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French

DLI Courses Mini-Review: Free With a Strong Focus on Pronunciation

DLI Courses

Rating 4.3
Price:

$ 0.00

Summary

The DLI and FSI language courses are still some of the most comprehensive resources for language learning today, and probably the most comprehensive free resources you will find.  Although the DLI and FSI courses are comparable in quality, DLI courses focus more on military terminology in the later lessons, while FSI courses focus on everyday communication and communication for diplomats. Another key difference between them is that the DLI courses may go into more depth, and also seem to provide a more comprehensive guide to the study of each language; the FSI courses either have briefer explanations or dive straight into the content. Both of them have outdated content, which is understandable considering that they were developed in the mid-1900s and have scarcely been updated since then. Often the DLI courses outline clear practice strategies to reproduce your target language’s sounds. Also, depending on the language, literal translations are sometimes used so that you get accustomed to each language’s grammar structure. All the PDFs and audio files are available for download on various sites, although Live Lingua has made navigating between the material quite intuitive. If you can’t find your desired language in the DLI courses, check out the FSI courses for different options.

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iTranslate Mini-Review: 5 Apps To Support Communication

itranslate

Rating 4.0
Price:

$ 0.00

Summary

iTranslate is a dictionary, thesaurus, and phrasebook. At first glance, it seems similar to Google Translate’s free app, but a couple of extra paid features make a big difference. Like with Google Translate, you can take pictures of text in your surroundings, such as signs or newspapers, and receive instant translations into your native language. It differs in that you can also take pictures of objects in your surroundings and receive translations into your target language (although it’s not clear what the boundaries are on this function). Two people who don’t speak the same language can use iTranslate Converse as a mediator between them, translating each sentence to create a transcript on their phone (with a slight delay). You can also use the iTranslate Keyboard in any texting app to receive instant translations. To get the most out of your subscription, iTranslate includes five different apps that can support language learning and communication through text, voice, and games. Although iTranslate translates into over 100 languages, check the website to verify which languages are supported in the other apps. iTranslate seems suitable for traveling and communication in different languages. If all you need is a dictionary to support your studies, try WordReference and Linguee, or Pleco for Chinese and SpanishDict for Spanish.

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Strokes International Mini Review: Pricy but Comprehensive

Strokes International

Rating 3.0
Price:

53.00 CHF

Summary

Strokes International sells courses for 24 different languages. They’re more focused on European languages, from the popular German, Spanish, and French through to Slovakian, Czech, and Danish. They do have a couple of non-European ones, though, such as Arabic, Chinese, and Japanese. Using a Strokes International course feels a bit like going back in time. You have to download the program onto your computer (and we had to install additional software to run it). In the days of language apps and on-the-go learning, this seems a little inconvenient. Despite that, the course seems to be fairly effective. You listen to and repeat a natural conversation, before being slowly taught the words and phrases. You practice speaking them aloud, typing them, and playing Match Pairs card games. Although grammar takes a back seat, there are explanatory notes throughout and you can access a detailed grammar guide. There’s also a Pronunciation Trainer and Vocabulary Trainer. The Danish beginner course, which we briefly trialed, has 100 lessons.

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Cooljugator Mini-Review: Conjugations For Uncommon Languages

cooljugator

Rating 4.0
Price:

$ 0.00

Summary

Cooljugator is a free online verb conjugation dictionary for over 40 languages, with special attention to languages without existing free resources. Besides conjugated forms, the website also provides examples, English translations, pronunciation hints, related verbs, and more. On each page, you can also read the translation for your chosen verb into every other language available on the site. Unfortunately, there are no audio files to help you with pronunciation, but maybe that will change in the future. You can directly search for conjugations, or if you’re looking for inspiration, every language has a list of the most common verbs to choose from. On that same page, you can read some facts and a brief overview of what verb conjugation looks like in your chosen language. Although Cooljugator is 100% free, you can purchase the creator’s other project, Interlinear Books, to learn languages through stories. If you would like to practice verb conjugations for some common languages, check out Conjuguemos, another free resource with verb conjugation games. Also, SpanishDict is probably more appropriate for Spanish learners because of the extensive resources and activities that accompany their sections on verb conjugation. 

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Simply Learn Mini-Review: Spaced Repetition Phrases For Travelers

Simply Learn

Rating 3.0
Price:

$ 9.99

Summary

In Simply Learn, by Simya Solutions, you can search for and review over 1000 phrases in over 30 categories. It takes the typical phrasebook app one step further by allowing you to add your favorite phrases to SRS flashcards. Given that its developers also developed Ling, an additional, more comprehensive resource that supports language learning, it seems that Simply Learn is a supplementary app for individuals who need to learn basic phrases for traveling abroad.  The creators don’t seem to have intended for people to use this app to learn a language in its entirety, but rather to support them in memorizing basic phrases for travel. As with Simya Solutions’ other apps, Simply Learn is most helpful for less commonly learned languages, such as Hokkien and Khmer. Beginners can access the basic cards for free, but the advanced traveler will have to make a one-time purchase to access all the content. If what you truly want is to have a set of phrases under your belt, Simply Learn’s SRS flashcards and native-speaker audio can support you. However, if you are studying a less commonly learned language and want to understand the basic sentence patterns and writing system, check out Ling.

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innerFrench Mini-Review: Gain Confidence in Your Listening Skills

innerFrench

Rating 4.6
Price:

$ 0.00

Summary

In his podcasts and videos, innerFrench’s founder, Hugo, articulates clearly and speaks at a slightly slower than natural speed to ensure maximum comprehension and learning. He also speaks exclusively in French, including when he introduces new words, so that viewers can have the full immersion experience. His material addresses a variety of topics that focus on French culture and sometimes dabble in relationships and health. He films high-quality videos for intermediate learners and includes funny interactions, personal insights, and supporting videos and images. The podcasts are about half an hour long, and if you sign up for a free account, you can read the full transcription on his website. Hugo’s online course, Build a Strong Core, will help you overcome the intermediate plateau with a detailed roadmap of daily lessons. Every lesson of the 30-day series contains a series of activities that highlight specific skills. You will listen to stories, address common grammar mistakes, and learn to differentiate between formal and informal French. Hugo designed the course to bring you closer to the advanced (B2) level, so you will find that it goes more in-depth than the free content. If you are at a B1/B2 level, you can also check out the Raconte Ton Histoire course, which will train you to tell your own story. There are interviews with French speakers conversing at a natural speed, with quizzes and exercises to help you answer the same questions posed in the interviews.

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BonPatron Mini-Review: Explanations With Error Identification

Bon Patron

Rating 3.5
Price:

$0.00

Summary

BonPatron is a free spelling and grammar checking site for French learners, but it is also suitable for native French speakers. BonPatron’s developers target errors made by FSL learners — when the site detects an error, you will receive an explanation for how to improve it. You are encouraged to use the site at each stage of the writing process because when you correct one error, the program may identify new ones. The three categories of errors fall under misspelled words, structures to be verified, and structures to be corrected. The rules for error identification are created by patterns found in user submissions — so, if you are the first user to ever make a specific error, BonPatron may not be able to identify it unless it is based on a grammar rule that usually causes problems for English speakers. Feel free to make suggestions so that the developers can improve the program! The free version allows you to check 3000 characters at a time. There is also a premium version that offers additional features, such as a verb conjugator, a summary of errors, and interactive grammar exercises for your errors. Compared with Reverso, BonPatron does a better job of correcting general mistakes, such as capitalization or inappropriate commas. It also does a better job of catching errors related to inappropriate accordance of genders or numbers from “The House of Être” verbs. 

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Easy Languages Mini-Review: Interviews Around The Globe

Easy Languages

Rating 4.3
Price:

$ 0.00

Summary

Easy Languages gets people involved from all around the globe —from Brazil to Mongolia — to film authentic interviews about everyday life with locals on the street. A typical episode format starts with the interviewer (or interviewers) introducing the topic and location for the day. Then, they will approach various locals to ask their opinion or test their knowledge. Only a handful of languages, like Hindi, and Swahili, don’t follow this format — these are also typically the languages with fewer videos. Easy Languages invites co-producers to join their channel, which means that anyone can apply to create videos, as long as they are filmed according to the Easy Languages guidelines. These co-producers receive multimedia training if they don’t already have experience in the field, so the videos typically have a baseline quality standard (although sometimes the filming can be a bit shaky). Most of the interviewers have a bubbly personality, and some of them appear in multiple language interviews within Easy Languages. Overall, the interviews are enjoyable and will train your ear to understand a range of voices and accents. Also, for anyone who uses Seedlang for German, you’ll be pleasantly surprised to see Cari’s friendly face in the Easy German episodes!  

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Reverso Translation Mini-Review: Best for French learners

Reverso Translation

Rating 3.8
Price:

$ 0.00

Summary

Reverso is a translation and spell check app. Its features primarily target French and English learners, although it also translates into a handful of other languages. Compared with BonPatron, Reverso’s spell-check function (available only for French and English) is less attuned to general mistakes, such as capitalization or inappropriate commas. Reverso only catches some of the errors related to inappropriate accordance of genders or numbers from “The House of Être” verbs. Nevertheless, it does a decent job of catching obvious mistakes, and it will provide you with synonyms to enrich your writing. You are encouraged to use the spell check function at each stage of the writing process because when you correct one error, the program may identify new ones. The free version allows you to check 1200 characters at a time, and upgrading to a premium version will allow you to check unlimited characters. The Reverso Contexto dictionary is an excellent resource for most of the available languages. While Linguee takes examples from relatively formal sources, Reverso Contexto provides example sentences professionally translated from movies, dialogues, official documents, websites, and newspapers.  Other resources include Reverso’s dictionary (which is usually from Collin’s) a verb conjugator, French and English grammar articles, a thesaurus, and a document translator.

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Wandering French Mini-Review: Learn Québécois French

Wandering French

Rating 4.2
Price:

Free

Summary

Wandering French follows the travels of Hélène, a Québécois French teacher of over 20 years. Her goal is to provide interesting material that can help French learners improve their listening comprehension. Hélène makes sure that the videos are not difficult to understand, but will still provide educational and authentic content for intermediate learners. As she travels a lot, many of her videos introduce topics specific to different countries or cities, such as the boulevard Saint-Laurent in Montreal, ice cream in Syria, or taxi boats in Bangkok. The main episodes include a video, a transcript, a translation of each section of the video, a slow version of the transcript, and a quiz to test your comprehension. There are sometimes videos below the quiz with optional subtitles and insights into vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar (these are called the Capsules Linguistiques). Hélène also offers online classes through Skype or Google Hangouts. For anyone who wants to learn more about the Québécois accent, or who wants to improve their listening comprehension, Hélène will help you do both and take you around the world at the same time.

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