Open Learning Initiative

I've recently come across a great site for learning French through Carnegie Mellon University. This site has a French 1 and 2 class that you have to sign up to use, but it's completely free. The lessons make use of video, audio, typing exercises, listening exercises and grammar information. This is one of the best sites I have seen so far for learning French. The lessons are pretty long, so they really drill the information into your head, rather than just telling it to you once and letting it fall into oblivion forever after. You read the information about the grammar, watch a short video of a conversation between native speakers that demonstrates the point being made, then you're given a test, where it either shows a sentence, a part of the video or plays an audio piece. You type in the response and it is graded once you click next. I highly recommend this site for anyone who is seriously interested in mastering the basics of the French language.

http://oli.web.cmu.edu/openlearning/forstudents/freecourses/french

Centro Virtual Camões

There's a great site for learning Portugal Portuguese called Centro Virtual Camões. There's a great childrens' book available with audio and illustrations. It tells the history of Portugal and has a song at the end of each chapter. There are also sections for reading, speaking, listening and word games. This is probably one of the best sites I've come across for learning Portugal Portuguese. Usually the sites are outdated and don't have much audio, if any at all, which is unfortunate, since Portugal Portuguese sounds considerably different from Brazilian Portuguese. I urge anyone interested in the language of Portugal to check this site out:

http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/index.php

Reverso

Reverso is an online translator, which also contains dictionaries, grammar, synonyms and conjugations. This is a great website with many different languages to translate to or from. It is even accessible from your mobile phone.

Spanish Romance

Today, I came across a great Spanish learning site called Spanish Romance. This site has so many resources pertaining to languages and culture. There are lessons, vocabulary, proverbs, stories, sayings, jokes and riddles just to name a few. If you're looking for a once stop website that contains nearly everything you'll need, this is the place to go. Check it out here:
http://www.spanishromance.com/

Quizlet

Looking for more flashcard resources? Quizlet is a great source for finding ready made flashcard sets for many different languages or for even making your own. You can also share your own flashcard sets with your friends or other members of the site. Check it out here:

http://quizlet.com/

Lingro

A good way to learn new vocabulary is by reading articles in other languages. If you're a beginner, this can be very time consuming, since a lot of the words you encounter will be new. A great way to make looking up words easier, is by using Lingro. First, find an article on the web in your language of choice, then paste the link into the slot on Lingro to make all words clickable. This will enable you to read the article without having to open another window, or even worse: an actual dictionary. The definition for the word will pop up right on the same screen. It makes practicing a lot easier.

A Great Portuguese Site!

This site contains both European and Brazilian Portuguese instruction. It also has a little bit about culture, grammar and some words and phrases. One great thing about the site, is that it teaches you how to read words, by teaching you rules of stress and accents.

Learn Portuguese With Rafa

Mi Vida Loca

BBC's Mi Vida Loca is an interactive program that teaches you Spanish. The story comes to life and you are a part of it. You get to Madrid and are going to stay at a friend's house, while she is away, but instead of finding an empty house, you meet Merche, the owner's sister. Although at first you're off to a rocky start, she welcomes you and invites you out for food and show's you around. This game is very fun and the storyline is addicting. The camera is in first person point of view, so it's almost as if you're strolling along the streets of Madrid. The sights are amazing and as you walk along the streets, you learn a little bit about Spain's history, geography and culture. You have a language book with you, which contains a guide who teaches you grammar and the meanings of different phrases. At the end of the course, there is also a test to take to show how much you have learned. You learn greetings, how to buy metro tickets, food, and clothes and even how to ask for directions. This program can teach you how to survive in Spain without boring recitation or bookwork and the best part is that it's free. Check it out at http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/mividaloca/

Learning Portuguese for Spanish Speakers

Here is a great page for converting Spanish to Portuguese: http://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/rules.html

I have also found reading in Portuguese to be be very easy, since I already know Spanish. I came across a very old book at the library entitled An Invitation To Portuguese, by Margarita Madrigal. This book was extremely easy to read, and also very helpful. It had themed chapters that taught you vocabulary words that were easily recognizable either by the context and/or from knowing Spanish. It also included grammar help and a short story at the end of the book. If you know other romance languages and you want to learn another language in that family, finding a book of this type will be very helpful, since you'll be able to understand a lot from the beginning, and eventually understand the patterns of the language.

Learning Vocabulary

Although learning vocabulary can be quite monotonous, you can make it interesting by choosing words you want to learn and you can also make your efforts more effective by grouping words together. You can create a theme each week, such as food, clothes, politics, society, etc. This will help you to create a bank of words that you can use for certain conversation topics, and it will also help you to reinforce what you're learning, since many of the words will be similar.

Another thing to try, is to memorize words for objects around your house. Pick a room in your house and memorize the room name, and the objects in it, such as living room, TV, sofa, chair, table, etc.

You can also create a list of cognates and learn those quickly. They even have resources online, like this list of Spanish-English cognates at Latin American Links.

Learning words that are already used in English from your target language is also an easy way to pick up new words that you might not have even realized, such as these words from French: rendez-vous, fait accomli and hors d'oeuvre.

The best way to learn words is to use them, so make your efforts count by practicing with a friend. Have a conversation where you try to use the new vocabulary words you're learning. It might seem silly, at first, but that can actually work in your favor. The more exaggerated your expressions or gestures are, the more memorable the conversation will be, along with the new words in it.

Euro Portuguese TV and News Sites

http://wwitv.com/portal.htm?http://wwitv.com/television/169.htm

http://www.tvi.iol.pt/programas.html

http://ww1.rtp.pt/multimedia/index.php?=

http://thelanguagechronicle.com/portuguese-language-and-cultural-links/

http://aeiou.expresso.pt/

http://dn.sapo.pt/Inicio/

Spanish Resources (Updated)

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Spanish
http://www.smartphrase.com/Spanish/spanish.shtml
http://www.babelnation.com/spanish/
http://spanish.about.com/
http://www.123teachme.com/learn_spanish/optometrists_opticians
http://www.businessspanish.com/
http://www.languagelearninglibrary.org/spanish/index.html
http://www.spanicity.com/
http://www.spanishfree.org/practice.html
http://www.studyspanish.com/features/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/
http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/languages/es
http://www.alcor.com.au/rhyming_dictionary.asp
http://www.livemocha.com
http://www.unilang.org/
http://www.babbel.com/
http://www.digitaldialects.com/Spanish.htm
http://spanish.speak7.com/
http://webgerman.com/languages/spanish.htm

Portuguese Resources (Updated)

http://simplyput.atspace.com/portuguese/index.htm
http://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/index.html
http://www.languagelearninglibrary.org/portuguese/index.html
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Portuguese/Contents/L1
http://www.sonia-portuguese.com/index.htm
http://www.linguhouse.com/Dir/StudyRoom/EN/EN-PT/StudyEN-PT_01.html
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Portuguese/Contents
http://www.ielanguages.com/portuguese.html
http://web.mac.com/mikeharland/iWeb/dtup/godtup.html
http://www.learningportuguese.co.uk/home-page/free-online-portuguese-courses.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/portuguese/

French Resources (Updates)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_French_television_series
http://www.jump-gate.com/languages/french/
http://www.languagelearninglibrary.org/french/index.html
http://www.babelnation.com/french/
http://zapfrench.com/
http://www.french-linguistics.co.uk/
http://post.queensu.ca/~lessardg/Cours/215/
http://www.realfrench.net/index.php
http://french.about.com/
http://www.loquella.com/learn-french/
http://learnfrench.elanguageschool.net/mod/resource/index.php?id=4
http://fog.ccsf.cc.ca.us/~creitan/grammar.htm
http://www.abroadlanguages.com/al/la/french.asp
http://www.allever.com/life/academia/2006/08/10/how-to-learn-french-online-fast-easy-free/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/french/index.shtml
http://speak7.com/
http://www.unilang.org/
http://www.linguanaut.com/index.htm
http://www.languageguide.org/
http://www.digitaldialects.com/
http://www.babbel.com/
http://www.cites.tv/citesdumonde/destinations.php?idDest=3

Italian Resources

http://zapitalian.com/
http://www.italian-flashcards.com/
http://www.livemocha.com/learn-italian
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/italian/
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Italian/Lessons
http://italian.speak7.com/
http://www.babelnation.com/italian/
http://www.101languages.net/italian/
http://www.abruzzo2000.com/course/index.html
http://www.languagelearninglibrary.org/italian/index.html
www.byki.com
http://www.learnandspeakitalian.com/learn-italian-online.html
http://www.italianforyou.it/
http://italian.about.com/
http://webgerman.com/languages/italian.htm
http://www.ielanguages.com/italian.html

European Portuguese Resources

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/portuguese/
http://www.ielanguages.com/portuguese.html
http://web.mac.com/mikeharland/iWeb/dtup/godtup.html
http://www.learningportuguese.co.uk/home-page/free-online-portuguese-courses.html
http://www.portuguese-flashcards.com/
http://www.livemocha.com/learn-portuguese-portugal
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Portuguese/Contents/L1
http://www.linguhouse.com/Dir/StudyRoom/EN/EN-PT/StudyEN-PT_01.html

Memory Techniques

Memory is very important in language learning, so I've compiled some techniques to help improve memory.

Drinking one eight ounce glass of concord grape juice a day improves memory by 20%.

Moving your eyes from side to side for 30 seconds each morning improves memory by 10%.

Playing sudoku, doing crosswords or other games help to stimulate the brain. You can find a few free games specialized to help with memory at Lumosity, but if you want access to the entire site, you have to pay to sign up.

Having an active social life, as well as doing aerobics and taking small naps throughout the day have also been proven to increase memory.

Use bright, positive, pleasant images to remember things, rather than drab ones. If you can put some humor to the scenes, it will help even more.

Using codes is also suggested for taking notes. Writing codes using partial words, pictures and symbols is a lot more effective than writing out whole words.

Relating new information to information that you already know is also helpful.

Vocabulary Learning Techniques IV

This method requires either some sort of smart alarm or an assistant. You can learn up to 50 words at a time using this method. You begin by recording a list of words in the target language with the translation. Before going to sleep, read the list of words out loud, then listen to the recording twice making sure to repeat the words aloud. Afterward, go to sleep. Once you have fallen asleep, either set an alarm to play the recordings or have someone do it for you. The recording should play over and over for 40 minutes, and the alarm or your assistant should gradually lower the volume until turning it off. This process should be repeated 30 minutes before you are supposed to wake up, although this time, the volume should gradually get higher, reaching a high enough volume to wake you up at the end of 30 minutes. Listen to the rest of the recording before getting out of bed. You should have memorized the words by then.

Another good method is to label the furniture and things in your house. Making the flashcards in the first place, will help begin the learning process, but each time you see the labels, the words will be reinforced. Then when you see unlabeled items in other rooms or in other people's house, you will remember the words again.

Vocabulary Learning Techniques III

One way to memorize new words is to group them using the environment technique. You can do this by memorizing the word for bakery. You visualize the entire bakery, so you also learn the words for baker, bread, butter, flour, oven and anything else you might find there. You picture each item in the bakery as you say the words to yourself aloud or in your head.

Another good way to learn new words is by reading bilingual books, which contain one page in the target language and the opposite page in your foreign language. This will make reading much easier, since you won't need a dictionary.

A great technique is to learn the hundred strong words of the language. These words will be different depending on the language, but the theory is that every language has a hundred strong words that cover over 50% of the words used in conversation. Learning these words will make conversation a lot easier.

Vocabulary Learning Techniques II

If you learn better by a hands on approach, one technique is to experience the word you are trying to learn. For example if you are learning the word for 'cake' in Spanish, which is 'pastel', you might want to make a cake, buy a cake or see one, say the word out loud and cut it and even say the word out loud before you eat some.

Another way to learn, is to transfer the words to your subconscious. Before you go to bed, make a list of 20 words. As with all memorizing efforts, focus on memorizing the words for good. Right before you are going to go to sleep, read the first word and translation aloud, while imagining what it looks like in your mind. Then read it again in a whisper, while doing the same thing, then whisper it again with your eyes closed. Rest for 15 seconds before going on to the next word.

Another technique, although it's kind of tedious, is by making and using flashcards. By making each card, you are already learning the words. It is often better to put a picture instead of the word in your native tongue, that way you will remain immersed in the language. You can also find flashcards online at Flashcard Exchange