango not just to play but to also learn new languages!

The key point is that this commercial games, as being sold internationally, have all the text exposed, outside the binary codes, in order to support multiple languages (where they are going to be sold). This means that with simple free tools (available on the net) one can modify all the conversations that our fictional characters have in the game.

The MIT Competive Media Group has fiddled up with this in order to re-create real world scenarios (simulation of real cities) that help the gamer -or student, haha- learn new languages.

Imagine playing Sims 2 in German where all characters help you out to figure out the words by acting the meaning of each word, along with an intresting story? This is a really new approach. Could this be really useful!?

Until next time!

Please leave your comments.

Cheers! 🙂
Questor

Speak Spanish? Check out also Edutainment in Spanish