There are thousands of sites online where someone can learn anything they want to free. For those who want to learn something for the fun of it like learning a language for example, instead of paying for it, you can instead learn online, make friends with native speakers of the language you are learning and maybe learn to speak like one. Has anyone here learned any language online? Any sites you'd recommend?
I haven't done it myself, no. I think it definitely takes dedication to truly learn a language on your own, though. While those sites are free, they also don't keep much incentive or motivation to continue learning, so you really have to be your own driving force for learning it.
I have been doing several free Spanish courses online. Right now I am in my fourth course. I really like all the free flashcards, games and quizzes. It has improved my Spanish skills a lot. I currently live and work in Latin America, so I am continuously looking for ways and means to improve my ability to converse in a sophisticated Spanish.
I don't agree with your claim. I've used Duolingo for learning German online, and the "game" aspect of it is easy to get into. The site also offers incentive to come back and keep your streak running, level up and work down the tree (ie, the language skills that used to form a tree, different themes, you have to unlock a row to get to the new ones) and keep the skills golden (it loses gold when you have not practiced it a while) as well as having the possibility to have competitions with your friends by keeping track of the points you earn weekly/monthly/since forever vs the points they earn. I truly recommend that site, it's free and fun and for sure worth a try, even if it does not cover all the basics. I also use lang-8 for writing. It's a place where you can write in your target language, no matter your skill level, and have native speakers correct you. Truly fun.
No, I haven't tried leaning any language online yet. I only know seven languages and I learned all of them in real life, from real life teachers. However, at the moment, I am developing a course for students to teach them English via the internet. I have a website set up specifically for this purpose. I will launch the website as soon as I have a few more lessons ready.
I agree with hellavu's whole post. Duolingo is the best language learning site out there that I know of. It isn't going to get you fluent whatever they claim, and it's not really going to help your speaking much either, but in terms of reading and writing and word recognition, it can really give you a solid foundation, and there are incentives on the site to come back daily. Anyway, I think you have to be self motivated to learn a language in even a traditional or ideal setting. I know people who have immigrated to a country and still haven't bothered to learn a word of the language despite being in a great situation to do so and, one would think, having a real reason/motivation to do so. Lang-8 is good for practicing writing. The bad thing about it is that you need to get pretty far into a course (say a semester into a normal college course) before you can really write anything remotely worthwhile.
I tried Babbel, which made it easy to learn Spanish, but it was only a free trial, If I remember correctly. What I liked about it was that they'd teach you a few words, then have to match them up to their English counterparts. When they use words and pictures together and when I can hear them actually speak the word, I find it easier to learn. I'd be interested to know if there's a free site like that out there.
I've seen many advertised but I have never actually tried any. I am however very interested in improving my Italian and French and may just give DuoLingo a try. It seems likes fun, plus the bonus of course is that it's free. Wow @Victor Leigh, you know "only seven" languages?! Kudos to you, mate. How many were you going for LOL?
Never heard of Duolingo before, should give it a try. I have been looking for sites to learn languages for free, but so far I haven't found one, maybe I just didn't search correctly. I want to learn Dutch, but I need a site that gives me exercises to practice what I learn. That's essential in language learning, in my opinion.
You can check out free language courses at Udemy.com. They're not comprehensive, of course, but some instructors are kind enough to provide you with the basics along with free resources. I'm currenly learning Japanese in a leisurely pace without any instructor to aid me. I simply downloaded an application from Google Play called Obenkyo. It's got a list of all Japanese characters including Katakana, Hiragana and Kanji. After I've memorized the basics, perhaps I'll enrol in a proper language course to know more about grammar and syntax.
I haven't tried to learn a language yet online, but definitely going online, the internet is part of my learning of language. I just can't imagine how life would be without the internet in learning a language. I would just say that learning with be far longer and a little boring.
I have been interested in learning a new language online for the longest time. In fact I did search for free courses on this topic. I do know of a neat site called Alison that has free classes in mostly everything and I'm going to be signing up to take courses there soon. There are also lots of other sites that have free language courses. I want to learn more spanish, Latin, French, and more.
I haven't learned a new language online yet, but I would give it a go if I could find the time. I think what ever anyone learns online or offline, its all good. Learning full stop is good. I think you should always learn something new everyday!
I've only dabbled with a few YouTube lessons. If I manage to put more time and effort towards it I think this approach might be very useful. But at the end of the day I still need human interaction to make the language fully real.
I don't know if I could learn an entire spoken/written language online. I'm not sure I have the patience or perseverance for it, but it's definitely an interesting idea. One language I would like to learn more of is American Sign Language, and there are various helpful sites regarding that one. I can do the alphabet, but I definitely want to learn more.
I would suggest you join the site "Duolingo". Learning an extra language is always a good idea, considering all the benefits it provides. You get paid extra money at your job, you can speak with foreign people without aid. As for sign language, that is a relatively simple form of communication. Log In Those are the 100 most basic hand signs and movements. If you are serious about it, I suggest you learn there.
I am not planning to learn a new language at the moment, but I just came across this website which offers learning German at home for free. Those who are interested in learning German might find this useful: This is the link to access the free course:Log In There is another free course for younger learners:Log In This might be better for kids, as they learn German through nursery rhymes and stories, this might be more fun for kids. I wish there are similar courses for other languages as well. I would like to learn Japanese if I have more time in future.
I think it's quite possible these days to learn a new language free online using a combination of sites and resources. Some sites can be slow than others but if one is starting from scratch, it might be best to go to slow sites that start with the basic vocabulary and basic language skills. If one is looking for resources to learn Romance languages, there are many useful sites on the internet depending on the language and many of them are free, including Spanishdict which also offers a free translator. I've learned basic Spanish in college so it was a bit easier for me to learn other Romance languages except French which has a very lovely musical accent. There are also several online sites that offer short stories for learners on the intermediate level. I agree that knowledge of other languages can help a person's career or job in some industries.
