MakeUseOf Directory » language

Apostrophe.me: Shows How To Use an Apostrophe

kaly — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 05:14:10 +0000

Apostrophe.me is a simple how to use an apostrophe website that provides a quick online “how to” flowchart for using the apostrophe sign. It asks basic questions like “Is it plural?” or “Is it indicating possession? and gives example situations when you would use an apostrophe.

The site is very useful for people who are not native English speakers.

Oh and Who’s/Whose goes as such:

- “Who is” the only possessive pronoun not to use an apostrophe! “Who’s” is a contraction of “Who is” as in “Who is that?” – “Who’s that?” versus “Whose“, the possessive pronoun “Whose car is that?”

Check out Apostrophe.me @ www.apostrophe.me

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Apostrophe.me: Shows How To Use an Apostrophe

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GoogleTranslateTools: Translate Your Site Using Google

abhijeet — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 09:07:58 +0000

Google Translate tools offers some cool translation tools for both webmasters and the average internet user who wants to read webpages in different languages. The three tools offered by this service are Google’s website translator, translation bookmarklets and the translation feature in Google toolbar. The website translator lets you translate your site by creating a drop down translation widget. It generates a snippet of code that can be easily added to the site.

The next is translation bookmarklets for a huge number of different languages. Just drag them to your browser toolbar and click when you need to translate a page. And finally, Google toolbar’s translation feature which isn’t new. Overall, some nice tools, especially for those whose first language isn’t English.

Features:

Translate your website using Google.
Includes Google’s website translator, translation bookmarklets and the toolbar.
Add Google translation to your site using the website translator.
Use bookmarklets and the Google toolbar to quickly translate pages and words.
Free and simple to use.

Check out Google Translate tools @ translate.google.com/translate_tools (by Abhijeet from Jeet Blog)

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GoogleTranslateTools: Translate Your Site Using Google

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TheNameEngine: Hear Proper Name Pronunciations of Public Figures

kaly — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 22:52:33 +0000

TheNameEngine is a website where you can find and hear proper name pronunciations of famous athletes, politicians, actors, newsmakers, brands and more. The site was created as a tool to help radio and tv channel professionals when preparing for their segment or an interview. That being said, anyone can freely use and benefit from it.

The names listed on the website are mainly US centric, even the foreign names are presented in generally accepted “Americanized” version.

Features:

Find out correct name pronunciations of actors, athletes, politicians, newsmakers, brands, and more.
Search and browse names and brands by categories.
Currently most of the listed names are names of public figures in US.
Free, no registration needed.
Similar sites: HowToSayThatName and PronounceNames.

Check out TheNameEngine @ www.thenameengine.com

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TheNameEngine: Hear Proper Name Pronunciations of Public Figures

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ESLAssistant: Correct Grammatical Errors In Your English

abhijeet — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 09:03:01 +0000

ESL Assistant is a new web service by Microsoft Research team to help people correct grammatical errors in their English writing. It is particularly useful for those whose native language isn’t English (ESL – English as Second Language). Just type in or copy paste the text into their box and hit check to find out the errors. It also searches Bing to check examples of English usage.

And if you use Outlook as your email tool then you could download and use their Outlook add-in to check your emails for any errors in English.

Features:

Correct grammatical errors in your English writing.
Web based, easy to use and does not require registration.
Search Bing from the page to find usage examples on the web.
Outlook add-in available for Outlook users.
Similar tools: AfterTheDeadline, Spellify, Orangoo, Spellist, WebSourceIt and SpellJax.

Check out ESLAssistant @ www.eslassistant.com (By Abhijeet from Jeet Blog)

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ESLAssistant: Correct Grammatical Errors In Your English

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TypeIt: Virtual Multi Language Keyboard

azim — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:45:07 +0000

If you’re living in one of European states or often communicate with people in languages other than English, chances are you often need to send someone text using foreign language characters (accents, umlauts etc). Often you need to install a language pack in order to be able to type messages in other languages. TypeIt can help you avoid that.

TypeIt.org hosts multi language keyboard for 18 European languages (Danish, Dutch, Russian, Romanian, German etc), as well as foreign currency and type symbols.

Simply select a language from the left to load the relevant set of characters. You can change the font and size of the text to your liking. Hover your mouse over a character to see its corresponding keyboard shortcut.

Features:

Online foreign language keyboard.
Languages included Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish and Phonetic English.
Symbols of foreign currencies and type symbols.
Supported browsers Firefox 3, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer 6/7/8 and Safari 3/4.
Similar tools: LifeType and Gate2Home.

Check out TypeIt @ www.typeit.org

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TypeIt: Virtual Multi Language Keyboard

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Artwiculate: Learn A New Word A Day Via Twitter

deans — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 00:58:44 +0000

Over the past two days I have been using what could be called a modern ‘Word-a-Day’ calendar. It’s called Artwiculate and its aim is to teach users new words and their meaning each day via Twitter. As a writer and fact enthusiast – I see this as an awesome new Twitter tool.

It works by announcing the Word of the Day on its homepage and on its Twitter account. For example, today the word was ‘maven’; meaning an expert in one’s field who rejoices at passing on his/her wisdom. Then the users must tweet, using the word ‘maven’ in context. So my tweet read:

‘While I like writing, it’ll be some time before I’m looked upon as a maven in my field.’

Tweets appear on the Artwiculate homepage ready to be judged by the community. If it is more popular then you’ll earn more points which in turn will make you rise through the leader boards.

Artwiculate has just come out of its Beta phase and is now completely live and has a following of almost 2,000.

I think that Artwiculate is a simple, yet effective way of learning new words. The words that they choose are interesting and you may even use them in every day life. After all, their slogan is “The twitter-based Word of the Day competition that helps clever people look clever and helps the rest of us learn new words.”

If you liked this tool you may also check out similar websites VocabSushi and WordSpy profiled earlier.

Go to Artwiculate @ www.artwiculate.com (by Dean Sherwin)

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Artwiculate: Learn A New Word A Day Via Twitter

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Webopedia: Dictionary Of Internet Terms And Their Meanings

azim — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 02:49:33 +0000

Are you lost with all the new technology and new Internet terms you stumble upon while browsing web? The Webopedia is a place to look them up. It is an online dictionary of technology related terms and abbreviations including tech acronyms, Internet slang and any other new terms that were born with new technologies. The site not the best looking, but certainly helpful and does what it says.

You may search for definitions using the search engine or browse terms by topic like Graphics, Mobile Computing, Open Source etc. Term definition also includes a short history about the term and a list of related terms.

Features:

Look up definitions of technology and Internet terms.
Search for definitions using search engine or browse terms by categories (Graphics, Mobile computing, Open source etc.).
View Top 15 terms and recently added definitions.
Similar site: NoSlang.

Check out Webopedia @ www.webopedia.com

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Webopedia: Dictionary Of Internet Terms And Their Meanings

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Phrases: Search for Idiom Phrases & Get Meanings

kaly — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 10:46:19 +0000

Phrases.net is an online place to look-up unknown idiom phrases. It is a user contributed resource where you can search for almost any idiom and get its meanings. You can also browse the website alphabetically, learn how idioms should be pronounced and easily translate them into 20 different languages. So next time you hear from someone an unfamiliar idiom look it up on Phrases.net.

There is also an option to become a contributor and help others. In return the site will reward you with a free t-shirt.

Features:

Search for idioms and the meanings in English language.
Browse idioms alphabetically.
Hear how idioms are pronounced.
Translate idioms to different languages.
Similar website: IdiomSite.

Check out Phrases @ www.phrases.net

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Phrases: Search for Idiom Phrases & Get Meanings

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CorrectMyText: Foreign Language Text Corrections By Experts

abhijeet — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 02:37:50 +0000

If you are learning to read and write a foreign language and not sure if you are writing things correctly then CorrectMyText is a site you can make use of. On this website you may submit your text and get it it corrected by a real person. Text corrections are done by language experts. You can also request a sound recording of the spoken version of your corrected text.

The site requires sign-up and is free to use. It currently supports ten of the most widely used languages – English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Russian, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese.

Additionally if you are good in languages you can become an expert and help out others.

Features:

Submit foreign language text and get it corrected by experts.
Registration is free.
Ten main languages supported.
Request a sound recording of the spoken version of the text.
Become an expert to start doing text corrections for others.

Those of you who are currently studying a foreign language might be also interested in recently published 18 Great Sites to Learn a New Language.

Check out CorrectMyText @ www.correctmytext.com (by Abhijeet from Jeet Blog)

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CorrectMyText: Foreign Language Text Corrections By Experts

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What Language is This: Online Language Identifier

srikanth — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 04:56:11 +0000

Came across some foreign text and want to find out what language it is written in? Try using What Language is this?. It is a simple online language identifier that can easily identify almost any language. You just need to paste the text into provided field and click ‘click to identify’ button.

Currently application can identify several hundred languages and you need a minimum of 250 characters in order to identify the language.

Features:

Language identification tool.
Helps you identify several hundred languages.
Free and easy to use, no registration required.
For more similar apps check our related article “5 Tools to Identify Unknown Languages“.

Go to What Language is This? @ www.ruphus.com/identify (by Srikanth from Firefox Ninjas)

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What Language is This: Online Language Identifier

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VocabSushi: The Easy Way To Build Your Vocabulary

azim — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 01:42:18 +0000

Memorizing new words is easier when you see them used in a real world context. VocabSushi lets you do just that. It is a free interactive vocabulary builder, which lets build your vocabulary by seeing word usage in the daily news.

You can practice words by filling out the sentence completion questions and learn the correct word pronunciations by playing the MP3 files. Words have been compiled from the actual word sets used in ISEE, ACT, GRE and other standardized tests that feature vocabulary sections.

System tracks progress of your overall vocabulary, skips the words you know and suggests words that are most challenging for you based on your learning curve. The service is free, and you need to sign up to get started.

Features:

Interactive vocabulary builder.
Learn new words by their usage in daily news.
Words are taken from actual word sets used in GRE, ISEE, ACT, SAT and other standardized tests.
System tracks progress of every word and suggests the most challenging words based on your learning curve.
Practice new words by filling out sentence completion quizzes.
Download printouts, MP3s and podcasts to learn words while you are offline.
Similar website: WordAhead.

Check out VocabSushi @ www.vocabsushi.com

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VocabSushi: The Easy Way To Build Your Vocabulary

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Symbols: Look Up Symbol Meanings

kaly — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:57:00 +0000

If you come across a symbol or a sign and don’t know what it means, head straight to Symbols.com. It is a web resource where you can easily look up symbols and read their meanings. The site currently lists around 2500 western (both modern and ancient) symbols organized in 54 categories.

There are four ways to search for symbols here:

Using simple keyword search.
Using graphic index tool for searching symbols based on symmetry, shape and crossing lines.
Using word index to find a symbol with a certain meaning.
Browse through symbols randomly.

Features:

Check symbols and meanings.
Search for specific symbols or browse symbols randomly.
Contains more than 1,600 articles about 2,500 western signs.
Buy a book that features everything you can find at Symbols.com plus an additional 100 pages of in-depth articles about symbols and ideograms.
No sign up needed.

Check out Symbols @ www.symbols.com

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Symbols: Look Up Symbol Meanings

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Babelwith.me: Real Time Chat Translaton Tool

abhijeet — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 20:33:36 +0000

BabelWith.me is a real time chat translation app that lets you instantly communicate in multiple languages (up to 45). It automatically translates every message you type in into the language selected by the receiver in real time. Now you could enjoy real-time conversations with friends without language barriers. Just enter your name, language and start the conversation.

No sign up or installation required. Invite friends by sharing the special URL for your chat via email, Twitter, or Facebook. All translations are powered by Google Translator.

Features :

Real time chat translation service.
Receive messages in any language you want.
Removes language barrier. Talk to anyone who doesn’t know your language.
No sign up or installation required.
Invite friends by sharing your chat URL.
Similar tool: MeGlobe.

Check out Babelwith.me @ www.babelwith.me (By Abhijeet from Jeet Blog)

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Babelwith.me: Real Time Chat Translaton Tool

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AfterTheDeadline: Ouick Grammar Checking Site

TehseenBaweja — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 15:18:30 +0000

Sometimes we don’t have access to our favorite browsers or word processing applications to do simple things like spell and grammar checks. AfterTheDeadline solves this problem easily. It is a spell and grammar checking site where you can paste the text you are working with and check for spelling errors, grammar mistakes or get style suggestions.

There is no download and no registration required. Doing a right-click on the underlined word shows you the suggestions to fix the text.

Features:

Online grammar and spelling checker.
Suggests styling as well.
No registration or download required.
Light-weight and easy to use interface.
Similar sites: Spellify, Orangoo, Spellist, WebSourceIt and SpellJax.

Check out AfterTheDeadline @ www.polishmywriting.com (via DownloadSquad.com)

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AfterTheDeadline: Ouick Grammar Checking Site

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Wordnik: Comprehensive Word Search Tool

abhijeet — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 16:52:59 +0000

Wordnik is a comprehensive word search tool similar to a dictionary but provides a lot more than what a dictionary does. Whenever you search for a word, it not only provides its definition from four different dictionaries but also examples (sentences where the word is used), related words- not only synonyms antonyms, but words that are used in similar context, images from Flickr, audio pronunciation and more.

Anyone can contribute valuable information to Wordnik just by signing up. Wordnik reserves the right to delete inappropriate contributions.

Features :

Comprehensive word search dictionary.
Aggregates definitions from four different dictionaries.
Real example sentences to show words in context.
Related words—not just synonyms and antonyms, but words that behave in similar ways.
Other features include images, pronunciations, etymology and more.
Just sign up and contribute valuable information to Wordnik.
For more similar services check MakeUseOf “dictionary” section.

Check out Wordnik @ www.wordnik.com (by Abhijeet from Jeet Blog)

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Wordnik: Comprehensive Word Search Tool

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GoogleTranslatorToolkit: Online Document Translator

abhijeet — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 15:28:05 +0000

GoogleTranslatorToolkit is a new webpage & document translator by Google. It lets you translate any document or article into any language you want to and also adds a human touch to the process. After you sign up, just upload the document or type in the URL of the web page, select the language and you’ll get it translated within a few seconds. What makes it different from the traditional Google Translate is the the ability to edit the resulting article plus save and share it.

As you can see in the above screenshot, our site is being translated from English to Hindi.

Google’s document translator can translate variety of document types including HTML, Microsoft Word, Rich Text, OpenDocument Text and Plain Text.

Features :

Translate any article or document to nearly 50 languages.
Very simple and easy to use.
Translated article can be edited as well as saved and shared.
Supports a large number of document formats.
You can also enter the URL for a file on the web or input a direct link to a Wikipedia article or Knol entry.
Can be helpful in learning other languages.

Check out Translate Toolkit @translate.google.com/toolkit/list (by Abhijeet from Jeet Blog)

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GoogleTranslatorToolkit: Online Document Translator

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Common Errors In English: Lists Commonly Misused English Words

azim — Tue, 26 May 2009 09:51:27 +0000

There are quite many words in English language that are confusing in their usage, so many people make mistakes using them. This site contains a list of common misused English words and phrases like affect/effect, amoral/immoral, adviser/advisor etc. and explains the correct way to use these words along with examples in different sentences. The site is basically an online version of the book called ‘Common Errors in English Usage‘ by Paul Brians.

Users may browse words alphabetically or search using the search option.

Features:

Directory of misused English phrases words with explanations and correct usage.
Browse words alphabetically or search by keyword.
The site is an online version of the book “Common Errors in English Usage” by Paul Brians.
Similar websites: WebSourceIt.

Check out Common Errors @ http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors

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Common Errors In English: Lists Commonly Misused English Words

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WordSpy: Dictionary of New Words

azim — Mon, 11 May 2009 00:47:08 +0000

Every day new words and phrases enter our daily lexicon (retweeting, flash mob, crowdsourcing etc). If you hear some new phrase repeated over and over but never really get what it means, you should visit WordSpy to find out. It is a dictionary of new words words and phrases with example citations for each term.

Search new words using the WordSpy’s search engine or browse by category such as business, culture or technology. Read definitions and view in what context the new words were commonly used in the media.

Features:

Modern dictionary of new words and phrases with example citations.
Find out what different words mean and in what context they were used in the media.
Subscribe by RSS for latest words and phrases.

Check out WordSpy @ www.wordspy.com

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WordSpy: Dictionary of New Words

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Google Language Detection Tool

srikanth — Sat, 09 May 2009 00:38:55 +0000

Have you ever come across some text or documents and not sure what language it is written in? Here is a language detection tool for Google which is capable of identifying the language the text is written in. It gives you the ability to quickly and easily identify the language of any submitted text.

To detect the language, simply paste the text into provided field and click the “Detect Language” button. It will analyze the text you have provided and tells you which language matches along with reliability of the result.

Features:

Language identification tool .
Quickly and easily identifies the language of your documents.
Provides results along with its reliability.
Free and easy to use, no registration required.
Similar tools: LangId

Check out Google Language Detection Tool @ www.google.com/uds/samples/language/detect.html (by Srikanth AD from Techonaut)

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Google Language Detection Tool

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PronounceNames: Learn Correct Name Pronounciations

kaly — Mon, 04 May 2009 12:09:20 +0000

PronounceNames.com is a website for those moments when you find yourself in the situation where you look at some name and have absolutely no idea about how to pronounce it correctly. On PronounceNames you can lookup different names and learn correct name pronounciations. If the name you’re looking for is not listed there is an option to request the pronunciation for it.

Furthermore, users who are willing to contribute to the site may unlisted names by recording correct pronunciations for them.

Features:

Provides correct name pronunciations.
Search names and browse alphabetically.
Contribute by adding and recording correct pronunciations of names.
No registration needed.
Similar websites: HowToSayThatName.

Check out PronouncNames @ www.pronouncenames.com (via Lifehacker)

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PronounceNames: Learn Correct Name Pronounciations

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LangId: Foreign Language Identifier

abhijeet — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 02:21:36 +0000

There are various translation services online which help you translate text or a web page from one language to the other. But what if you don’t know what language it is in the first place? How would you identify it ?

LangId is a web based foreign language identifier which can help you easily identify almost any language. You could either copy paste the text directly, upload a document or email them the text to get the answer. They have also got a Twitter bot named @langidbot which could help you in identifying a language.

As you can see, in the above screenshot I have copy pasted a line of text which is in a language I need to identify. I get the result immediately after I click the ‘ Identify It ‘ button.

If you want need a language identifier tool on your desktop check out previously profiled Polyglot 3000

Check out LangId @ www.langid.net (by Abhijeet from Jeet Blog)

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LangId: Foreign Language Identifier

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WordAhead: Video Vocabulary Site

azim — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 01:58:11 +0000

WordAhead is a free video vocabulary website. Instead of just reading a definition of the word, you get to see a video illustration and hear how the word is used in different sentences.

It makes learning hard words both fun and interactive for everyone. Especially useful for those preparing for SAT/ACT verbal tests.

Currently site features a total of 515 vocabulary videos and aims to include videos for several thousands of SAT/ACT level words.

Video content is uploaded by the site and registered users. At first videos are kept in the “Videos” section where they get rated by users. Top rated videos are then promoted to the Study room, which also includes Flashcards for last minute preparation.

Registration is not needed for searching and watching videos, however registering on the site lets you rate, discuss and upload your own vocabulary videos.

Features:

Hundreds of vocabulary videos for SAT/ACT level words.
Fun and easy way to memorize words through video illustrations.
View top rated, most viewed and most discussed videos.
Wordlist contains the list of words of the uploaded videos. Browse words by letters.
Free, register to rate, discus and upload your own vocabulary videos.
Alos see 30+ Online Resources to Expand your English Vocabulary.

Check out WordAhead @ www.wordahead.com

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WordAhead: Video Vocabulary Site

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LifeType: Easily Type In 50 Foreign Languages

kaly — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 01:13:06 +0000

LifeType is a web based utility that provides with an interactive multilingual keyboard using which you can type in more than 50 foreign languages. Additionally it allows to search the typed text on Google, Wikipedia, and other resources without leaving the website. To enter the letters you can either use virtual online keyboard or your own keyboard.

The site’s interface is really simple and can be customized with different skins.

Features:

Multilingual virtual keyboard online.
Supports more that 50 languages.
Lest you search Google, Wikipedia and other resources without leaving the site.
Convert typed text into HTML.
Customize the look of the site with provided skins.
Similar sites: Gate2Home and MagicTyper.

Check out LifeType @ www.litetype.com (via Matteodini)

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LifeType: Easily Type In 50 Foreign Languages

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LangoLAB: Learn Foreign Languages Watching Subtitled Videos

kaly — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 03:00:11 +0000

If you want to make language learning process a bit less boring and more entertaining try LangoLAB. On this site you can learn foreign language by watching original music video clips with subtitles and reading native news and blog articles.

Currently supported languages are: English, Deutsch, Espanol, Francais, Italiano, Chinese, Japanese and Russian.

Works easy, simply select the language you want to learn and it will come up with a list of videos. When you start watching a video you will also be able to read the speech text at the bottom. If there is a specific word you don’t know you can look up its definition with a click of a button and add it to your flash cards. The video is automatically paused everytime you click on the word. When you’re done watching the video, test yourself on the flash cards, then go back and watch the video with your new vocabulary.

Text reading works pretty much the same way, you select text and start reading it. And when you come across a word you don’t understand you can click on it to see its definition without leaving the page.

Finally, users can add notes, view notes left by other users and ask questions. And if you really liked the site and would like to contribute there are means to upload your own content, add subtitles and definitions to it.

Features:

Learn language with music videos.
At the moment site supports 8 popular languages.
Watch videos with subtitles and read original text articles.
Add words to a set of flash cards, or test yourself on a flash card set that somebody else created.
Click on a word to get its definition.
Register to add notes, read notes left by others and submit questions.
For more language learning sites see MakeUseOf’s language section.

Check out LangoLAB @ www.langolab.com

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LangoLAB: Learn Foreign Languages Watching Subtitled Videos

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Busuu: Language Learning Community

azim — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 21:37:37 +0000

Busuu is a language learning community that offers interactive language courses and lets learners to communicate directly with native speakers to get help with exercises and practice language skills. Currently site offers language courses in 4 languages – English, German, French and Spanish.

Language learning methodology

An interactive language course consists of units. You can master units through a ste-by-step guided course or by picking them from a Catalogue. Each unit is basically a topic like “In a restaurant” or “Personal pronouns”. It includes picture based vocabulary for the topic, reading comprehension practice, writing short text and letting native speakers correct it, chatting with a native speaker on the topic, and the final exam.

Community

On your homepage, you can see native speakers of the language you are learning, view their online status, add them as friends or start chatting with them using the busuu live messenger. Each member has a ranking, which is based on the learning performance and the number of posts corrected of other users.

Most of the material on the site is available for free through a Basic membership, which includes most the learning materials. Premium paid membership gives you addional features like an audio for 3000 key phrases, listening comprehension and grammar exercises, and the ability to download the learning materials in PDF transcript or as a podcast.

Features:

Learn languages (English, Frech, Spanish, German) through interactive fun materials
Communicate with native speakers to help with your exercises and improve your speaking skills
Increase your member ranking by improving learning performance and correcting posts of other users
Basic membership is free, includes most of learning materials on the site
Premium paid memberhip gives additional features like an audio for 3000 key phrases, listening and grammar comprehension exercises, and the ability to download the learning materials in PDF transcript or as a podcast.
Similar sites: MangoLanguages and LiveMocha.

Check out Busuu @ www.busuu.com

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Busuu: Language Learning Community

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Online Rhyming Dictionary: Quick Online Rhyming Tool

kaly — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 04:30:58 +0000

If you are interested in songwriting, poetry or simply need to do a composition for your course, check out Online Rhyming Dictionary, it is an online rhyming tool that lets you get rhymes for any English word you want. The application derives data from Rhymer’s massive 93,000-word dictionary.

There are five types of rhymes you can get; end rhymes, beginning rhymes, double rhymes, first syllable rhymes and last syllable rhymes

Additionally if you do not know the meaning of some specific word you can click-through and read it’s meaning on Merriam Webster dictionary.

Features:

Online rhyming engine.
Massive database of 93,000 words.
No registration needed.
Get end rhymes, beginning rhymes, double rhymes, first syllable rhymes and last syllable rhymes.

Check out Online Rhyming Dictionary @ www.writeexpress.com/online2

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Online Rhyming Dictionary: Quick Online Rhyming Tool

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Popling: Learn Languages Online The Easy Way

kaly — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 02:22:59 +0000

Would like to learn foreign language but lacking motivation to actually do it. Popling.net might help. It is a website and Adobe AIR app for people who want to learn other language but do not like the idea of intensive language course.

The application focuses on passive learning and lets you get familiar with vocabulary without too much effort. It shows you a flash card every few minutes (you decide how often) through an unobtrusive notification window. If you aren’t busy, click the notification to answer the question on the flash card.
Otheriwse you may gnore it and it will disappear shortly after.

Once you have answered the card, click ‘Hide’ to put the application away until it’s time to pop again. This way you can passively learn just about anything. It works in particularly well for learning languages online.

The site also provides you over 10.000 flash cards from various topics like: Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Italian, Portuguese, Indonesian, Chemistry, Geography and more.

Users may also make their own flash card sets on any desired topic.

For more info watch the demo video below:

Check out Popling @ www.popling.net

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Popling: Learn Languages Online The Easy Way

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SaveTheWords: Explore and Share Rare English Words

TehseenBaweja — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 06:47:59 +0000

Ever wonder about all those rare english words that you only hear from old people? Often these words are quite meaningful and useful for explaining things but for some bizarre reason they become extinct.

SaveTheWords is a website that tries to save all these words from going into oblivion. It is a sleek website where hundreds of rare words displayed in colorful fonts and designs. Clicking on a word brings the meaning of that word along with an example sentence. You can look up those rare words and possibly start using them in your daily conversations.

Features:

Lookup hundreds of rare words in english language.
Check the meaning of the word and see it used in a sentence.
Listen to the pronunciation of the word.
Adopt a word and promise to use it in your daily conversations.
Word a Day feature that sends you new words on a daily basis.
Email words you like to your friends.

Check out SaveTheWords @ www.savethewords.org (Contributed by Tehseen Baweja from Ijaar.com)

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SaveTheWords: Explore and Share Rare English Words

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BlahblahFish: Have Fun with Bad Translation Examples

kaly — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 17:00:48 +0000

If you want to see how bad automated text translation can get then head to BlahblahFish.com. It is a fun website that translates English phrases into some other language and then translates them back. In many instances results can be really entertaining.

You can also check out bad translation examples submitted by users like you and rate them.

For example the translation of phrase “To be or not to be!” gives you following results:

Features:

Fun translation tool that can show you how bad automated translations can get.
Words & Phrases translated into and from 28 languages.
Check out translations made by other users and rate them.
Check out most popular translations section.

Visit BlahblahFish @ www.blahblahfish.com (via downloadsquad.com)

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BlahblahFish: Have Fun with Bad Translation Examples

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FreeRice: Test Your Kowledge and Donate Rice!

Jack — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 01:08:38 +0000

FreeRice is a website that is rather unique in what it does. The main concept behind FreeRice is pretty simple, you play a game where you need to guess the right answer. For each right answer, the site donates 20 grains of rice through the UN World Food Program to help end hunger.

The subjects from which the questions are drawn range from Art, English, Chemistry, Geography, Language learning and Math. You can change your subject at any time and still keep your grains with you!

All questions are multiple choice with only one correct answer. So by answering questions correctly you feed hungry people and at the same time improve your vocabulary.

Features:

Test your knowledge from various subjects and donate rice at the same time.
Set your option to save your rice donation and continue from where you left.
There are 60 diffiuclty levels you can try yourself with.
No sign up required

Check out FreeRice @ www.freerice.com

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FreeRice: Test Your Kowledge and Donate Rice!

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ConfusingWords: Your Guide To Confusing English Words

kenburkes — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 15:44:24 +0000

English is a lot harder than it seems, especially when grammar gets involved. On the internet, grammar doesn’t really matter, as long as the other person can understand what someone is trying to say.

However, it’s still a good idea to understand the difference between confusing English words. The website ConfusingWords lists thousands of words in the English language that seem to confuse others. People don’t seem to know when to use these words, what context the words should be used in, and what the meaning of the word really is. If ever you are confused about how to use a word, ConfusingWords is the first place you should look at.

Search for the word to get its definitions, usage examples, and some additional notes

Features:

Search through thousands of confusing words in English.
Get examples on how to correctly use the word.
See what each word is commonly confused with.
Search for words you can’t spell by adding a ‘?’ to a search term to represent a single missing letter or add ‘*’ to the search term to indicate a string of missing letters.

Don’t get confused again with ConfusingWords @ www.confusingwords.com

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ConfusingWords: Your Guide To Confusing English Words

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LifePrint: Learn ASL (American Sign Language) Online

kaly — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 15:28:34 +0000

LifePrint is a web resource for people who want to learn ASL (American Sign Language) online. The site provides you with quick lessons and resources for self-study.

Lessons are supported with additional instructional images. You can either start learning course from lesson 1 or check out the “First 100 Signs”.

The website has an extensive library where you can find sign language and asl learning related literature. There is also finger spelling tool that shows how to finger spell any word you want.

Features:

Learn ASL online.
Easy to learn lessons with instructional images.
Check out LifePrint library for sing language related literature.
Finger spelling tool available.

Check out LifePrint @ www.lifeprint.com

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LifePrint: Learn ASL (American Sign Language) Online

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NiceTranslator: Translate Text To & From 36 Languages

kaly — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 23:35:45 +0000

NiceTranslator is a quick online translation service that lets you translate text between 36 languages online. Simply select one or more languages you want to translate to, type or paste in the source text and hit the “Enter” key. NiceTranslator will auto detect the language you have entered and translate it to selected languages.

Translate text to and from Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, English, Dutch, Filipino, Finnish, French, German, Greek,Hebrew, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Lithuanian, Latvian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Polish, Russian, Romanian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Ukrainian and Vietnamese.

Features:

Translate text online between 36 languages.
Clean and easy to use interface.
No registration needed.
Other online translation tools: Frengly, Google Translate, Live Translator and Mobile Dictionary.

Check out NiceTranslator @ www.nicetranslator.com

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NiceTranslator: Translate Text To & From 36 Languages

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MagicTyper: Type in Six Different Languages on Your Keyboard

kaly — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 02:05:25 +0000

MagicTyper is a handy website that allows you to type text in Hebrew, Russian, Greek, Urdu, Persian and Arabic using your standard QWERTY english keyboard. MagicTyper maps the language of your choice onto your keyboard layout and provides you with a text field in your browser where you can type in the text using the keyboard map as a reference.

When you’re done typing, copy the text and use it where you need it.

Features:

Type in 6 different languages using your english keyboard.
Supported languages: Hebrew, Russian, Greek, Urdu, Persian and Arabic.
No registration needed.
Similar websites: Gate2Home.

Check out MagicTyper @ www.tero.co.uk/magictyper (via technospot.net)

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MagicTyper: Type in Six Different Languages on Your Keyboard

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HowToSayThatName: Learn How To Pronounce Names Correctly

kaly — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 23:21:37 +0000

As the name suggests this is a website where you can find out how to pronounce difficult names correctly. HowToSayThatName provides you with an audio database where all names are spoken by native speakers. You can search for a particular name, browse names alphabetically or sort names by language.

Features:

Find out how to pronounce names correctly.
Search names, browse alphabetically and sort by language.
Listen to names pronounced by native speakers.
No registration needed.

Visit HowToSayThatName @ www.howtosaythatname.com

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HowToSayThatName: Learn How To Pronounce Names Correctly

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Frengly : Translate Text Online

kaly — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 19:25:18 +0000

Dead-simple online translation website that lets you quickly translate text online between 24 languages. To translate, enter your text into provided field and then click on the language button of your choice. The Frengly will then translate the text and show you translation.

Translate text to and from Arabic, Bulgarian, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Croatian, Danish, Finnish, English, French, Hindi, Greek, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Dutch, Swedish, German, Italian, Russian, Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese, and Hebrew.

Features:

Quickly translate text online between 24 languages.
Neat visual interface and easy to use.
No registration needed.
Similar translation websites: Google Translate, Live Translator and Mobile Translator.

Check out Frengly @ www.frengly.com

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Frengly : Translate Text Online

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OneMinuteLanguages: Quick Language Podcasts

kaly — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 03:30:58 +0000

OneMinuteLanguages gives your free podcasts to learn basics phrases from a dozen of popular languages. You can learn words used for greetings, numbers and counting, how to say that you don’t understand something etc. Basically, a bunch of basic phrases.

Currently the sites offers podcasts for 12 different languages: Catalan, Danish, French, German, Irish, Japanese, Luxembourgish, Mandarin, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian and Russian. For each language you get about 10 short easy-to-digest podcasts.

Features:

Learn basics phrases for 12 languages (mostly European languages).
You will get 10 free couple of minute long podcasts for each language.
More languages will be added in the future.
Premium option with more features also available
No sign up or registration needed.

Check out OneMinuteLanguages @ www.oneminutelanguages.com

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OneMinuteLanguages: Quick Language Podcasts

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Mloovi: Translate RSS Feeds into 24 Languages

kaly — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 03:25:04 +0000

Mloovi is a newly launched service that translates RSS feeds into 24 languages. It works really simple, just paste the feed URL into the provided box, choose the languages it should translate from and to, and click “Translate RSS”. Mloovi will then translate the feed and give you the feed in its translated version. Furthermore, if you are a blogger you can embed Mloovi widgets to your blog and offer translated feeds to your readers. The Mloovi translation is powered by Google Translate.

Features:

Translate RSS feeds into 24 languages.
Translate as many feeds as you like.
Allow your blog readers to subscribe to translated version of your feed.
No sign up or registration needed.
Translate feeds to Chinese, Check, Bulgarian, Japanese, Danish, Netherlands, Suomi, French, Deutsch, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Svenska, English, Korean, Arabic, and Hrvatski.

See MakeUseOf RSS feed in Spanish, Russian and Chinese below:

Check out Mloovi @ www.mloovi.com [via www.techcrunch.com]

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Mloovi: Translate RSS Feeds into 24 Languages

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ListenAndWrite: Online Audio Dictation

kaly — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 04:44:00 +0000

Online audio dictation service that can be utilized in many ways. Practice touch typing, improve listening skills, etc. To get started, just select a recording from provided audio library and click play. The app will then start to dictate the text so that you can type it in. Whenever you make a typo it will reread the part. From the account area users are also able to track their performance scores and visualize the progress over time.

There is also an option to increase/decrease difficulty level by changing the dictation speed. This makes the service useful both for newbies as well as experienced users.

Features:

Online dictation tool to help you learn the language, practice typing, improve listening skills etc.
Switch between audios with different dictation speed.
Track your score and and performance over time (registered users only).
Contribute by adding transcripts for audios (optional).

Watch demo video below:

Go to ListenAndWrite @ www.listen-and-write.com

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ListenAndWrite: Online Audio Dictation

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Woxikon: Online Dictionary And Translation

abhijeet — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 22:37:25 +0000

Woxikon is an online dictionary with a new approach. Apart from giving the synonyms and verb forms, it also does translation of words and word sequences into the following languages – French, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, and Swedish. When you search for a word in the dictionary, it shows on a single page the various other words to which the word might relate to and also shows the related translations in the above mentioned languages. Further if you go down, it’ll show the synonyms associated with that word.

Features

Shows synonyms and verb forms
Shows tranlations in 7 different languages
Also shows orthographically similar words along with their meanings.
Print out pages.

Check out Woxikon @ www.woxikon.com (Contributed by Abhijeet Mukherjee from Jeet Blog )

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Woxikon: Online Dictionary And Translation

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