MakeUseOf » learn language

Vocabulary Challenged? Try 8 Things On Dictionary.com To Improve Your English

Saikat Basu — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:00:00 +0000

A dictionary is the most basic aid you can turn to if you want to improve your skills in any language. The thick volumes of yore are still there (some as bookends), but a modern pundit is more likely to consult an online dictionary or any of the smartphone dictionary apps that give the term ‘pocket dictionary’ a modern twist.

Online dictionaries aren’t only about words and their meanings. They also bring in other cool features which make for a fun learning experience for both children and adults alike.

Dictionary.com and its resources make it almost a portal that takes you on a journey of word discoveries. Word has it that it is probably the most frequented of online dictionary and reference sources on the web. Why not – after all you can do much more than merely look up a word here. Try these 8 for starters.

The Hot Word

Words are never one-dimensional. There’s always an interesting story behind them or you can create an interesting one around a word. The Hot Word shows just how interesting the English language is. The blog not only dives into the origins of words, but also discusses their present context. Even a casual read through the blog gives you interesting tidbits like the language that’s only spoken in one tiny part of Portugal.

Words!

This is a weekly compilation that picks up interesting definitions from areas of medicine, gardening, cooking, and more. Browsing through them takes you to entire word lists and in turn to their meanings. The compilation perks up interest because you might thing that you know all about a specific area, but the word list tells you that you still have some learning to do. Dictionary.com comes with comprehensive listings on medical terms, abbreviations, cultural words, idioms etc.

Solve a Daily Crossword

I can’t get to the Times crossword or solve it, but I do try my word associations and recall with the Daily Crossword here. You can time yourself, pause and save your progress, and even print the puzzles though it’s much better to solve them online. The game also gives you letter and word hints if you are stuck at a square.

By the way, if you are attempting to solve the Times crossword, you can take the help of the Crossword Solver here at Dictionary.com. Just a helpful tool to bookmark if you are into crosswords.

Fun ‘n Free Games!

The fun doesn’t end at crosswords but continues with the cool word based puzzles and games in the Games section. Making words starting with a provided letter sounds lame, but some interesting rules make the game a bit more challenging. There are more ‘complicated’ games like Word Kingdom which is like playing Age of Empires with words. Word Games has a lineup of nice games that should set up someone who is trying to get better with English.

Become a Word Millionaire with Word Dynamo

Word Dynamo is a beta feature but it already looks useful as an educational tool. Word Dynamo is about learning words in an engaging way. Word challenges are arranged according to grade levels and topics. You have to progress up by unlocking the levels as in any game. Quizzes, word lists, and word games make up Word Dynamo. You can also learn a bit about French, Spanish and Latin.

Which Word Is The World Searching For Today?

A small section that is tucked away near the foot of the homepage shows what the world is searching for on Dictionary.com. Capturing trending words from the whole web would be too much to ask for, so let’s do with what the nearly 50 million visitors landing here are making popular each day. You can look at Popular Searches, Words in the News, and Where Is It.

Rave on Quotes

There are many places you can go in your search for quotable quotes. Dictionary.com happens to be one more. There’s the Quote of The Day right on the homepage and more quotes beyond that. You can cite the quotes or choose to embed them in your blog.

Simply Translate

Last but not the least; Dictionary.com includes a very handy translation engine that can handle 50 languages. The translation is limited to 100 characters, but that should suffice for short bursts. One limitation is that the translator does not detect the language when you insert it into the field.

Dictionary.com goes beyond being a simple online dictionary. What sets it apart are these add-on learning features which make this a complete ‘word portal’. Which is your favorite online dictionary? If it’s this one, tell us what appeals to you here when you come looking for some meaning.

3 Interactive, Fun, Free Ways To Start Learning The Ruby Programming Language

Erez Zukerman — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 23:31:14 +0000

Ruby is an expressive, very high-level, scripting language. It is used on the Web mainly as part of the Ruby on Rails web development framework, but also standalone. If you’re curious about what Ruby (not Ruby on Rails) feels like, you don’t necessarily need to pick up a book or go watch a screencast (although those are good ways to learn, too).

Below are three fun, simple ways in which you can try Ruby in your browser, right now, for free, without installing a single file.

Rubymonk

Hailing all the way from India, Rubymonk offers a series of over 50 short, interactive Ruby exercises and it saves your progress. Above is what I saw when I went back to Rubymonk after leaving the website (I solved the first couple of exercises).

Let’s look at what a single exercise looks like:

The exercise starts with a simple explanation, followed by a snippet of code. If you hit the Run button, the code is immediately evaluated and you get to see its output. Next, you get a simple assignment. Write the code you think is the right answer, and hit Ctrl+Enter to run it (or click the Run button). The Rubymonk now spits out an answer:

Once you finish working through some of the exercises, you will be presented with a problem to solve on your own:

You get an explanation of what you need to solve, some template code to get you started, and you’re on your own. This is great, because it’s much closer to actually coding than filling in one-liners in response to narrow questions. If you get stuck, you can always click “See the Solution” and the solution will instantly appear in the text box.

Once you’re done with the first problem, you are transported to the table of contents, where you can pick and choose what you want to learn (and whether you want a lesson or a problem). Lessons look like this:

And a problem looks like this:

The tags are lessons which you should work through, in order to acquire the skills you need to solve the problem. The whole thing is very polished, and just generally fun to work with. Highly recommended.

Ruby Koans

The Ruby Koans are hosted over at Heroku, and are even more steeped in mysticism that Rubymonk. Check it out:

Say what you will, but this is definitely not boring. Fill in what you think is the right answer (trivial, in this case), and hit Enter. The snippet will be evaluated, and colored accordingly:

The Ruby Koans are a lot of fun, and they seem much more advanced than Rubymonk. They start off with asserts and testing, rather than arrays or other basic concepts. One small niggle is that your progress is not saved between koans, so you’d better bookmark where you stopped for the day. It’s not as AJAXy as Rubymonk, but I think it’s still great, and it’s a project that inspired many imitations, such as the JavaScript Koans.

Try Ruby

Try Ruby was created as a tribute to why’s (poignant) guide to ruby (link to PDF), one of the craziest programming textbooks I have ever laid eyes on. It’s a great book for the Ruby language, and although the author no longer takes an active role in the Ruby community, I have a feeling he would have approved of the project. The website is built as a large ruby prompt, with instructions on the side:

The text is simple and playful (no mystical references here). You type real Ruby code in the prompt, and work through the simple exercises one by one. The whole thing doesn’t take very long.

Final Thoughts

Personally, I feel that learning by doing is one of the best ways to absorb new material. These may not make you into a code ninja, but they will definitely give you a feel for Ruby. If you’re curious about the language, pick the one you like best and take it for a spin! Let us know how it went in the comments.

The 5 Best Websites To Learn Python Programming

Joel Lee — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 21:31:10 +0000

Over the past decade, the Python programming language has exploded in popularity amongst programmers in all areas of coding. From web developers to video game designers to in-house tool creators, many people have fallen in love with the language. Why? Because it’s easy to learn, easy to use, and very powerful.

If you’re looking to pick up Python, you’re in luck. There are lots of web resources for learning the language, and many of them are entirely free. Here are some of the best ones. For optimal results, we recommend that you utilize ALL of these websites as they each have their own great aspects.

#1 – How To Think Like A Computer Scientist

The most notable aspect of this web Python tutorial series is that not only does it teach you how to use the Python programming language, but it teaches you how to think like programmers think. If this is the first time you’ve ever touched code, then How to Think Like a Computer Scientist will be an invaluable resource for you.

Keep in mind, however, that learning how to think like a computer scientist will require a complete shift in your mental paradigm. Grasping this shift will be easy for some and difficult for others, but as long as you persevere, it will eventually click. And once you’ve learned how to think like a computer scientist, you’ll be able to learn languages other than Python with ease!

#2 – Dive Into Python

The Dive Into Python web tutorial series is awesome for those who have little or no experience with programming. The very first part of the tutorial walks you through the steps necessary to set up a Python interpreter on your computer, which can be very difficult for first timers.

There is one drawback to this website: it may try to dive in too quickly. As someone with Python experience under my belt, I can see how newbies might be intimidated by how quickly the author moves through the language. If you can keep up, then Dive Into Python will be a fantastic resource. If you can’t keep up, then visit some of the other websites in this list until you have a better grasp of the language, then come back and try this one again.

#3 – The Official Python Tutorial

What better place to learn Python than on the official Python website? The creators of the language itself have devised a large and helpful guide that will walk you through the basics of the language.

The best part of this web tutorial is that it moves slowly, drilling specific concepts into your head in more than one way to make sure that you understand them. The website formatting is simple and pleasing to the eye, which just makes the whole experience that much easier.

If you have a background in programming, the official Python tutorial may be too slow and boring for you. If you’re a brand newbie, you’ll likely find it to be an invaluable resource in your journey.

#4 – TryPython

Unlike the previously listed Python tutorial sites, TryPython is great in that the website itself has a built-in Python interpreter. This means you can play around with Python coding right on the website, eliminating the need for you to muck around and install interpreters on your system.

Of course, you’ll need to install an interpreter eventually if you plan on getting serious with the language, but TryPython lets you try python before investing too much time in a language that you might end up not using. TryPython’s tutorial series incorporates the interpreter, allowing you to play around with the code in real-time, making changes and experimenting as you learn. This is the most hands-on Python tutorial you will find outside of a real life classroom.

TryPython requires Microsoft Silverlight to be installed for your browser.

#5 – LearnPython

Like TryPython, LearnPython has a built-in interpreter right on the website as well as a tutorial series to go alongside of it. So what’s the difference between the two? Not a whole lot.

LearnPython is a little more basic, which means newbies will be able to keep up with the lessons and feel less intimidated by the material. And unlike TryPython, LearnPython includes programming exercises at the end of each lesson. These lessons serve to solidify the knowledge you gain and make sure that you truly understand what you’ve learned.

BONUS – PyGame

For those of you who are learning Python to eventually create video games, this bonus resource will be extremely helpful to you. PyGame is a set of Python libraries that allows you to create graphical applications. Regular Python runs in a console window, which limits you to ASCII text. PyGame provides functionality for displaying images to the screen in a non-console window.

The best part? It’s just as easy to learn and easy to use as the Python language.

Conclusion

Though it has a relatively low learning curve, Python is a powerful language that can be utilized in multiple applications. Its popularity has been growing consistently over the past few years and there is no indication that the language will soon disappear. If you want to learn a highly versatile and powerful language, it’s never too late to give Python a shot.

Let us know in the comments what Python resources you use.

Image Credit: Shutterstock

2 Websites & 2 Apps That Can Help When Learning Java Programming

Danny Stieben — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 09:31:25 +0000

There are plenty of people I know who’d like to know how to program, yet they’re confused by how to start and what the general ideas of programming are. In addition, there are a large number of programming languages to choose from, so choosing the right one to start out with may be a little difficult for the inexperienced programmer. This article will help you get started with a relatively easy to learn language.

Why Learn Java Programming?

Java is my programming language of choice when trying to learn the concepts of programming. This is because Java is very cross-platform, has a fairly readable syntax (compared to other languages), and there are many tools that can make developing in Java a fairly easy task. Before we begin, make sure that you have the JDK installed, as you won’t be able to do a thing without it.

Parts Of Java

Java programs are separated into classes. Technically each class is its own program, but you can work with numerous classes to make a larger, more complex program while maintaining good code organization. At least one of those classes needs to be the main class, or contain a main method. A method is a chunk of code that executes when you simply call the name of the method. The main method is required as Java looks for this method to start the program. You can pass parameters to other methods if you’d like, allowing the method to take input and do something with it.

Variables

More than likely you’ll also need to store information at certain points. These are variables, or sometimes called fields, that hold the information. You have to specify the type of variable so that Java knows what you’re trying to hold. This includes things like true/false (boolean), numbers (int, long, double, etc.), and much more. As Java can support object-oriented programming, you can even hold instances of a class in a variable.

Example

As an example, here is a class that would simply print out the number 6 onto the screen:

public class makeuseof
{
public static void main (String args[])
{
int myNum = 6;
System.out.println(myNum);
}
}

2 Recommended Applications

There are two applications I would recommend that will help you during your programming adventures.

Greenfoot

Greenfoot is a very fun way to get the hang of programming, as you can see any changes you make to the code in a video game setting. Additionally, there is a great community that can give help, ideas, and much more. So if you want a visual programming experience, Greenfoot is a great way to get started.

Geany

For those who want to have a good enough editor to do the nitty gritty programming, I recommend using Geany. It is available for all operating systems, is relatively lightweight, and simply gets the job done. There are indeed lots of other editors that people can choose from, and they’re welcome to use those instead, but my recommendation stays with Geany.

2 Recommended Websites

There are a couple of websites that can help you out if this introduction didn’t make much sense.

First is “Javanotes 6.0” which provides a much more lengthy but complete explanation of basic Java programming concepts. Here you’ll find loads of information and some programming exercises. If you have the time for it, it’s a great read.

Lastly, you can also check out HowStuffWorks’ page on Java. It also includes some information and guides you to making your first program. This is another interesting read, and involves a different first problem than the traditional “Hello World” example.

Conclusion

Getting started with Java isn’t as hard as it seems. With some time and practice you’ll get the hang of it, and from there you can build more complex programs that provides more functionality. Additionally, if you master the programming concepts, it’ll be easier to learn other programming languages as a large portion of the learning process is simply different syntax.

Let us know what your Java apps and tools are in the comments below.

Improve Your English & Learn New Words With Vocabulary.com

Erez Zukerman — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 18:01:41 +0000

When communicating online, your vocabulary and the quality of your writing are a key part of the first (and second) impression you make. It’s important to be able to communicate clearly and come across as an intelligent human being, whether you’re just posting a quick tweet, applying for a freelance (or full-time) job, or even using a dating website.

Free website Vocabulary.com says it can help you improve your vocabulary by figuring out which words you don’t know, and then teaching you only those (without spending time on stuff you already know).

The first thing you’ll see on the site is a multiple-choice test aimed to assess your current vocabulary. Here’s what happens once you click one of the answers for a question:

That’s just the first question. Now let’s see what happens when you pick a wrong answer:

And let’s get the second one wrong, too:

And now let’s be totally dumb and get even the third shot wrong:

Okay, that doesn’t leave many options. Let’s pick the last one remaining:

“You’re a genius!“…..uh, right. False flattery aside, the site now provides you with a complete definition for the correct word, including a nice derivation (word origin). You can see it to the right of the main interface in the screenshot above. It comes from the dictionary integrated into the website, which we’ll get to in a moment. Once you’re done reading, click the “Next Question” button to continue the assessment.

There are also other types of questions:

As you can see, the question above doesn’t make you complete a sentence, but just pick the correct definition for a word.

Once you finish the first round, the site suggests you log in, either using Facebook or by creating a new account on the site itself:

Since I don’t have a Facebook account, I created an account on the site itself.

Some of the answers to the test can be a bit weird, because they use synonyms. Here’s an example for a particularly odd one:

While I agree “luxuriant” doesn’t mean “enhanced”, it certainly doesn’t mean “riotous” under any normal definition of the word. Sure, there is a definition that says “growing in extreme abundance“, but that’s a very rare definition of the word. So effectively, the game is asking you to define one rare word with another rare word, and they don’t exactly match in shades of meaning. Fortunately, most of the definitions do make sense.

Since we’re already speaking of definitions, now would be a good time to look at the integrated dictionary. Let’s look up the applicable definition for riotous:

Some of the definitions in the dictionary are very short. Personally, I prefer more comprehensive definitions, but these snappy and short definitions might help some people memorize the words better. There’s also an interesting usage meter and examples:

So you can see related words from the same family (not synonyms, though – those are shown under each definition), along with their frequency. Note that the meter isn’t perfect: In the screenshot above, “Riotous” appears twice for some reason.

Also, not all definitions are so short. Here’s an absolutely brilliant definition for “toady”, including a memorable word history:

I think that’s just fantastic, and many of the difficult words do have such in-depth definitions, which are written in a fun, easy-to-understand style.

Once you continue with the challenge a bit more, you’ll get to check out your progress:

There are also achievements you can unlock:

As you continue answering questions, pretty soon you start getting “review” questions with words you’ve already seen (and gave wrong answers for):

As you can see, each review question is worth only 75 points, as opposed to 100 points for an “assessment” question (containing a word the game hasn’t asked you about yet).

That’s pretty much all there is to it. The site provides you with a lovely opportunity to learn new words, both by looking up words you already know you want to learn (in the dictionary) and by randomly stumbling upon new words in the questions. The only thing I would improve is the quality of some of the questions – I feel they could sometimes stand a bit more depth. Still, I feel it really manages to make learning into a game.

Image Credit: Shutterstock

How To Learn To Speak Esperanto With Lernu

Danny Stieben — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 17:30:16 +0000

At some point or another, you may have thought about or had to learn a language. Whether it was English, Spanish, Chinese, or even Swahili, finding tools to learn those languages is hard at best. Based on what I’ve heard, Rosetta Stone seems to be the best way, but such a solution is quite expensive.

So what if I told you that if you’ve ever been interested in Esperanto, there’s a website that can teach you for free?

What is Esperanto?

In case you haven’t heard of Esperanto yet, it is a constructed language that was created in the hopes that it would become an international auxiliary language. As we know, that wasn’t the case, as English is considered the global standard when speaking with different cultures.

However, there is a small movement within the Esperanto community to spread the language so that one day it may replace English. Esperanto is constructed of parts from different language groups: romantic, germanic, and slavic. The language has a couple of advantages when learned, including that it’s culturally neutral, easy and quick to learn, and may help with learning other languages later on. There have been some critiques of the language, mainly that a constructed language is never the same as a natural one. However, learning the language, even when it may not become the international auxiliary language in your lifetime (or mine), can still be a cool experience.

About Lernu

Lernu is one of the most popular sites to learn Esperanto. You can dive right into its courses, or you can look through some of the information it offers about Esperanto first. All of the site’s features are accessible via the menu bar at the top, where you can browse through it’s introductory information about the language and the site itself, it’s courses (made for all levels), other learning material which includes games, an online Esperanto community, and a library.

Start Learning!

To get started, it’s recommended you go to the “Beginning” section and look for the Introduction. From here, the site will begin to introduce you to the basics of the language, such as pronunciation of words (they are always pronounced exactly as they are spelled, so there are no variations like in English, such as read in present tense and read in past tense, and to/too/two). The courses also do not take long to explain how words are created, which is done through a large system of roots, prefixes, and suffixes. One example is that one can add a certain prefix to mean the opposite of the root’s meaning.

Multilingual Support

If English isn’t your native tongue, then don’t worry! Lernu is available in a surprisingly large number of languages, so you can take all the available courses in your native language and get the most out of each lesson. I counted a total of 37 supported languages, so it is highly likely that yours will be included.

Keep It Up!

How much you actually learn will be dependent on the amount of time you take. There isn’t much more to explain about the site, as the main chunks of it are the courses. You will only become fluent with time taken in each course and lots of practice, which is easy to come by thanks to the online community. And yes, if you were wondering, the screenshot do indeed show a list of Chuck Norris jokes in Esperanto.

Conclusion

Lernu is a great place to learn Esperanto. Whether you’d like to for a purpose, to impress your friends, or just for the fun of it, Lernu gives you the tools you need along with a friendly community to start on your journey. If things seem a little tough, just keep trying. Studies have shown that Esperanto is one of the easiest languages to learn, so you’re bound to get the hang of it. One study said that 2000 hours studying German = 1500 hours studying English = 1000 hours studying Italian = 150 hours studying Esperanto, which is really quite impressive.

What do you think about Esperanto? Would you like to learn it? Do you think it’ll ever become the successor to English? Let us know in the comments!

5 Cool Word Sites That Are A Bit Different

Saikat Basu — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 15:31:33 +0000

As a blogger and writer, words hold special significance for me. It’s sometimes about discovering new words or finding out unknown meanings of the known ones; it’s also about going to the root of a word and searching out where it has branched to.

The numerous word sites available reflect this richness. We word lovers are better for it because it makes learning new words more fun.

The different type of word sites helps us explore the language in all its uniqueness. That also helps us fall in love with the language. My continuing search for cool word sites – regular or offbeat – has made me stumble on to some that most of us might miss among the crowd of the more popular ones.

Here are five more word based websites to explore and keep.

WordSift

It’s a web service which we have covered before. But a mention again is due because I find it immensely useful to construct a summary on any data that I paste on it. Any long piece of information is constructed around keywords, and WordSift usually manages to highlight the important ones. WordSift helps you to visualize the vocabulary structure of text by creating a tag cloud of important words. The bigger the word, greater is its frequency. You can sort the words and move them around with the mouse. Visual Thesaurus, the Google Images and video searches, and also the sample sentences help students create word associations.

Hot For Words

If words can be sexy, then this site shows how. The beautiful face behind the site belongs to Marina Orlova, a former model and now a linguist (more specifically, a philologist). Her YouTube series where she traces the origins of everyday English words is an internet sensation. The website complements her YouTube channel. The downside is that the site may not be suitable for kids. But it’s definitely the most entertaining word and vocabulary site out there.

What Does That Mean

WDTM is a question and answer site that’s devoted to words and their meanings. If you are confused over a word and its usage, maybe you can post your word problem here and wait for an answer from the community. You can contribute and earn ‘Karma points’ to move up the value chain on the site. The site is trying to build a free, community powered dictionary of English idioms, buzzwords, and catch phrases from around the world.

Tag Galaxy

Tag Galaxy is another cool word site that is more about visual representation of data than about words. But you can use it in some cool ways because every word you enter here becomes a keyword surrounded by related words. Oh yes, it’s all in a 3D-like photosphere with photos drawn from Flickr. The central word becomes the sun, and the related words turn into planets. You can spin the globe in any direction as it starts drawing in photo-tiles on its surface. Clicking on a photo enlarges it links to the original Flickr page. You can use it create interesting world associations combined with images.

Corpus of Contemporary American English

The 425 million word strong collection is the largest currently available. The words have been collected from diverse sources – spoken, fiction, popular magazines, newspapers, and academic journals. It is constantly updated and has powerful search features which allow you to wade through the extensive collection. You can search using word, phrase, related words, substring, part of speech, synonyms etc. Word comparisons across different genres can be made for usage differences and context. Here’s a YouTube video that shows you how to get started with the corpus.

If you missed our previous collection of websites on words and vocabulary, fret not. Here are some:

That’s quite a collection. Tell us about your favorite word site.

Image Credit: Shutterstock

8 Online Audio Pronunciation Guides That Help You Speak Words Correctly

Saikat Basu — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 17:30:03 +0000

It is said that the French are very particular about their language and the way it’s spoken. Pronouncing French words is rather difficult as it has lots of silent letters and syllables; even a single letter pronounced in different ways.

But wait: is English any different? In fact, we may not be paying attention because to most of us speaking and pronouncing English comes naturally.

There are many though, for whom English is a second or a third language and it takes some effort on their part to understand the way the words are spelled and spoken. This is where pronunciation guides become useful.

There’s a long list of common words that are often mispronounced (“Arctic” not “Artic”; “athlete” not “athelete”; “cornet” not “coronet”). While every self respecting online dictionary includes audio pronunciation these days, here are eight more that are dedicated to teaching correct pronunciation with the help of audio.

Forvo

Forvo.com is one of the most broad based audio pronunciation guides available on the web today. The figures sum it up – 903,848 words; 909,460 pronunciations in 267 languages. Forvo in its aim to index all the words spoken worldwide also allows “bad words” as long as they are politely pronounced and appear in well-known dictionaries. You can also find short idioms and a few known titles in the index. Everyone can record pronunciations, thus contributing to the index. The most covered languages are English, Portuguese, and Russian. The audio pronunciations are also organized in various categories like sports, science, politics etc.

Howjsay

The site with an “˜unpronounceable’ name defines itself as a free online talking dictionary of English pronunciation. You have to simply type in the word and mouseover the result to hear it spoken as it should be spoken. Words are pre-recorded in human voice. Pronunciation is in Standard British English, with World English alternatives like American English also provided. (See Directory mention)

BBC Learning English

When it’s the Queen’s Language, the BBC’s World Service has to be an important educational resource. The pronunciation tips are less of a straightforward guide and more of a how-to on the methods one can employ to understand how a word is spoken. The spelling of a word is not always an accurate guide to how it is pronounced, and that’s why BBC helps out with the sounds behind the English language.

Inogolo

The English pronunciation guide covers names of ““ people, places, and sundry other subjects like sports, religion, food, drink, and many more. For instance, if you don’t know how “Lager” is said out aloud in a bar, check out the site. Both phonetic and audio pronunciations are available. The pronunciations are in American English spoken in the general American accent. If you are still having trouble, check out the link to the pronunciation key that’s on each page. (See Directory mention)

HearNames

Every culture has its own dialect and its own diction. Getting names right in the correct accent can save you from a red face when you visits a foreign country (or even in one’s own). This site helps out by giving you a name pronunciation guide across different languages. The names are spoken by native speakers. Some languages have few entries, but the collection is good because it attempts to cover languages which we might consider uncommon. (See Directory mention)

The Septic’s Companion

We had listed this website when we had gone over 10 Online Slang Dictionaries To Learn Jargon & Street Language. The site makes this list again, because it’s a handy guide to British slang pronunciations with audio. A few words don’t have audio files associated with them but they are in the minority. This guide should be a great help for those trying to fit into the street culture in an around Britain.

Rachel’s English

Learning pronunciation can be fun as the series of videos on this website set out to prove. The videos are well made and each goes into the nuances of American English. Videos explain how different sounds come together to form a word. Each sound has two videos. The first is a very short video, simply the sound and an example word. The second video is a how-to video which goes deeper how the tongue vocalizes the sound. Each video also has a video text with the transcript.

SayIt

SayIt takes the SMS route to help you out with word pronunciations. When you hit a difficult word, just send a SMS to the service’s number and the app will call you back with the exact pronunciation. You can also choose to hear the complete definition of the word. It is a U.S only service, though. Carrier charges may apply. The pronunciation by SMS service uses Forvo.com’s pronunciation guide at the backend. (See Directory mention)

Correct pronunciation also helps in spelling a word correctly. The reverse is also true to a certain extent. If you carefully examine your speech, you will see a lot of common errors we make every day when it comes to pronouncing words correctly. These useful online guides help to nip those faults in the bud.

Tell us about your struggle with pronunciations and any resource that you used to crack it.

Image Credit: Shutterstock

10 Online Synonym Dictionaries To Help You Find A Similar Word

Saikat Basu — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 19:31:55 +0000

Synonyms are words you use when you can’t spell the first one. Okay, that’s just a joke”¦or a quip”¦or a wisecrack”¦or a jest, jive, or jape. But I think you get my point.

Synonyms allow us never to be at a loss for words. If you know your synonyms, you are not only richer for it, but it also gives you the odds when it comes to word games like crosswords and Scrabble. We writers get to embellish our work with different words with the same meaning, because using a single word throughout sounds flat.

When it comes to the vocabulary, we all hit a wall sometimes. Thanks to the web and online synonym dictionaries we don’t need to pick up that hardbound heavy thesaurus anymore. Fill in the little field and these free thesauruses (synonym finders) spill out words by the dozen. Which are the better synonyms dictionary resources out there? We have covered a few of these word apps before, but here’s a consolidated list.

Thesaurus.com

This site is personally one of my favorites and one of the top ones which give the highest number of results for a word. The site is the other face of Dictionary.com. Along with the synonyms on display, you can explore the sidebar for more hints and filters. You can also explore the word or its related words on Visual Thesaurus.

Synonym.com

This word app lists synonyms, antonyms, and their definitions. The site is simple but with an occasional pop-up ad. The number of words listed is lesser than the previous app mentioned. The synonyms are arranged around the “˜meaning’ they are meant to convey.

Synonyms.net

This word site does a much better job of searching out synonyms and presenting a lot of related information around the results. The synonyms themselves are again hyperlinked. You have an audio help for the pronunciation; a dropdown to translate the word into another language; a word image; a Q&A box if you have a question about the word; a citation aid; and alternative search options which give you things like quotes ad abbreviations on the main word. You can also search for song lyrics which have the particular word.

Synonym Finder

When it comes to word apps, I think this is one of the neater ones. The Synonym Finder gives you hyperlinked words along with its definition and usage. You can also use the search box to get to the antonyms of a word and definitions too (also see the Directory mention).

Thsrs

Thsrs is a “˜shorter’ thesaurus. As the play on the name suggests, the synonym finder gives you synonyms shorter than the word you’re looking up. Why? Blame it on Twitter where you have to fit everything into 140 characters or less without using any ugly abbreviations. The site also gives you a browser plug-in (see the Directory mention).

Big Huge Thesaurus

The BHT is one of the databases that Thsrs pings. The word index is again based on Princeton University’s WordNet database, the Carnegie Mellon Pronouncing Dictionary and suggestions from the user community. The word tool returns quite a large hyperlinked list which can be explored further. Right below you will get a dropdown which you can use to search out antonyms, rhymes, a related word, and synonyms.

The iThesaurus is a third party free iPhone app you can use to get to the BHT database from your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad.

The Free Dictionary

The Free Dictionary is a word tool that’s broader in scope than simple synonym finders. It includes many other word reference tools. The “˜Starts with’ and “˜Ends with’ options help to get complete lists of words if you the actual word slips past your memory. The Free Dictionary returns meanings, synonyms, antonyms, and related words supported with a host of other references that demonstrate usage.

Define It Fast

Defineitfast.com aims to be the fastest dictionary in the Wild West of dictionary apps. Does it win the shootout? I ducked under the bar, but yes, the search is pretty fast. With the definitions, the results also give you synonyms, related words, and more specific words. All of these are hyperlinked again and allow you to look them up again. This app also uses Princeton University’s WordNet database.

Snappy Words

Visualthesaurus.com is probably the trendsetter but it only allows a limited number of free searches. Enter Snappy Words. Words and their definitions and synonyms are displayed in a color coded graph where each color depicts a relation. Give the color codes a glance and you can easily make out the relationships between the visually displayed words. You can see the meanings and the synonyms also with a mouseover on the words (see the Directory mention).

What’s Another Word For..?

This is a simple iGoogle gadget you can use on your personalized Google page. The synonym finder gives you access to more than 100,000 words.

Talking of Google, the Google search box itself is a quick synonym finder. As Ann explained in her post on 3 Google Tricks When You Don’t Know What to Search For, the Google ~ operator gives you related words and synonyms when you type it in the search box like this: ~word. Strangely, the word “˜synonym’ itself doesn’t have many similar words to describe it.

Which is your go to app when it comes to hunting down synonyms? Let us know.

Image Credit: Shutterstock

10 Websites To Learn A Word A Day & Enrich Your Vocabulary

Saikat Basu — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 18:30:14 +0000

A few days back, we had taken a look at a few resources which helped us with slangs and day to day jargons. Street language sounds hep and helps us to keep up with the times. But it also limits our vocabulary. There’s a word in the English language for every instance, provided we care enough to adopt and use it.

There are only two ways to learn new words ““ read and use.

Think about it, a word a day translates to nearly 300 words over the course of a year; and many more over a lifetime. An expanded vocabulary not only helps to ace tests like SAT/ACT, but also opens up the language that we speak every day. Read a great speech and see how it moves you. Its oration backed up by a great vocabulary.

So, let’s take it a word at a time and seek the help of these ten websites that teach us new words in different ways.

Wordsmith

Wordsmith.org is one of the better examples of a stripped down, plain Jane website that hides a lot of usefulness behind its looks. If you have to use just one of the services listed, opt for the daily newsletter. A word a day delivered to your inbox. The screenshot shows how a single word is covered in all its shades.

Weboword

A single word each day is illustrated with a cartoon. If you have a visual sort of memory, you won’t have any trouble picking up quite a few words over the course of a month, and learning to use them as they are meant to be. The blog is expecting a rebirth in a new avatar soon.

Wordia

From cartoons to video, visual learning is the new mantra and it seems it’s no different for dictionaries. Wordia functions like a normal dictionary but instead of text definitions, you get videos explaining the usage of a word. The video explanations seem more thorough and easier to grasp than the textual definition. Everyday you can test yourself with Vocability, the Wordia game.

Vocab Vitamins

The vocabulary learning tool gives you doses of “˜verbal supplements’ daily in the mail and also on the site. Word of the day is also arranged around a central theme. For instance, the word “˜doldrums’ belongs to the week’s theme ““ “˜How’s the weather?

Save The Words

Savethewords.org is a beautifully constructed website that endeavors to focus attention on the lesser known words in the English language. The Oxford Dictionaries site seeks to save these words from going into a state of non-usage and non-existence. The surefire way to do that is to “˜adopt’ a word and use it in daily conversation. The site helps out by sending out word-a-day mailers to those of us who are passionate about words and their meanings. (See Directory mention)

Wordnik

Wordnik.com covers meanings through example sentences to audio pronunciations. Like a lot of online word tools, it aims to go beyond the scope of traditional dictionaries by taking a 360 degree look at a word, the word-of-the-day page and mailer is a shortcut to that process. Wordnik makes it easier to grasp new words by also providing instances of related words and images to describe context.

Phrays

Phrays.com takes a competitive approach to making you learn a word every day. Each day, a word is displayed with its meaning on the site and you have to write a sentence using the word. The sentence with the most user votes is the winner. You can also see the creative Zen of the previous winners that’s also on display in the archives. (See Directory mention)

WordThink

WordThink.com does not believe in learning new words just its own sake. It bunks the more complicated words and goes in for words that you might use in your daily conversations. You might not find a word like eleemosynary here, but the site might show you benevolent instead. WordThink sources the words from media and news.

Vocabsushi

If you are hell bent on acing college tests like ACT, SAT, GMAT, GRE etc, try out Vocabsushi and its bite-size learning method. You can test where you stand with a 20-question Vocabsushi demo quiz right on the front page. Pick a test from the dropdown and have a go at it. If you don’t fare that well, it’s time to dive into Vocabsushi more seriously. Vocabsushi uses thousands of sentences from contemporary news sources that show how a word is used in the real world. The actual words are taken from standardized tests that students have to take. Vocabsushi is a superbly designed site with tools like MP3 clips (for pronunciations), word games, offline quizzes in PDF, etc. (See Directory mention)

BBC Learning English

BBC’s world service for the English language doesn’t have a word-a-day mailer or other downloads. But if offers a host of tools that you can use to enrich your vocabulary. Word in the News takes a real news report and highlights specific words with meanings which you can pick up. News English Extra looks at how a word is used in the context of daily news. Then you can Keep your English up to date that explains a word in broad detail. Also, check out the sections like Vocabulary on Football, Tennis, Science etc. Some sections are also covered with downloadable podcasts.

There’s no end to learning new words and adding them to your vocabulary. Words aren’t meant to make you a dictionary on two legs, but to in fact make your conversations simpler. Do you agree?

Image: Shutterstock