Genki!

Genki can help you learn Japanese through fun songs that will stick in your head forever and ever until the end of time.

There are quite a few songs that you can listen to and watch the video for free on this site.

They include Who, What, When, Where?, The Weather, Where From?, Left And Right, and quite a few others. I could list them all but then where would the fun in checking them out for yourself be?

There is also a games section.

Yea!

Because who doesn't love games?

These are the games offered for Genki Japanese. Notice there are quite a few?

The games all have a method of try, fail, and try again until you learn the words naturally. One of the games is called, My...hurts! and the little doll says what hurts in Japanese and you have to guess what he said by clicking on it.

Most of the material is free but the guy who made it also has versions and it is good if you need the extra material or if you want to support him since he has given so much to the community. He does not overcharge for his materials like most language companies do. He doesn't charge hundreds of dollars [like one famous language company we know, won't name names] or even a hundred dollars [like a lot of language companies that call themselves affordable]. He charges $37 for a whole package. And even though, at eight, I would have to ask my mom for that, I think it's a reasonable price to ask for a program as good as this one.

He teaches other languages besides Japanese.

There is Spanish which has seventeen good games including Do You Like...?

First you can practice the words by clicking on them. Then you can play the game. The lady says Te gusta...? and then she adds a word like manzanas and you have to click on the apple or the word she says and when you get it right the doll climbs a ladder and the lady says "Bravo!" or "Muy bien!"

There is also a few other languages listed below including Chinese and Korean. Some of the languages only have games or only have music but every language has something very fun to do. So, go check it out. Sing, dance, and play your way to a new language.

Have fun!

Languages: Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Thai, German, French, Math, English

Learn A Language

You can Learn A Language! There are eight to choose from.

Sign up and choose which course you are going to learn. For this example, I chose Italian.

An overview of what you will learn from the course.

Once I signed up I was introduced to Einstein. Or at least a 3D guy who looks an awful lot like Einstein. He gave me a tour of Learn A Language.

Einstein teaches you how to use the site.

Yep, that's right. Einstein gives you the grand tour of Learn A Language. There is a lot to do on this site as you can see in the picture above.

First you learn the your new words or phrases in the Learning Lounge.

3D Animals!

They show you the word in English and then in your target language. They even show you a picture of each of the words you learn. Olive loves this site because she loves learning the animals with their 3D moving pictures. It's her favourite!

After you learn the words you are going to have to prove you know them!

The first game is multiple choice to make it easy for you and help you learn the words a little better before you test them. It is called Memory Machine.

Once you have used the memory machine you should know most of the words well enough to  play a game that requires you to type in the words. This next game is called Soccer Game.

The idea is that you are playing soccer but the concept is the same as Hangman. It just has a prettier picture. You hit letters that you think are in the word. If they are in the word they appear in the "Letters Correct" area. If they are not correct, then you don't block the soccer ball and your team loses.

So, there you go. Choose a course, practice the words, play the games, and Learn A Language with Learn A Language.

Have fun.

Oh, but don't cut out of class early. Einstein hates that and won't give you any points for the lesson you quit!

Languages: Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian, Spanish

LiveMocha: Destiny's Review

LiveMocha is a great way to learn a language, particularly for a visual learner. Generally, you would start at the most basic level. LiveMocha shows you pictures for each word. After glancing at each of the word, hearing them, and repeating them you might still feel like you don't know what they are. 

That's where the review comes in. Once you go through the review you will realize you have remembered a lot of it. If you're feeling confident you can even try writing or speaking in the language and then sharing it with the community for a review. Native speakers will then review the language and give you advice.

You can also help native speakers of other languages learn English in a sort of pay-it-forward type system. Some aspects of LiveMocha cost money but there is a lot you can do for free.

LiveMocha currently offers: Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Croatian, Czech  Dutch, English, Esperanto, Estonian, Farsi, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Mandarin Chinese, Norwegian (Bokmal), Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu