The only other strategy that you have when you’re at home is to buy a few text books, a pocket-sized dictionary and begin wading through a river of despair and hopelessness. Or is it the only other strategy?

Recently I resumed learning French. I was never any good at it in school – mostly because the above strategy was applied. But only a few months into my new endeavour, I’m currently halfway through a classic French novel called ‘La Guerre des Boutons’. How? I took the geeky way out i.e. I immersed myself in an environment filled with French – it’s called the Internet (you may have heard about it). Here are my top three tips to help you with learning a second language online.

Using Popular Websites in That Language

Allow me to explain this one. I don’t mean use every single website in French/Spanish/ Polish etc. What I do mean is to use large sites in the foreign language you’re trying to learn. Make a list of the five largest websites you use regularly. I’m willing to bet that Google is in there. EBay is likely to have made the cut. Maybe even Amazon? Basically just jot down your favourite sites and start using them in a foreign language. The reason I’m telling you to do this is not to have you utterly confused but to teach you.

You see, these large websites generally use simple sentences and popular words. Take EBay; it doesn’t have many long rambling paragraphs, rather just plain words and phrases. All of the different categories will undoubtedly be useful words and what’s more they’re often associated with pictures. You can also get a bargain on expensive products on native language sites where demand is lower.

Using sites such as Google and Yahoo can give you some more basic words as well as seeing some of the French news headlines. This is not an intensive way of learning a language. In fact, it’s fairly passive and doesn’t require too much effort.

Word a Day Tweet

Twitter has escalated in popularity over the last year or so and it’s the perfect platform for a Word a Day regime. You probably tweet multiple times a day (and if not, where have you been for the past year?) so why not make a few of those tweets count for something.

By following this service in the particular language you’re learning, you’ll be tweeted a word which you must use in a logical sentence in one of your own tweets that day. Again, this is a passive way of learning a language. By fitting it into your already existing routine you’re not climbing a whole new mountain.

BBC Languages

Part of the BBC’s website is devoted to teaching people how to speak different languages. This section is packed with interesting ways of learning a language rather than learning off boring verb sheets.

For example, they have videos of people in everyday situations such as in meeting people, dining in restaurants, going to bars, at work etc. These videos are accompanied by a transcript so you can read through the words and understand it fully.

There are are different difficulty settings depending on whether you’re starting fresh or have been learning the language for some time.

If you combine the BBC language course with the two passive learning methods above you’ll be on your way to speaking fluently in no time.

It also wouldn’t hurt to subscribe to a few blogs in your chosen language. See my post here on MUO about Reading Blogs On Your Cellphone With A Java RSS Reader. Also, you might want to check out Angie’s post if you’re looking for online resources to learn foreign languages: 18 Great Sites to Learn a New Language.

What’s your method of learning a new language. Do you have any self-taught tricks?

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Although there are endless resources to learn languages on the web, it is often difficult to find quality websites that offer structured lesson plans for free. I, however, have scrounged the murky depths of the web to bring you the following, resource-packed sites; may they be the Babelfish for your future forays.

BBC Languages

BBC Languages’ site is very aesthetically pleasing, even though the organization is a bit confusing. The site is aimed at travelers, who only need to have a basic knowledge of a few key phrases in order to stay in a foreign country. Thus, BBC Languages offers “Quick Fix Phrases” in 36 languages to aid the weekend traveler in surviving abroad.

However, for those inclined to pursue either French, Spanish, German, or Italian further, BBC Languages offers a total of six 12-week courses in those languages. BBC Languages’ use of multimedia resources, including audio recordings of dialogues and videos of people encountering language-related mishaps overseas, makes this site a worthwhile site to check out, especially if you’re learning a language to travel.

LiveMocha

LiveMocha is one of the most full-featured language learning sites on the web: not only does it offer structured lessons for over twenty languages, but it also links you with other users all over the globe who are learning, or already fluent in the language you are learning.

As an incentive, LiveMocha uses a reputation system to encourage its users to submit flashcards and other teaching content, contact one another in order to practice speaking, and correct one another’s assignments.

The only drawback of using LiveMocha is in the event you are learning a language that does not use a Latin writing system – LiveMocha does not teach other writing systems, so for languages like Korean or Mandarin, you are on your own.

Check out Saikat’s review of LiveMocha here.

Babbel

Babbel’s premise is similar to that of LiveMocha – community driven learning. However, akin to previously mentioned Busuu, Babbel only offers Spanish, French, German, and Italian, and does not have LiveMocha’s structure.

Babbel teaches mostly vocabulary, and offers a very limited set of grammar lessons and writing exercises. However, when it comes to teaching vocabulary, Babbel is very thorough: it offers almost ten different ways to learn words, including “Listen and Match,” and “Slideshow.”

Like LiveMocha, Babbel also offers a chat, but rather than being one-on-one, Babbel offers five different chat rooms in the languages it teaches. In addition, Babbel hosts its own forum for users to interact and help each other learn.

Foreign Services Institute

The courses offered by the Foreign Services Institute were created by the United States Government and geared largely towards developing a verbal command for any particular language. All of the languages that FSI offers come with either a scanned textbook,  a large number of audio lessons, or both. Some of the more popular languages even come with a workbook.

In terms of solid material, FSI has the most usable content, but its lack of social features that allow you to interact and practice with other people is a major drawback, at least for me. However, if you’re not me, and would rather not have a social component to your language-related pursuits, then that shouldn’t bother you at all.

So today, I’ve introduced to you a few useful websites that will kickstart your language-learning adventures. However, the above sites may not be enough for you knowledge-hungry cosmopolitans out there, so indulge yourself in the following, language-specific links.

Spanish

Study Spanish - Best used in conjunction with Babbel, Study Spanish is great with grammar, but very limited with vocabulary.

Voices in Spanish- A Spanish Podcast – for intermediate to advanced students.

Learn Spanish at About.com – A conglomeration of other articles, the highlight being lessons on Spanish culture.

Chinese

Min Multimedia – Although the main page is a bit disorganized, the lessons are quite structured. Each has embedded audio, practice worksheets, and homework.

Chinese Tools – Grammar lessons, in addition to useful tools for writing in pinyin, converting between simplified and traditional, etc.

CRIENGLISH – Every lesson comes with a flash video, a review of difficult points, vocab, cultural tips, and more.

French

French Language School – Very well organized grammar lessons, but lacking interactive exercises.

The French Tutorial - Lacks exercises, but the lessons are downloadable as a printer-friendly PDF textbook.

Japanese

Learn The Kana – Uses cute image association tricks to help students learn Hiragana and Katakana.

Nihongo o Narau – A great collection of resources, including Japanese songs, to help you learn and practice Japanese.

Italian

Learn Italian at About.com – A collection of articles teaching various points of Italian grammar and vocabulary.

Italian Language School - The most complete, free Italian lessons I can find; comes with podcasts too!

German

Deutsch Lernen - 34 German grammar lessons (10 beginner and 24 advanced), accompanied by exercises and tests

DW-World – An impressive range of interactive lessons categorized by difficulty, and a progress meter for each lesson!

Whew, that was a lot of links. In any case, you should now have no excuse not to play around with the links and learn something new. If links don’t cut it for you, check out previously covered AIR application Popling , which pops up vocabulary words in your chosen language, or watch some subtitled music videos!

Are you dabbling in any languages? Do you have a tried and true site for learning languages? What do you think is the best method to learn a new language? Let us know in the comments!

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Well, Anki helps you learn and memorize vocabulary of a new language through the magic of flash cards. Yup, Anki is billed out as a spaced repetition system (SRS) or in plain English – a flash card system.

It works on almost every operating system.

I downloaded the application from here, installed and ran it on a Vista workstation and I was greeted with this screen after launching it:

Very interesting! I can not only create my own deck of flash cards, I can also download the decks other people have already created! I love saving time. Let’s see what’s available.

Alright, a lot of Japanese and Chinese language flash cards — that should be expected because of the nature of the product. Those are very visual languages. Not exactly what I was looking for but let’s use this English Vocabulary guide I selected in the above screenshot as a jump off point.

I downloaded it and it opened automatically.

I hit ‘Start Reviewing’ and I was off.

Wow that was a little over my head.  Maybe a week of these and I will start writing articles that will make everyone grab a dictionary! You can mark a word as Hard, Good or Easy and that selects when it will be shown in the set again. Click ‘Again’ to show it soon and ‘Hard’ for 12 hours, ‘Good’ for 4 days and ‘Easy’ means 8 days.

Do you have a favorite learning technique? Share it with us in the comments!

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• Use Memoriser to Memorize Information Fast During Work Day (3)

Luckily, in this digital age, everybody can turn to their computer for help. There are many applications dedicated to improve your study skills, as well as the overall school experience.

And for those Mac-user students out there, here are five free tools to help you survive, and win.

1. Schoolhouse

The first thing to do to achieve a better academic grades is to organize everything into one easy-to-observe placeholder. Schoolhouse, which dubs itself as “The Homework Manager for The Mac“, is built to do just that. Developed by a student who still lives the life, you can expect this application to be as useful as it should be.

You start the application by creating a new term; give name to it and set the time range of the term.

Then you gradually add your assignments, tasks and notes to it. You could choose to view all the items by list, week or month, iCal style.

Schoolhouse also has the ability to link documents and media to the assignments for quick reference, preview all your grades during the term to help you monitor your performance, and automatically publish the assignments to the web so that anyone can subscribe to them.

If it sounds confusing, don’t worry — to help users getting started, this app come with a short PDF manual.

Schoolhouse is like a GTD tool for students, but that doesn’t mean that it couldn’t be useful for non-student users. I find that this app is very useful to manage my writing projects.

2. Genius

One of the biggest traumas of school that still carved in my memory was studying for tests. I was always a “math kind of guy”, so memorizing too many facts and dates always scared me.

I wish I’ve encountered Genius back then. This small app will help anybody with their study skills, particularly how to memorize things easier.

You start with a new blank window. Then, by clicking the ‘+’ button, you can add a question. Insert the answer next to the question.

After all of the questions and answers have been inserted into the Genius window, you can save the window and start the learning process. Click the green “Study” button, and Genius will pop up a window with a question and the answer while dimming out the other parts of the screen. It will ask you to memorize them.

Genius then will ask the question again and you have to write the answer. It will alternate between new facts and questions. Genius organizes your information and carefully chooses questions using an intelligent “spaced repetition” method that’s based on your past performance.

You can use Genius to study foreign language phrases, vocabulary words, historical events, legal definitions, formal speeches, marketing points, religious texts, or anything else you need to memorize.

3. ProVoc

It’s always nice to learn a new language. But there’s one obstacle that usually stops almost everybody from learning any language: memorizing the vocabularies.

ProVoc is a free vocabulary trainer that makes learning a language easy. Just download the application and the vocabulary pack(s), and you are ready to go. There is a mountain of vocabulary packs available ranging from German to Dutch to Polish to Russian to Arabic.

ProVoc has the ability to export to an iPod, so you can learn while on the road. You can also print flash cards, use the free Dashboard Widget, and listen to the audio pronunciation of the words.

4. Buddi

The word “student” is often being related to “starving”. This might be an indication that most students are not good in managing their finance.

To help with the monetary side, students (and everybody else) can rely on Buddi, a simple and free, open-source money management application. Buddi is Java-based so it can run on any operating system with Java environment installed.

With the financial problem tackled with the help of Buddi, students can focus more on the study.

5. Carbon Copy Cloner

“The dog ate my paper” is a classic excuse for not turning in your assignment. Of course, no teacher will buy it anymore. The modern alternative is “My hard drive crashed and ate everything inside, including my assignment.” But that is also not selling well anymore because we have backup utilities.

Carbon Copy Cloner is one free and powerful alternatives. You can “clone” everything to an external hard drive.

6. Bonus tool: G.ho.st

G.ho.st is one of the online alternatives for backing up your files. You will get 15 Gigabytes of free online storage on the system (and another additional 5GB for every friend who signs up from your invitation).

But G.ho.st is not just about file backup. It is a complete virtual, online operating system. So you will also get an office suite, games, browser and everything that you can expect from an operating system. Why will you need this? Simple — you can access your work and files from any place on earth with just a computer and an internet connection.

One of the new features that I like most is the ability to “side-load” files from web location directly to G.ho.st online storage, and the ability to share them with your friends.

The above link will direct you to the G.ho.st page with me as the referrer. If you don’t feel like donating an additional 5 Gigabytes to me, you can go directly to their site.

7. Everything else

There is still so many more applications that can help students to improve study skills and work better. MakeUseOf Directory profiled over 100 tools, covering everything from online dictionaries, chart makers and flash cards to sites for ordering food from take-aways located near the campus.

Don’t forget to check out articles about online tools for students such as:

- 10 Online Learning Tools
- 10 Web Tools To Save Your Butt In School
- Collaboration Suite For Teachers and Students

We’ve also discussed other free file hosts for free online storage services that can be used by students to keep and share their files.

If you could add more ideas to this short list, be sure to write it down using the comment below.

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Thus I was rather irritated when I heard that my dad had to complete training for his job to learn new things. I remember I asked him when one would be done learning and the essence of what he said was of course never. Bummer!

Some 20 years later I’m still a student and I know I’ll never get done learning. So hang in there and enjoy it! Here are my favorite websites for students.

1. Chemistry

Dynamic Periodic Table

This periodic table helps in keeping elements apart. You can highlight them by their aggregate state (solid, liquid, gas, unknown) or group (nonmetals with subgroups and metals with subgroups). Clicking on an element or group will launch a separate window with the matching Wikipedia article.

Periodic Table of the Elements

This periodic table is more compact than the previous one and it’s great for a quick summary for each element. As can be seen in the screenshot below, all elements are represented by a matching image and clicking on it launches a small information window.

2. Biology

Foldit

Foldit is not really a tool you’ll need for your everyday biology class. BUT it can help you understand something about proteins AND help scientists at the same time. Basically it’s a game and it’s your task to build protein molecules based on previously described structures.

Simon has reviewed the tool in detail in his article Foldit – Solve Puzzles for Science.

3. Mathematics

Mathway

This is an online tool that will help solve your maths challenges. Just enter the “problem statement”, select a subject and hit solve for the solution including the steps taken to get there.

Varun previously wrote about Mathway – A Step By Step Mathematics Problems Solver.

SpeedCrunch (Windows, Mac, Linux)

Unlike Mathway, this is a very powerful desktop calculator that contains a ton of helpful libraries for various maths problems.

Damien just recently introduced this tool in all its depth, so check out his piece SpeedCrunch – High Precision Freeware Desktop Calculator.

4. Languages

LiveMocha

This is a social network for learning languages. While you are helping others to improve their skills in your native language, they may help you improve a foreign language you are struggling with. They may even help you with your French homework.

Saikat wrote a thorough review of LiveMocha – Small The Coffee & Learn The Lingo.

VerbaLearn

With VerbaLearn you can improve your English vocabulary with online study sessions. The tool learns with you, keeping a record of your progress and weaknesses. You can listen to your study list offline to better memorize the words and practice the pronunciation and online you can read examples of how the word is being used.

The tool was recently introduced by Tim: Practice Your Vocabulary With VerbaLearn.

Bullfighter (MS Word and Powerpoint plugin)

Similar To VerbaLearn, this tool is designed to improve your use of the English language. The tool will analyze your texts for jargon. The higher your Bull Composite score, the higher the chance people will actually understand what you are trying to say.

James has written about Bullfighter – Simplify Your Writing & Gain Results.

5. Literature

wePapers

On this website people can share and expand their knowledge for free. You can read the material others have provided and upload your own papers to contribute to the community.

Zotero (Firefox extension)

When composing an assignment or a thesis you have to reveal your sources. Zotero is a Firefox extension that can help you keep track of your references and organize a citation bibliography for Open Office or MS Word documents.

Mixed Literature Resources

Struggling to find cheap college text books? These resources collected by Nick may help: The Top 5 Sites To Find Your College Textbooks. Are you a medical student who’s looking for resources online? Have a look through Jackson’s list of The Best Reference Sites For Medical Students. Maybe you need to improve your writing and homework? I wrote about 7 Online Resources To Help You Improve Your Writing and Where To Research Material For Your Homework.

Finally, you may also find Ken’s article on 10+ Web Tools To Save Your Butt In School very helpful.

How do you use the internet to get through school?

Picture credits: amr_safey

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But anyone can do something for their brain’s fitness. Here’s a small selection of things you can do online:

1. Search the internet

Apparently, searching the internet requires decision-making and complex reasoning, which is a challenge for the brain and keeps the respective key centers in a top notch condition. But instead of using Google all the time, try something new. There are hundreds of search engines out there and you’ll find some of these have been covered on MakeUseOf. Don’t be lazy, give them a chance!

If you can’t do without Google, at least try another interface, such as Sputtr for example:

2. Read blogs

But don’t stick to the same old, variation is what counts. So discover and read a new blog every week, for example by following links in Blogrolls or from interesting comments. You can also search randomly or by category using the Find Blogs search engine. There is quite a selection to enjoy. Interestingly, MakeUseOf is not listed…shame on them!

3. Read news

And not just those that are obvious. Try to find out about what’s going on in another country. Keeping the brain active is all about feeding it with information. Not just any information, but rather things you have a natural interest in, including things you may find difficult to understand at first. News is a door opener to many topics, for example politics, international relationships, history, landscape, the local food or language.

I am not going to recommend any mainstream site as I’m sure you all know CNN and the BBC and whatnot. For a bit of a different view in 43 languages, try World News. And remember, if you were not curious about anything at all, you would not be reading this in the first place!

4. Play Games

Games where you have to use your mind that is! Sudoku, crossword puzzles, riddles, all great ways to challenge the mind. But after some time you’ll need to increase the difficulty or switch to another stimulus to avoid monotony.

Braingle is an excellent source for different brain teasers! Besides that, the trivia, games and community, I found the Mentalrobics section very inspiring. Within the categories creativity, vocabulary, memory, and stress you’ll find lots of useful information on how your brain works and how you can take advantage of that, for example to master stress.

Also have a look at Simon’s article on web games for Brain fitness and Games for the Brain for a broader spectrum of games in different languages. Other than the same old, there is Guess the Flag, Crime Scene where you have to identify people, Memocoly where you memorize colors, and many more. The twist is that while you’re playing games, an IQ score evaluates your achievements.

5. Can you raed, Tihs?

Ins’t it urtlety cnosufnig waht the mnid can do? We otefn do not raielze jsut how mcuh our biran is cabalpe of. Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno’t mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig!

And the truth is, recruiting the potential your mind actually has is key to brain fitness. So never tire to try new things, especially if they may seem difficult. Maybe you can even see the 3D image in this:

For more 3D Stereogram Images and other illusions check out Eyetricks.

6. Socialize

Interactions with other people stimulate the brain. Even if these interactions happen online. So if you’ve been avoiding social networks (like myself), pull yourself together and give it a try. Everyone will find a community they can benefit from. Who knows whom you will meet, the world is only a fingertip away. And besides, connecting with other people brings happiness. The challenge is to figure it all out!

7. Listen to music

On MakeUseOf we have shown you tons of ways to discover music. While most music recommendation engines go by what you already like to suggest new things, to stimulate your brain cells you should actually try to listen to something completely different. Use your newly developed social skills and follow the musical likes of random strangers. Did you know music can trigger emotions?

8. Learn a language

When you search MakeUseOf for “learn language” you’ll find several websites that will teach you foreign languages for free or in a community based setting, where you can teach someone else at the same time.

One Minute Languages is a new one that has not been covered before. With all the things we have to pack into our lives today, One Minute Languages gives you an opportunity to sneak peek into a language. There are ten lessons to each language and each lesson is only a few minutes long. So it’s actually more than a minute, who would have thought!

Once you have completed the ten lessons you’ll be far away from actually speaking that language. However, you may be encouraged to study it in depth. And nothing is more challenging for the brain than to learn, speak and think in a foreign language. Think big, but start simple.

9. Make her turn the other way around…

Is she turning clockwise or counter clockwise? Try to make her turn the other way around. It really works, but don’t interpret too much into it!

10. Learn more!

If all of this made you curious about your own brain, check out Sharp Brains, a website that provides plenty of brain-related information. As “the brain fitness authority” they present the latest news and research on brain-related matter, including studies on exercises, improving memory, stress management and they feature interviews with the leading experts in the field.

Other websites to consider are The Brain from Top to Bottom and Your Amazing Brain, both of which offers detailed background information in Wiki-How style. The Brain from Top to Bottom is especially fascinating. You can select your level of understanding from beginner to advanced, learn about the brain from different points of view, even in French and I just love the overall concept of the site.

Taken together, the secret of brain fitness is to constantly challenge the brain. Doing crossword puzzles or playing Sudoku is great, but in the long run it’s monotonous. To keep your brain fit, you should learn something new every day. What did you learn today?

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English has been the ‘lingua franca’ for a very long time, but with the trend towards globalization, no individual or business can ignore the impact of the native tongue. The concept behind LiveMocha is simple. It is a Web 2.0 platform from its interface to the culture of social interactivity that makes learning a new language not only fun, but more importantly free.

LiveMocha adopts a community based approach to learning a new language. Users help each other learn a new language by offering tips, checking each other’s uploaded exercises or assignments and also engaging in one on one interactions. A speaker fluent in English might for example want to learn the subtleties of French. Through this site you can teach a native Frenchman (or better, a mademoiselle) some English and be tutored in French in return. As LiveMocha calls it – return the favor.

The log-on process is simple and attractively free. Imagine learning a whole new way to communicate without spending a dime. LiveMocha to date offers lessons in 11 languages – English, Spanish, French, Hindi, German, Russian, Japanese, Portuguese, Icelandic, Italian and Chinese.

Choose your language and if your tongue can handle the linguistic challenge you can choose more than one. With ‘4′ modules covering four different learning levels, spending 160 hours can take the user from the basics to a level of passable everyday conversation.

The Courseware

Each level drills down to ‘units’ and further to ‘lessons’. The learning content uses text, audio and video inputs to teach the nuances of a language, leveraging the advantages of a Web 2.0 platform. The student follows a defined path -

1. Learning through visual and auditory cues.

2. Reading and associating it with an image.

3. Listening to the way the word is pronounced.

4. Magnet, a small exercise. The student listens to the word / sentence and drags it to a box to check the match.

5. Writes some text and submits it to the community for feedback.

6. Records a passage and submits it to the community for feedback.

The learners and the teachers can communicate with each other through texting, talking or with a webcam.

It is not all footloose learning. Using some real world devices like a course progress bar, course points and a ‘leaderboard’ with the names of the five top ranking members taking the same course keeps the involved learner on his (or her) toes. Members also earn points based on their contributions to the community and their level of interactivity within the community. For example, tutoring someone earns points. So does sending out invites for signups.

Practice makes perfect

Learning a foreign tongue need not be a solitary exercise. With this thought, the practice section of LiveMocha helps the student brush up on his or her vocabulary and diction with the aid of a community member. Text, speech or dialogue, some community member is always ready to lend a hand or an ear.

There is a “flashcards’ utility on the site. Akin to the real world, flash cards can be created by the user to help him or her along with any lesson revisions. An user can also use the flashcard sets created by another user. A friendly way to share and share alike.

The community of learners

This is an atypical community of learners. A global one, every learner is also a tutor here. The text and chat tools are a great learning aid providing real time interactivity. LiveMocha is a friendly meeting place of learners with a common purpose. Just like any other social networking site worth its salt, you can invite friends, search for friends, and send messages and/or chat. Plus if you don’t like a pesky one just press delete. To help you keep track there is the ubiquitous ‘Recent Activity Feed’ which records your activities within the site.

The report card

The biggest advantage of a social learning site is that it encourages interactions and helps the user gain conversational skills by understanding the peculiar ways each language is spoken.

Though the website still carries the beta tag, it seems to be gung-ho with nearly 350,000 users globally. New improvements like a TOEFL preparatory course also are in the pipeline. So are more enhanced levels of instructional content like live tutoring and certification tests. These may come at a cost in the near future.

As its founding CEO Mr. Shirish Nadkarni elaborated, the name ‘LiveMocha’ was used to deliberately suggest a lively and light ambiance of a coffee shop on the net. That is the only drawback. The brewing has to be done at home.

Do you use LiveMocha? Or do you use another website to learn a foreign language? Tell us all about your online foreign language learning in the comments.

(By) Saikat is a techno-adventurer in a writer’s garb. When he is not scouring the net for tech news, you can catch him on his personal blog ruminating about the positives in our world.

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Here, I have listed the resources I have used in the past, and those I’m currently using, for your own benefit.

Online Dictionaries and Thesaurus

Reference.com – Comes with a dictionary and thesaurus, and is one of my favourite destinations to know the meaning and origin of a particular word. You can use it for free, although there’s a premium version of the site that you can pay for if you need pronounciation help.

The Free Dictionary – Get ready to learn a lot of things at the Free Dictionary site. It’s an awesome resource that has information categorized, helps you with definitions, spelling bee games and lots more. The site also features a start page where you can add your favourite modules and learn things new every day.

Visual Thesaurus – At Visual Thesaurus, you can have a great time exploring words and related terms and play around with them. Includes a pronunciation helper so you need not worry about getting a word wrongly pronounced. Some other features include examples of usages and additional tips to help you from mistakenly using the wrong word. Available as a download, it’s worth paying for.

Google’s Define Operator – Since people have got used to Googling for everything that you can imagine, it’s not a surprise that they’ve included a little functionality to their search engine. If you want to know the meaning of a word, just type define: followed by the word in the Google search box, and get the definitions instantly on your screen. Example: define: intuitive.

Definr – Definr calls itself an incredibly fast dictionary, and it really lives up to its name. Type in a word, and get the meaning instantly. Advantages – it loads really fast so you rarely have to wait. But it seems to have a smaller database of words when compared to the tools mentioned above.

HowJSay.com – This is a brilliant web 2.0 tool, just type in a word and get it pronounced immediately. It might prove very useful in some situations. This site has a large database of words so you won’t be disappointed.

Offline Dictionaries

WordWeb – WordWeb functions as a dictionary tool that comes packed with the features that you expect in a dictionary. Select a word from any application and then press a shortcut to find out its meaning in WordWeb. Something you’ll love is the way its interface has been designed. In case you need synonyms, related terms, etc, just click on the appropriate tab and you’re done. The Pro version includes a few more capabilites, although the free version might be more than enough for your needs.

Merriam Webster – Puts the reputed Merriam Webster Dictionary tool on your PC. Get instant meanings, just a right-click away. Spell Checker included.

Enso Dictionary and Spell Checker – Instantly check the spelling in your text by holding down a hotkey (works universally in Windows). Also included is a dictionary that can be activated using the command ‘define’

Grammar Resources

The BBC Learning English site has loads of information on English grammar, such as FAQs, exercises and quizzes. If you still need more, you can test yourself with the aid of exercises in these sites:

About.com Grammar Quiz, Interactive Grammar Quizzes, Grammar Self Tests, 40+ Resources to improve your Grammar and Punctuation

Dedicated Portals

BBC Learning English – There’s just so many things here that you can retain for learning – quizzes, crosswords, podcasts, radio and many other useful resources all under one internationally-recognized brand. It’s a site that must be bookmarked.

Wordie.Org – This is a social network centred around words. You can list your favourite words and phrases, see who else has your favourite word in their list, browse around their lists, tag them and have lots of fun. Create words you hate, words you find weird, words that make you laugh etc. Within a few minutes of wandering on the site, you’ll find lots of new terms that could improve your vocabulary skills.

A Word A Day

The following sites are updated every day with words that you might have never heard of. You can see their origin, etymology, pronunciation and a lot more. You could subscribe to their newsletters and spending less than a minute every day you can enrich your English vocabulary greatly.

Wordsmith’s A Word A Day – One of the world’s most subscribed-to newsletters.

Other “Word of the Day” sites: Yahoo! Education, Merriam Webster, Oxford’s Word Of the Day.

Podcasts

Podcasts are MP3 files that you can download and play on your computer or your portable media player such as your iPod. I listen to the Grammar’s Girl Podcast quite often. Maybe you want to tune in as well.

eBooks

Project Gutenberg – 20,000+ downloadable books. An awesome project that has rich classic books included. Download and distribute, share the knowledge. You have content here that’ll take you a lot of time to read and quench your thirst for literature. Books from many languages are available, just take your pick from the online Gutenberg catalogue.

There’s quite a lot of Shakespeare stuff as well, Google is your friend.

Foxit Reader – Ok, you download a lot of eBooks in the PDF format, but do you find that your Adobe Reader software slows down your entire computer? Get this alternative instead. It’s called Foxit

Educational Games

Jumble – A game I love to play when I see it in the newspapers every morning. It’s playable online and downloadable.

BingoBinge – Play Scrabble Online

ManyThings, Hangman Flash Game – Play Hangman Online

Blogs

There are of course a few blogs that provide tips on improving your English. You can check these that I found: Daily Writing Tips, The Grammar Vandal, Triangle Grammar Guide.

Start Pages

These are quite great, and can save you loads of time. A Start Page is a page on the web that you can customize with stuff that you need to keep an eye on. For example, my start page contains modules that give me access to a few blogs, top news stories and weather:

Likewise, you too can create a start page with modules like a dictionary, word a day stuff, etc. Try Netvibes or iGoogle. Trust me, if you know how to use them, you’ll find them very helpful and fun to learn with.

Let me know in the comments if you found the post useful.

(By) Shankar Ganesh, a 16 year old guy from India who blogs about computers and soft at Killer Tech Tips.

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