5 Language Learning Tools for the Lazy Learner

5 Language Learning Tools for the Lazy Learner

Let's face it: most of us will never get through five full levels of Rosetta Stone. So what language learning tools can we use instead? Here are a few ideas

Duolingo

Duolingo has long been one of my favorite language learning tools. Its clever features make the learning process fun and encourage students to come back again and again. Learners are given a fixed number of lives per level; Make three mistakes and you'll be booted all over again.

alt=“Get all your answers correct to keep your three lives”>Get all your answers correct to keep your three lives

Your progress is tracked against your daily goals, with color coding making it very clear if you've missed them. There is a leaderboard so you can play with a group of friends and compete for the top spot, not to mention the fact that completed levels need to be “charged” regularly or they will fade. If you have the slightest hint of competitiveness, this will work like a charm.

Diigo and translation

First, install the Google Translate plugin in your browser (I use and recommend Chrome). Then sign up for Diigo, a tool that allows you to annotate web pages. Finally, install the Diigo web plugin.

alt=“Select text to be translated on the fly and add annotations”>Select text to be translated on the fly and add annotations

Now find a relevant foreign language article that sounds interesting and start reading. If you don't understand a word or phrase, just highlight it. You can now click the Translate button to find out what the word means and then use the Diigo Annotate button to add an annotation with the meaning.

You can use different colors for different things (I use green for familiar words used in new contexts and yellow for new words). Diigo saves all annotations in your library. This allows you to annotate an entire article step by step, returning to it later and learning new words in context–much easier than learning them in isolation!

Quizlet

I searched everywhere for a decent flashcards and vocabulary app before I finally found Quizlet. With this app you can build or import your own vocabulary, test your knowledge using flashcards and play various games to refresh your memory. It's easy to turn on and off, meaning you can practice for 60 seconds in the grocery line or 60 minutes on your morning commute.

alt=“Add simple flashcards and practice your knowledge with different games”>Add simple flashcards and practice your knowledge with different games

Airplane magazines

Airplane magazines are a surprisingly good resource when it comes to learning a new language. Very often they compare articles in two different languages. This means you can try reading the Spanish version and if you get stuck, you can just take a look at the English version instead of having to look up words in the dictionary.

alt=“To look up a word you don’t know, just take a look at the next column”>To look up a word you don’t know, just take a look at the next column

Of course, wording varies from language to language, but when used consciously it can be a very easy way to practice understanding.

Movies

Luckily for me as a Spanish learner, there are plenty of excellent Spanish films: Pan’s Labyrinth, The Skin I Live In, The Secret In Their Eyes and Julia’s Eyes among them.

alt=“Find good foreign language films to watch”>

Watching movies in the language you're learning (with subtitles if preferred) is one of the easiest ways to practice comprehension. If you run out of suggestions, just take a look at the IMDB lists of the best French, German, and Italian films, or do a Google search for “IMDb: Highest Rated X-Language Feature Films,” replacing “X” with your language of choice.
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