LanguageComics

https://www.languagecomics.com/

https://www.youtube.com/user/LanguageComicsTeam/featured

LanguageComics is a great free resource for people learning either Spanish or French. You can read an easy comic with translations for practice. If you go to their Youtube pages, you can also watch some of the comics and hear it read to you.

More on this later.

Hope you like it!

Love,

Destiny

mySpanishgames

Someone on a forum was struggling with telling time on a Spanish forum, so I searched "cómo decir la hora"  and I came across THIS website. This wonderful, fantastic Spanish learning website!

It is called mySpanishgames and it is 100% free.

It runs on donations, so if you can afford it, please donate.

There are different categories, including Stories, Songs, Games, Vocabulary, Fun Grammar, a book store and a teacher's corner.

The website has quite a few fun games. You don't have to know Spanish to play the games, but a little knowledge does help.

One of the games is called ¿Quiénes? If you have ever played Guess Who? you will love ¿Quiénes? Eliminate the suspects according the clues given If the game says "Lleva zapatos negros" or "Is wearing black shoes", click on the people that aren't wearing black shoes to eliminate them.

You can also read and listen to some fun stories on this site. They are very easy for beginners to understand.

In the fun grammar section, the grammar lessons are also basically games. Above is a lesson indirect objects.

All of the games and lessons on this site are tons of fun, so go and try it out! It's definitely a winner.

Love,

Destiny

Busuu

This is an online language course I've been hesitant to review, BUT it does have a free area (and way more free content than Babbel).

The biggest con? You can only study ONE language as a free member.

However, there is quite a bit of free content, so pick your favourite language and sign up.

Busuu uses cues for both the visual and auditory parts of the language. A picture along with the word. This is really helpful for learning the language.

Busuu gives you a review of everything you've learned. There are a few different activities. In this one the speaker says a word or phrase and you must select the picture she is talking about. Once you select the picture, the word will appear underneath it.

This is another fun activity on Busuu. You match the words on the left side of the screen to their meanings on the right. Just like the criss-cross puzzles you do (or did) in school.

This activity forces you to think about how the words are spelled in the language.

One of the major PROS of Busuu is the writing activity. In just about every section, after you learn the vocabulary, you can choose WRITING after you've gone through VOCABULARY and DIALOGUE or you can review first. A question is asked in the language you are learning, and you must answer it in the language. Native speakers will comment and correct you. They will also give you stars based on how good your writing was.

Here is an example of a WRITING exercise that was corrected by a native speaker.

Some other key points about Busuu.

You earn Busuu berries that you can shop in a little store with. You can use your Busuu berries to buy discounts on the paid course or you can buy cute little animals for your garden.

Busuu also has a chat feature. After you've studied a lesson, Busuu offers you the chance to select a native speaker to chat with. This is a great way to practice the language.

And that's the main reason I give Busuu 4 stars.

Enjoy!

Love,

Destiny

Languages: English, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Polish, Turkish, Arabic, Japanese, Chinese

Language Practice: Children's Library

Today, I want to talk about a place called Children's Library. It's located here.

http://www.en.childrenslibrary.org

Click on Read Books and you'll be taken to a library of books in different languages.

Select the language you're studying and select the length you want to read. If you are beginner, I recommend choose a SHORT book. If you are advanced try choosing LONG books. Once you've selected these specifications you should have some pretty good options related to your learning level.

Once you select the book you can flip through the pages and read it. It looks like a real book, but it's virtual! See how easy the German text from the book Waldo And His Colors is?

Have fun reading and practicing!

Love, Destiny

Utilizing Youtube For Language PRACTICE.

Aside from using Youtube to learn languages, you can also use it to practice languages.

Chinese Practice

This t.v show appears to be for preschoolers. It has singing, captions (in Chinese characters), and fun. It should be easy enough for beginner to intermediate Chinese learners. Beginners will catch at least some of the words.

Die Zauberer Vom Waverly Place (German Practice)

You can find Disney shows in a lot of language. Here is one example: Wizards Of Waverly Place. In order to find your favourite show in the language you are learning, it helps to translate the show into the language first and then do a Youtube search.

I recommend this for intermediate/advanced learners.

Trotro (German Practice)

Trotro is a very simple, easy-to-understand cartoon for preschoolers with simple language. If you have the knowledge of a 4-5 year old in your target language you should be able to understand Trotro. Very good for beginners.

Trotro comes in a few other languages.

Trotro Francais

Trotro English

Trotro Türkçe

Utilizing Youtube For Language Learning: Day 2

Learn Chinese

Mandarin For Kids

Utilizing Youtube For Language Learning: Day 1

Alright, so I haven't found any good sites to review lately. But I was answering some questions about language learning the other day and it got me thinking. One resource that a lot of people skim over is Youtube.

"You can use Youtube to learn a language?" Faith asked me when I bounced my idea off her.

"Yes, you can!" I told her. "In fact, if you want to learn Spanish all you have to do is type in 'Learn Spanish' and lots of resources come up. But to start you off, I am going to give you a glimpse of a few Youtube Language Learning Courses."

Learn Irish Gaelic with Puppets!

Learn Lebanese

Learn Japanese

You can click on the video to go to Youtube and learn more about the course. You don't even have to have a Youtube account to use it for language learning, but it really helps if you get one. Then you can subscribe to every course related to learning your language.