Author: Smarter Language
Quizlet is a popular flashcards app that enables learners to create custom decks for memorizing vocabulary. It doesn’t have a spaced repetition system like other popular flashcard apps, but its sleek interface, mass-upload functionality and fun activities make Quizlet the perfect choice for learners seeking a seamless and easy-to-use vocab memorization tool. What is Quizlet? Quizlet is a flashcard app that enables users to create custom decks for studying foreign languages and other topics. Decks can be made public and shared with other learners, meaning you can search for and study pre-built decks created by other users. You can import…
Off to parts unknown? Traveling to a country where you don’t speak any of the language can seem rather daunting, but learning a bit of the language beforehand can make a world of difference. You don’t need to be at all fluent in order to get by – often just a few words is enough to make a connection with locals and improve your experience. In this article we’ll cover three apps you can use as a foreign language crash course in the weeks or days leading up to your overseas trip. Learning a few phrases makes a world of…
Rosetta Stone is one of the most well-known brands in the language learning world with millions of licenses sold since its initial release in 1992. Rosetta Stone’s entirely immersive environment teaches learners to speak foreign languages through the use of vibrant imagery, native-speaker audio and voice-recognition activities. In this article we highlight three Rosetta Stone “Units” that are specifically designed to teach users travel-related words and phrases. What is Rosetta Stone? Rosetta Stone (our full review here), once known for its big yellow boxes sold in bookstores and airports, is now available as a browser application as well as smartphone…
We all know language learning takes time and effort – but what’s the quickest, most effective way to learn a language? How are we supposed to figure out what apps to use and how much to study? How can we possibly sort through the myriad blogs, books and channels? Our lives are already busy and we’re all inundated with information – a lot of us simply don’t have a ton of extra time to figure out what really works. If you have one hour to study every day, how should you spend it? In this article we will give you…
Preply is a Ukraine-based e-learning platform that connects students and tutors from around the world for 1-1 lessons via video call. As of 2021, Preply had more than 140,000 registered tutors from 203 different countries. Users can choose from a wide range of skills to study, such as JavaScript or Email Marketing, but the platform is most popular for its language tutors. Preply offers thousands of high quality tutors for dozens of languages, including less commonly studied languages like Dutch or Hebrew. Preply makes it easy to find a tutor, book a lesson and begin learning a new skill from…
FluentU helps learners study foreign languages through videos and click-to-translate subtitles. FluentU differentiates itself from standard language learning apps through its use of real world content. The majority of the videos come from YouTube – cooking videos, product ads, movie trailers or music videos. If you click on any of the words in the subtitles you’ll see an English translation, plus images and example sentences. You can add any of the words you encounter into flashcard decks and then review them later on. The app isn’t designed to teach you grammar and there are no actual “lessons” like you might…
Innovative Language, the creators of the LanguagePod101 products (i.e. SpanishPod101, FrenchPod101, etc.), offer dialogue-based learning resources for 34 world languages. Lessons focus on helping users learn everyday vocabulary by listening to conversations between native speakers. Each lesson introduces a new text or dialogue and the “hosts” walk through it line by line to explain the grammar, help train your pronunciation and introduce useful cultural tips. Learning some Dutch restaurant vocabulary on DutchPod101. Innovative Language products have study material for all levels, whether you’re looking for travel phrases before an overseas trip or seeking immersive practice material as an intermediate or…
How good are you at your target language? Are you fluent? Can you hold basic conversations but understand better than you speak or are you so fluent that a native speaker could hardly tell? When we hear the word “fluent,” we tend to picture complete mastery in the given language; someone who can hold their own in any given scenario. The reality is much different. Language fluency comes in many forms and it’s not always easy to gauge proficiency. For example, a language learner could be conversationally fluent, meaning they’re able to speak and understand when traveling around in a…
One of the hardest parts of learning a second language is studying consistently over time. Every language learner is familiar with the dreadful feeling of realizing, “Oh no, it’s been three weeks since the last time I studied! How am I ever going to actually learn this language?” When life gets in the way and things come up, it’s easy to put language learning on the backburner. But language learning takes time and dedication; there’s no such thing as a “fluent in two weeks” shortcut. You have to study regularly – ideally every day – for a long period of…
Learning a new language involves much more than just grammar rules and verb conjugation. We need to learn lots and lots of vocabulary to become proficient in a foreign language. If our goal is “regular interaction with native speakers… without strain for either party,” described as B2-level proficiency on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), we’ll need to learn somewhere around 4,000 words. Click above to read more about the CEFR. Building a vocab base of 4,000 words doesn’t happen overnight though. Our brains can only learn so many new things at once and our memories quickly…