Perhaps the most useful skill you can carry is knowledge of the local language.
It can open up a startling range of opportunities, ease the strain of logistics and planning, and allow you to develop a deeper connection with the place and, more importantly, the people you are visiting.
With a little advanced planning, and an introduction to the basics, it can be surprisingly easy to pick up a language on the road.
A good phrasebook, and the dedication to use it, are the first steps to mastering a new tongue. Beyond that, an organized set of study materials can make all the difference between stumbling though a few disjointed commonalities and articulately expressing your ideas and opinions.
While most travelers understand this, who wants to buy and carry around a pile of language books? Fortunately, there are a number of excellent internet sites devoted to language study, most of them providing their services for free.
Who wants to buy and carry around a pile of language books? Fortunately there are many free language sites.
The BBC offers comprehensive online courses in French, Spanish, German, Italian, Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese, and Greek, with slightly briefer introductions to several other languages.
This incredible, totally free, service is the best option for starting a new language from the beginning as the curricula are well designed, very complete, and easy to follow; all important features of a self-study program.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has made a great effort to supply all of its course materials online for the free use of MIT students and the global internet community.
The Languages and Literatures department features courses in languages such as Chinese, Japanese, French, German and Spanish in addition to many interesting literature and culture topics.
While the usefulness of the materials provided varies depending on the course, they all include a detailed study plan to aid the self-learner in structuring a home course.
The Internet Polyglot provides study materials for twenty-one languages. The unit-based materials available are ideal for a student already familiar with the basics of the language and interested in practicing specific areas and applications.
4. The Open University LeaningSpace
Similar to the Internet Polyglot, the LearingSpace provides unit-based study materials with a primary emphasis in French and Spanish.
5. Language Learning Podcasts
In the last few years, there has been an explosion of podcasts devoted to learning a language. These resources provide important sound cues and practical pronunciation guides, and are an invaluable tool for a self-study program.
To find podcasts, iTunes users can navigate to the “education” category of the iTunes Music Store. Other listeners can browse popular podcast databases like Odeo or The Podcast Directory.
A highlight of some of the more popular language podcasts includes Learn Greek, The French Podcast, ChinesePod, A Taste of Russian, and the Cherokee Language Podcast.
6. Madinah Arabic Language Course
For those interested in learning Arabic, the Madinah Course is the best online course available for free. Focusing on both spoken and written Arabic, this course takes the student from the first introductions through the advanced beginner level.
Livemocha is a social networking community focused on learning foreign languages. It provides free online courses in German, Mandarin Chinese, French, Spanish, and Hindi with plans to expand to other languages in the future.
In addition to the online courses, available from introductory to intermediate levels, Livemocha provides an active community of language learners and native speakers willing to work with you and give help when needed.
This community based approach makes Livemocha one of the most useful tools for the self-study of language.
8. Something Completely Different
Travelers interested in learning a more obscure, or even endangered language, should begin their research at the Ethnologue, an online database of all of the world’s 6,912 known living languages.
For more specific study, check out the Sanskrit Self Study program, an introductory course for learning Tibetan, Yucatec Maya language study materials, the great book Introduction to Zulu, or the Comparative Bantu Languages Dictionary.
Learning a new language requires time and dedication and can be a challenge no matter how good the tools available.
Still, these online resources are accessible anywhere you can find an internet connection and will make all the difference when trying to tame that new tongue, at home or abroad.
What are some your favourite online resources for learning a new language? Please share in the comments!
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68 Comments... join the discussion!
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i’m a member of Livemocha and the course is great. as well as practising reading/comprehension, you can also chat live with other language learners.
i’m trying to find a site where i can learn less “well used” languages……Tswana, for example. All the usual sites offer the standard world languages.
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Great article, and I think I’ll check out one of the sites. Glad I stumbled upon this, since I’m thinking of taking up Spanish and want to find some useful resources online.
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Good collection. I just did my own list of language-learning-site, check it out if you like:
http://www.netvibes.com/travellinks#good_to_knowDavid
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A good resource for learning a foreign language is Fluent Future: http://www.fluentfuture.com/home. It is a language exchange tool, where you can meet native speakers of the language you are seeking to learn or pay for rated teachers with individual lessons.
You can learn languages of wide use like English, French, Spanish, but also some “exotic” languages like Japanese, Korean, Russion, Hindi or Tamil, because speakers of these languages subscribed on this website.
Enjoy it!
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I wasn’t even aware one could learn a language online for free! Thanks for the post… I’m starting to learn French tomorrow! =)
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Awesome, I’m going to make sure all the translators at EasyLSP get this link!
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This is a very helpful site for learning foreign llanguages.
For those of you who wish to learn the international language Esperanto online, go to http://www.esperanto.org/angle/kiel.html
Esperanto is so easy to learn that it has “propaedeutic” value in helping one to then go on to learn other languages, After one has acquired proficiency in Esperanto in a very short time, this builds up confidence to go on to learn other languages.
A document by an English-speaking Swedish medical doctor, which can be found at http://www.2-2.se/en/index.html , gives an excellent presentation in favor of Esperanto as the international world language.
Esperanto was designed to be a common “second” language and not to replace any existing languages. People should learn as many languages as possible to help them understand other peooples and their cultures. But this is easier if one learns Esperanto first.
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Hi there
My name is Vyacheslav
I’m a Russian tutor
I found this article very interesting and useful for many people who want learn languages!
I have a website of my own
Russian-plus.com
I make Russian lessons and update it often
Could you consider adding it to this article so more people could learn about it ?
thank youbest regards
Vyacheslav↵ -
Hello
My name is Vyacheslav
I’m a Russian tutor
I have a website of my own
Russian-plus.com
I make Russian lessons and update it oftenCould you add it to your russian language links if you like it?
thank you↵ -
It’s not really free anymore but it is very, very inexpensive considering what similar language learning software charges… Babbel
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Nice site , i just checked it out, excellent lessons!
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I would also like to add a great site run by a guy who specializes in taking official foreign language exams: http://www.fluentin3months.com/
He’s good and unconventional in his approach!
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