Yes, I know it’s a weird title to use, but bear with me, I’m trying to make a point. I often talk to people trying to learn a new language and they complain that they’re using some popular methods and are not getting the results they paid for. They got the “Learn Russian in a week” book and, oh my God, after a week, they’re still at basic vocabulary (if at all). This sparked the idea to create this article, where I’ll talk about 5 very “popular” ways of NOT learning a foreign language and messing up your language assimilation process:
1. Playing by the rules with a blindfold – I’m not at all against popular learning methods, in fact we promote quite a few of the tried and tested ones on www.internetpolyglot.com . However, I do believe that not all learning programs are suitable for everyone. A lot of people will just buy a book, or get an online language course and wait for the cherry to drop right in their mouth. Truth is, you’re better off thinking for yourself than letting someone else do the thinking in terms of what’s good and what’s bad for you. Did you try some word games and they were fun and you felt like you learnt something in the process? Then continue to try them, despite the experts saying that they’re useless. Did all the language gurus tell you to study after a stepwise plan but it’s not working for you? Then simply take off the blindfold and study with the help of the methods that you feel are right.
2. Grammar obsession – This is so common it’s becoming tragically funny. People are perfectionists and they’re trying to get everything right from day one. I agree that works with many fields in life, but language learning is not one of them. Learning a language is something organic, something that can only be grown through experience. Being obsessed with getting the grammar perfectly from day one is a serious time waster, since you’re going to assimilate all the grammar rules naturally, while reading, listening or talking to someone. I’m not saying it’s not ok to learn the basic rules and think them through, just don’t overdo it.
3. The “I Must!” Theory – Setting yourself up with a learning plan from day one is definitely great: “1 hour per day, from 8 to 10 PM, I will study” is a solid statement. However, this doesn’t mean that you’re not allowed to skip a day or two, or you need to use those specific hours. If you study just because “you must” do it, you’ll probably not have explosive results. Studying when you’re not tired, when your attention span is maximized and when there aren’t any distractions is the way to go. Being too obsessive about your language learning schedule is definitely a great way NOT to learn that foreign language.
4. Lack of Reviewing – Every now and then, you should test what you’ve learnt so far, or you might end up having more lose strings than you can handle. Learning for a whole year without reviewing what you studied every now and then is awful. You’ll think you know a particular subject, because, after all, you studied it, but when you’re faced to use it in “real life” you’ll notice that there’s no shortcut on the desktop for it. Constantly reviewing and testing what you learned is the key here.
5. Lack of Diversification – This is also related to point 1. If you find a method that works for you, great! But don’t focus strictly on that one. Try to diversify your language learning, make your exercises fun, try reading, listening, talking, writing or a combination of the above. You can very well learn a language without diversifying your techniques, but when you’re faced to do something that you didn’t study for, you’ll be in trouble. For example, you can definitely learn a language just by reading and writing it down, but when you’ll be faced with actually talking it, you’ll have wished you diversified early on.
Hopefully you’ll be able to avoid these mistakes if you start up on learning a new foreign language. Although there are other traps and mistakes you should worry about, I feel it’s the above 5 that have the greatest negative impact on one’s learning process.
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Finding the Time to Learn a New Language
I can’t stop smiling every time I browse the Internet or visit a local book shop and see those “Learn Chinese in 10 days” types of guides. It’s just silly, but people still fall for it, because learning a new language is a rather time consuming project and we’re all looking for ways to make it shorter. But seriously, 10 days? Anyway, if you’re looking for methods to cut down your learning to a couple of weeks, simply don’t. There are none. Your best bet is to try and structure your time so that you can learn over a longer period of time.
I’m a strong believer in online learning (obviously, otherwise we wouldn’t have started www.internetpolyglot.com ) and from the perspective of time consumption, it’s probably the best you’ll get. Sure, face to face language courses can be very useful, but they require you to relocate and for the most part, you can’t set your own time schedule. It’s difficult if you have to go all the way to a course when you’re feeling down and you’re not in the right move to learn. With online learning, you can simply put down the mouse and pick up from where you left earlier when you’re in the right mood again.
My suggestion is to break down your learning session in short chunks, over a longer period of time. Instead of hauling all that new information in your head 6 hours each day for a month, you’re better off taking smaller bites, say 1 hour each day, for 4-5 months. If taken in smaller chunks, information can be stored more easily and you won’t have to worry about learning saturation, tiredness or information overload. Don’t subestimate this aspect, having fun (or at least not feeling stressed out) during the learning process can do wonders.
At Internet Polyglot, we also focus on the fun aspect of language learning as a means to get information across and stored. Anything that’s fun in learning can be done in 10-15 minutes, such as playing a short word game, vocabulary quizzes, using some flash cards or playing language related puzzles. If you don’t have a lot of time at hand or if you’re just not feeling in the mood to start with an online course, those 15 minutes of playing during your lunch break will still be helpful. Obviously, the learning frame will be longer, but then again, it’s not like you put a lot of work into it :).
The only disadvantage of Internet language learning from a time-wise perspective is the many distractions that can appear on a computer. Instant messaging, online flash games, social networking sites and whatnot. They can all be very time consuming and they can easily redirect you from learning to wasting time. My suggestion is that whenever you start learning, regardless if you plan on doing it for 15 minutes or 1 hour, you turn off everything that can be a distraction. Close all tabs of addicting websites and try to fight to urge to “just check up on them” for the next hour. Close MSN, Yahoo Messenger or AOL so that no one bothers you. Myspace, Facebook and hi5 won’t miss you if you’re gone for an hour either :)
I’m a strong believer in online learning (obviously, otherwise we wouldn’t have started www.internetpolyglot.com ) and from the perspective of time consumption, it’s probably the best you’ll get. Sure, face to face language courses can be very useful, but they require you to relocate and for the most part, you can’t set your own time schedule. It’s difficult if you have to go all the way to a course when you’re feeling down and you’re not in the right move to learn. With online learning, you can simply put down the mouse and pick up from where you left earlier when you’re in the right mood again.
My suggestion is to break down your learning session in short chunks, over a longer period of time. Instead of hauling all that new information in your head 6 hours each day for a month, you’re better off taking smaller bites, say 1 hour each day, for 4-5 months. If taken in smaller chunks, information can be stored more easily and you won’t have to worry about learning saturation, tiredness or information overload. Don’t subestimate this aspect, having fun (or at least not feeling stressed out) during the learning process can do wonders.
At Internet Polyglot, we also focus on the fun aspect of language learning as a means to get information across and stored. Anything that’s fun in learning can be done in 10-15 minutes, such as playing a short word game, vocabulary quizzes, using some flash cards or playing language related puzzles. If you don’t have a lot of time at hand or if you’re just not feeling in the mood to start with an online course, those 15 minutes of playing during your lunch break will still be helpful. Obviously, the learning frame will be longer, but then again, it’s not like you put a lot of work into it :).
The only disadvantage of Internet language learning from a time-wise perspective is the many distractions that can appear on a computer. Instant messaging, online flash games, social networking sites and whatnot. They can all be very time consuming and they can easily redirect you from learning to wasting time. My suggestion is that whenever you start learning, regardless if you plan on doing it for 15 minutes or 1 hour, you turn off everything that can be a distraction. Close all tabs of addicting websites and try to fight to urge to “just check up on them” for the next hour. Close MSN, Yahoo Messenger or AOL so that no one bothers you. Myspace, Facebook and hi5 won’t miss you if you’re gone for an hour either :)
How to Learn the Vocabulary of a Foreign Language
A language’s vocabulary is its foundation, each word being a brick that can help you build vertically towards your goal. Unlike other concepts in the language learning process, such as grammar structure, pronunciation or spelling, learning vocabulary is not a one-time thing that you can study for a couple of days and understand. Your vocabulary in a foreign language will expand organically as you talk, read, write and listen. Let’s take a look at some popular methods that can help you improve your vocabulary in the language that you’re studying.
Keeping a Word Log
This is a tried and tested method that can help you out in the long run. What you need to do is this: each time you learn a new word, write it down in a log (a journal, a notebook, just make sure it’s something you don’t lose over time). Don’t explain the word, don’t give it a definition and don’t associate it with anything, just write it down. Now, every once in a while (2-3 months) go through the log and read each word and see if you remember what it meant. Chances are some of them might have been lost on you, especially if you haven’t used them again since you logged them, so get a dictionary and again, find out what they mean. This is not so much a method of learning new words, but one of storing the new words better in your memory.
Learning Words in Context
This technique is extremely beneficial and it can mostly be done through constant reading in the foreign language you’re studying. This is how it works: when you already have a basic word base, reading a sentence like as their smell is divine> will usually allow you to logically deduce the word from the context. This will help you create association links between words, helping you understand new concepts quicker if they are next to already known ones.
Read. Listen. Write!
Reading and listening will be your main channels of vocabulary improvement. They can get you a solid word base to use, but it’s also important to use that word base every now and then! If you don’t write and use what you’ve learned it might as well be lost on you. Talking can also help out, but writing is better purely from the vocabulary’s point of view (writing something down rather than saying it gets stuck better in your memory, because of the visual stimuli).
Hopefully these techniques will be helpful throughout your language journey. If you need more similar techniques, word games and useful (and practical) vocabulary improvement methods, try out www.internetpolyglot.com . You’ll find a vast base of exercises that have helped thousands of people struggling with a new foreign language.
Keeping a Word Log
This is a tried and tested method that can help you out in the long run. What you need to do is this: each time you learn a new word, write it down in a log (a journal, a notebook, just make sure it’s something you don’t lose over time). Don’t explain the word, don’t give it a definition and don’t associate it with anything, just write it down. Now, every once in a while (2-3 months) go through the log and read each word and see if you remember what it meant. Chances are some of them might have been lost on you, especially if you haven’t used them again since you logged them, so get a dictionary and again, find out what they mean. This is not so much a method of learning new words, but one of storing the new words better in your memory.
Learning Words in Context
This technique is extremely beneficial and it can mostly be done through constant reading in the foreign language you’re studying. This is how it works: when you already have a basic word base, reading a sentence like
Read. Listen. Write!
Reading and listening will be your main channels of vocabulary improvement. They can get you a solid word base to use, but it’s also important to use that word base every now and then! If you don’t write and use what you’ve learned it might as well be lost on you. Talking can also help out, but writing is better purely from the vocabulary’s point of view (writing something down rather than saying it gets stuck better in your memory, because of the visual stimuli).
Hopefully these techniques will be helpful throughout your language journey. If you need more similar techniques, word games and useful (and practical) vocabulary improvement methods, try out www.internetpolyglot.com . You’ll find a vast base of exercises that have helped thousands of people struggling with a new foreign language.
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Top 5 Reasons to Learn Spanish
With around half a billion speakers world wide, you wouldn’t expect Spanish to be the subject of a “Why learn” type of article. Still, numbers aren’t always everything and some of you might want some more specific advantages of learning Spanish. Personally, I had great advantages from my Spanish language skills and throughout time, I noticed that a few patterns apply to people who learn this language. Most non-native Spanish speakers are people who travel a lot. Some of them learn it because they want to, others learn it due to necessity. But let’s assume you’re learning for fun, for the time being. What would be the main 5 reasons that could convince you to start up on Spanish? Let’s see:
1. Spanish is Easy – No, seriously, it is. It’s actually one of the easiest languages to learn for native English speakers. Spanish is quite common throughout the World and ever since you were a child, you were exposed to the Spanish language on TV, radio or, in some parts of the United States, in the community. This makes it a lot easier to learn the language later on, since you already have the “ear” to learn it.
2. Spanish opens the door for other languages – it’s true, once you learned Spanish it will be a lot easier to go for another language with a Latin substrate. Italian, French, Portuguese, Romanian, anything that’s related to Spanish will be a walk in the park. These languages can be learnt using the same language patterns, so once you got the hang of how Spanish needs to be assimilated, you will find it quicker to adapt to its cousins.
3. Travelling – Obviously, if you travel to South America or Spain, you’ll need to speak Spanish fluently if you want to make it a pleasant stay. Otherwise you’ll be going to your hotel room with your arms aching every night, due to the extensive body language that you used throughout the day. People in Spanish countries aren’t particularly keen on learning English and you can’t ask that from them anyway. It’s you who’s visiting their country, so it’s you who has a duty to perform in learning their language.
4. Business Opportunities – Regardless if you’re from Europe or North America, there are some very rich neighbors standing right next to you. Mexico for the US and Spain for Western Europe are two markets that need to be tapped, because they offer huge potential. If you want to conduct business in Spain, Mexico or any other Spanish speaking country for that matter, you’ll make a great first impression if you can speak the language of the persons you’re dealing with.
5. Cultural Understanding – The Spanish culture has been incredible throughout history and Spanish authors have left behind hundreds of thousands of books filled with interesting information. However, information is lost during translation, so if you really want to enjoy a book from a Spanish author, you’ll learn the language and read the book the way it was meant to be read: in the Spanish language.
I hope I made my point with these advantages of learning Spanish. If you need a starting point for your language efforts, visit Internet Polyglot and start the ride!
1. Spanish is Easy – No, seriously, it is. It’s actually one of the easiest languages to learn for native English speakers. Spanish is quite common throughout the World and ever since you were a child, you were exposed to the Spanish language on TV, radio or, in some parts of the United States, in the community. This makes it a lot easier to learn the language later on, since you already have the “ear” to learn it.
2. Spanish opens the door for other languages – it’s true, once you learned Spanish it will be a lot easier to go for another language with a Latin substrate. Italian, French, Portuguese, Romanian, anything that’s related to Spanish will be a walk in the park. These languages can be learnt using the same language patterns, so once you got the hang of how Spanish needs to be assimilated, you will find it quicker to adapt to its cousins.
3. Travelling – Obviously, if you travel to South America or Spain, you’ll need to speak Spanish fluently if you want to make it a pleasant stay. Otherwise you’ll be going to your hotel room with your arms aching every night, due to the extensive body language that you used throughout the day. People in Spanish countries aren’t particularly keen on learning English and you can’t ask that from them anyway. It’s you who’s visiting their country, so it’s you who has a duty to perform in learning their language.
4. Business Opportunities – Regardless if you’re from Europe or North America, there are some very rich neighbors standing right next to you. Mexico for the US and Spain for Western Europe are two markets that need to be tapped, because they offer huge potential. If you want to conduct business in Spain, Mexico or any other Spanish speaking country for that matter, you’ll make a great first impression if you can speak the language of the persons you’re dealing with.
5. Cultural Understanding – The Spanish culture has been incredible throughout history and Spanish authors have left behind hundreds of thousands of books filled with interesting information. However, information is lost during translation, so if you really want to enjoy a book from a Spanish author, you’ll learn the language and read the book the way it was meant to be read: in the Spanish language.
I hope I made my point with these advantages of learning Spanish. If you need a starting point for your language efforts, visit Internet Polyglot and start the ride!
5 Advantages of Being a Polyglot
I read on someone’s blog a while back a few journal pages where the owner made a sort of wish list for the next 5 years. Her main wishes were to learn 5 languages in the next 5-10 years, including Arabic, French, German, Mandarin Chinese and Japanese. When someone commented on the post, asking why she wants to be such a big polyglot, she simply replied: to be a citizen of the World.
I agree that the only true way we can be citizens of the World is by knowing each other, our languages and our cultures but I’m sure there are many other reasons an individual would want to learn a foreign language or two and become a polyglot. Here are mine:
1. International Business – I-business is more common than ever nowadays, with the Internet allowing us to outsource, freelance and close deals overseas without too much trouble. Being a polyglot and being able to speak in the language of the person you’re working with, or the person you’re working for weighs heavily in how the deal will end. Remember, not everyone knows English and you shouldn’t expect others to speak your language if you don’t put at least some effort to speak theirs. Check out these free online courses if you’re planning on learning a new language.
2. Travelling Opportunities – How many times have you thought about travelling to a remote, exotic country, but worried that you’ll have a hard time there due to lack of communication? It happens everywhere, regardless if you’re going to a country in Africa, or somewhere in Europe. If you can’t talk their language and they can’t talk yours, you’d best learn body language. Or, you can take up these free language courses.
3. Personal Impression – Let’s face it, when you hear a foreigner coming to YOUR country and speaking YOUR language, I’m sure it tickles your ego a bit. The same thing would happen if you would travel to another country and the natives would hear you speaking their own language. It can really bump your image (positively) in a native speaker’s eyes.
4. Social Status – Does making a lot of money automatically make you a great person? No, because money can be the result of luck or theft. Does knowing 3-4 different languages earn you this social status? Yes, because being a polyglot is clearly the result of some hard work and you can tap in on that aura that you’ll be surrounded with, regardless if it’s simply to gain an edge in society, in business or at work.
5. Explosive Learning – Learning a new language is a tough process that involves both short and long term brain cells to work full time. The reason the first language is hard to learn is that we’re not used to the learning process itself. Most polyglots will find that it’s easier to learn their 3rd or 4th language than the first ones, because by the time they reach number 4, their language learning process is already in full motion and is capable of assimilating information much quicker, through the patterns you already established with the other languages.
Are these reasons enough to become a polyglot? I hope so. But even if it’s for one of the above reasons, or just for the heck of it, becoming a polyglot is a great achievement and something that is heightening for any human being. So if you want to become a better human and a true citizen of the World, start by learning a few languages to back you up.
I agree that the only true way we can be citizens of the World is by knowing each other, our languages and our cultures but I’m sure there are many other reasons an individual would want to learn a foreign language or two and become a polyglot. Here are mine:
1. International Business – I-business is more common than ever nowadays, with the Internet allowing us to outsource, freelance and close deals overseas without too much trouble. Being a polyglot and being able to speak in the language of the person you’re working with, or the person you’re working for weighs heavily in how the deal will end. Remember, not everyone knows English and you shouldn’t expect others to speak your language if you don’t put at least some effort to speak theirs. Check out these free online courses if you’re planning on learning a new language.
2. Travelling Opportunities – How many times have you thought about travelling to a remote, exotic country, but worried that you’ll have a hard time there due to lack of communication? It happens everywhere, regardless if you’re going to a country in Africa, or somewhere in Europe. If you can’t talk their language and they can’t talk yours, you’d best learn body language. Or, you can take up these free language courses.
3. Personal Impression – Let’s face it, when you hear a foreigner coming to YOUR country and speaking YOUR language, I’m sure it tickles your ego a bit. The same thing would happen if you would travel to another country and the natives would hear you speaking their own language. It can really bump your image (positively) in a native speaker’s eyes.
4. Social Status – Does making a lot of money automatically make you a great person? No, because money can be the result of luck or theft. Does knowing 3-4 different languages earn you this social status? Yes, because being a polyglot is clearly the result of some hard work and you can tap in on that aura that you’ll be surrounded with, regardless if it’s simply to gain an edge in society, in business or at work.
5. Explosive Learning – Learning a new language is a tough process that involves both short and long term brain cells to work full time. The reason the first language is hard to learn is that we’re not used to the learning process itself. Most polyglots will find that it’s easier to learn their 3rd or 4th language than the first ones, because by the time they reach number 4, their language learning process is already in full motion and is capable of assimilating information much quicker, through the patterns you already established with the other languages.
Are these reasons enough to become a polyglot? I hope so. But even if it’s for one of the above reasons, or just for the heck of it, becoming a polyglot is a great achievement and something that is heightening for any human being. So if you want to become a better human and a true citizen of the World, start by learning a few languages to back you up.
Monday, December 31, 2007
Greek Audio
Audio has been enabled on Greek lessons . Enjoy!
A huge thanks to George (the voice) and Baggeroli (audio processing) for making it possible!
What's next: Polish audio, game improvements (adding audio and images in games). Stay tuned!
A huge thanks to George (the voice) and Baggeroli (audio processing) for making it possible!
What's next: Polish audio, game improvements (adding audio and images in games). Stay tuned!
Friday, December 28, 2007
Portuguese and Japanese Audio are On
Portuguese audio has been recorded by Baggeroli and Eliana and enabled on the site. Enjoy!
Visit Portuguese lessons.
Previously, we recorded and enabled Japanese audio, visit Japanese lessons.
In process: Greek is recorded, now in the post-processing stage, will be enabled in a week or so.
Visit Portuguese lessons.
Previously, we recorded and enabled Japanese audio, visit Japanese lessons.
In process: Greek is recorded, now in the post-processing stage, will be enabled in a week or so.
Monday, November 12, 2007
New Version of Site. Spanish and Ukrainian Audio.
The past month we've done the following changes:
If you haven't visited our new forum yet, here it is: Internet Polyglot forum
It's a new forum so you won't find many discussion topics there - but you can ask any questions and expect a quick answer. Especially, if you have any suggestions about the building of the site please be welcomed to write to us on this forum.
What's next:
Next is working on more languages:
- We developed a new version of the site
- Added Spanish and Ukrainian audio
- Renovated home page that allows easier starting of language learning games
- Transliteration for Chinese (Pinyin), Japanese (Romaji), Russian and Ukrainian (Translit), Greek (Greeklish) so that the words pronunciation can be seen by those who don't know the alphabets. Transliteration can be turned on/off
- Some changes that should make the site running faster
- Some other minor changes
If you haven't visited our new forum yet, here it is: Internet Polyglot forum
It's a new forum so you won't find many discussion topics there - but you can ask any questions and expect a quick answer. Especially, if you have any suggestions about the building of the site please be welcomed to write to us on this forum.
What's next:
Next is working on more languages:
- Japanese audio has been recorded already but is being currently in the process of producing mp3 files
- Greek audio will be recorded soon too, meanwhile we brushed through the Greek lessons and removed many errors
Friday, September 21, 2007
New Release, New Cool Features
New version is developed and deployed. The new features are:
- Tutorial Slide Show
- User Game Statistics
Example of Tutorial Slide Show: http://www.internetpolyglot.com/play_slide_show_lesson_-2104301010 (make sure that you have your sound turned on, turn on your speakers or put on your headphones). I have long been thinking that we have games on the site, which is the way to drill words that you've already seen but we didn't have an efficient way to see them first. The Tutorial Slide Show does exactly that: it teaches you new words, shows the image for the word, pronounces it and its translation. You can go from word to word and enjoy it. After you finished with the slide show you can start playing games with this lesson.
User Game Statistics. You've been working hard on learning new words but we didn't have a way to show your progress. Now we do. Go to http://www.internetpolyglot.com/userGameStatistics.html and see your progress. Please remember that you have to be logged in when you go to this page.
Also recently the site was translated to Ukrainian.
Plans for the near future:
- Chinese (Mandarin) is almost done. The vocabulary is uploaded, it even has pinyin (roman transcription). What left is to upload audio files. The site is also translated to Chinese (some corrections are to be done though).
- Improvements of the games. Show pictures, play pronunciation.
- New games.
Stay tuned!
- Tutorial Slide Show
- User Game Statistics
Example of Tutorial Slide Show: http://www.internetpolyglot.com/play_slide_show_lesson_-2104301010 (make sure that you have your sound turned on, turn on your speakers or put on your headphones). I have long been thinking that we have games on the site, which is the way to drill words that you've already seen but we didn't have an efficient way to see them first. The Tutorial Slide Show does exactly that: it teaches you new words, shows the image for the word, pronounces it and its translation. You can go from word to word and enjoy it. After you finished with the slide show you can start playing games with this lesson.
User Game Statistics. You've been working hard on learning new words but we didn't have a way to show your progress. Now we do. Go to http://www.internetpolyglot.com/userGameStatistics.html and see your progress. Please remember that you have to be logged in when you go to this page.
Also recently the site was translated to Ukrainian.
Plans for the near future:
- Chinese (Mandarin) is almost done. The vocabulary is uploaded, it even has pinyin (roman transcription). What left is to upload audio files. The site is also translated to Chinese (some corrections are to be done though).
- Improvements of the games. Show pictures, play pronunciation.
- New games.
Stay tuned!
Sunday, July 08, 2007
New Version of the Site. New Awsome Features.
My dearest Internet Polyglotter!
At last, with a great honor and deep moral satisfaction we announce that a new version of the site has been developed and deployed on http://www.InternetPolyglot.com !
The new version has a number of new features:
1) Typing Game - a new game where you are presented with a word in your language and you have to type its translation in the language that you learn. We hope this game will be a good addition in the language toolset that we provide for our users.
2) We bought and uploaded more pictures so that the majority (95%) of all lessons have images associated with the words. Enjoy a more colorful experience in learning new words!
3) New improved chat. Now the chat page has multiple channels so that you can chat with other people in your native language or about a language that you learn.
4) "Jump to a lesson" link. Now when you go to a lesson detail page you can see a new link "Jump to a lesson". When you click on it you see a popup list of all other lessons that are of the same word language and translation language.
5) Romanian audio pronunciation on Romanian lessons.
6) Other minor improvements that should improve your staying with http://www.InternetPolyglot.com .
Now a little bit about our plans. We are working hard now on a new "game-like" page which we call a slide show. We think that it should improve the initial learning process - instead of just jumping to games, go through all words in a lesson as a slide show: each word will be presented as a picture with the word and translation and the word and translation will be pronounced. We hope to develop the slide show in a month or so. As soon as it's ready we'll gladly notify you of that.
Now enjoy learning languages with http://www.InternetPolyglot.com and have a great time!
Internet Polyglot team.
At last, with a great honor and deep moral satisfaction we announce that a new version of the site has been developed and deployed on http://www.InternetPolyglot.com !
The new version has a number of new features:
1) Typing Game - a new game where you are presented with a word in your language and you have to type its translation in the language that you learn. We hope this game will be a good addition in the language toolset that we provide for our users.
2) We bought and uploaded more pictures so that the majority (95%) of all lessons have images associated with the words. Enjoy a more colorful experience in learning new words!
3) New improved chat. Now the chat page has multiple channels so that you can chat with other people in your native language or about a language that you learn.
4) "Jump to a lesson" link. Now when you go to a lesson detail page you can see a new link "Jump to a lesson". When you click on it you see a popup list of all other lessons that are of the same word language and translation language.
5) Romanian audio pronunciation on Romanian lessons.
6) Other minor improvements that should improve your staying with http://www.InternetPolyglot.com .
Now a little bit about our plans. We are working hard now on a new "game-like" page which we call a slide show. We think that it should improve the initial learning process - instead of just jumping to games, go through all words in a lesson as a slide show: each word will be presented as a picture with the word and translation and the word and translation will be pronounced. We hope to develop the slide show in a month or so. As soon as it's ready we'll gladly notify you of that.
Now enjoy learning languages with http://www.InternetPolyglot.com and have a great time!
Internet Polyglot team.
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