Mango Languages: Pirate Day

For all you nerds out there, Mango Languages is the place to perfect your Pirate :) Less importantly, if you find you really like the methods for language teaching you can get an account and pay to learn other various other, less fun languages.

Innovative Language Learning

If you've ever come across a site called something like GermanPod, ItalianPod, or ChinesePod, you've witnessed an Innovative Language Learning product. The sites are series of podcasts that teach a large number of languages. I'd recommend them for someone who doesn't have a lot of time to learn, cause you can listen to the lessons anywhere you want.

Learn Chinese Online

I don't think the Learn Chinese Online site is quite as magical as its creator intended it to be, but it's still a really good site. It has good audio, and doesn't stress you out early on with tones and pronunciation. Every word introduced has an accompanying audio. Also, you can learn both Mandarin and Cantonese on the same site. It's quite useful :)

Effective Language Learning

Effective Language Learning is a good website for learning Chinese, French, German, Italian, and Spanish.

busuu

busuu.com is a really good site for learning just about any language you can think of. One thing I like about it is that when each new word or phrase is introduced, it's used in context, so you can pick up even more vocabulary. If you really like it, you can pay for a premium membership and get access to even more content, but you still get really good lessons without paying. If you're trying to learn any language, try this site out.

Lingi

Lingi is an online dictionary that translates Spanish, French, Portuguese, German, Italian, Dutch, Swedish into English.

dict.cc

dict.cc is one of the best online German dictionaries I've managed to find.

ieLanguages

ieLanguages (or Indo-European Languages) is a very good site if you're looking to learn French. However, even if you're not learning French, it has some very good grammar explanations, pronunciation guides, and basic phrases for lots of other Indo-European  languages, as well as a couple non-Indo-European languages. It's a very good place to start.

Italianize Yourself

Italianize Yourself is a very effective Italian course. It is particularily enchanting in that your main teachers are various cats that have conversations with each other :)

Simply Put Portuguese

This probably isn't the site to make you fluent in Portugese, but Simply Put Portuguese is very good for understanding grammar concepts such as masculine and feminine and different verb forms. It's a very good site for beginners.

French Language Course

While not the site that's gonna help you reach fluency, this French Language Course is definitely good for helping you decode the basics of French grammar and picking up some beginners vocab.

Mansion Spanish

Despite the fact that it's one of the most common languages in the world, the good sites for learning Spanish online are few and far between. One of the few I've been able to find is Mansion Spanish. This course offers easy to follow lessons that offer new vocabulary in a variety of forms, so you're bound to pick it up somehow ;)

Languages 4 Free

Languages 4 Free has a limited number of languages, but the courses it offers are fairly good. The grammar explanations are in depth, and there are videos, audios, and quizzes to go along with each lesson.

iLove Languages

iLove Languages is another website that has lists of resources for different languages. If there's a language, you'll find it here.

The Japanese Page

Japanese Page is one of the best sites for learning Japanese that I've found. The explanations of Hiragana and Katakana (the Japanese script systems) are very clear and easy to understand. I also like the way each lesson is very short and to the point, so you can pick up a lot of things in just a small amount of time. I'd definitely recommend using this site, especially for learning script :)

Chinese-Tools.com

Chinese-Tools is one of the few good sites for Chinese that I've been able to find. The site is somewhat cluttered with ads, but the lessons are clear and easy to understand. They all have helpful audios and step-by-step calligraphy lessons. In addition, the homepage has a nice character of the day feature.

Korlink (App)

The Korlink app goes along with the Talk To Me In Korean podcasts (see my post on Talk To Me In Korean). In has all the audio lessons and pdfs that are available on the website, and is really helpful for when you want to listen to one of the lessons when you're traveling.

Learn Korean Language



 Learn Korean Language is a very intelligently written site. It's very good for learning Hangul, and the grammar explanations are very long and thorough. While perhaps not the site that'll get you to reach fluency, it's a very good place to start when you know absolutely nothing about Korean.

The Korean Alphabet

This site is really good if you're just starting out learning Hangul, the Korean alphabet. I find the tone of the person who wrote the lessons to be very cheerful. It makes the learning really fun and simple.

Freelang Dictionary

Freelang Dictionary is a pretty basic site. You can download an English-to-_____ dictionary for just about any language you can imagine. The dictionary can then be opened any time you want it, even without internet. I won't say it's fun to use, but it's undoubtedly accurate. It gets the job done.

Korean Course

Korean Course is one of my favorite Korean learning sites. Every lesson starts with a dialogue, then a break-down of what was said, and finally a thorough grammar explanation. In addition it has an easy-access phrasebook and a handy-dandy verb conjugator, for when you forget those pesky conjugations.The explanation of the alphabet is a bit lacking (the romanizations aren't great) but if you can learn Hangul elsewhere, this site can be a big help.

Sogang Korean Program

Sogang Korean Program is Korean course offered online by the Korean Language Education Center. It has clear, organized lessons that make you feel as if you're taking an actual college or high school level class. The explanations of each lesson aren't extremely extensive, but if you're fairly clever you'll catch on quickly. There is also lots of review after each lesson. If you can ignore the fact that the characters you learn from are named Anna and Sanchez, you should be able to pick up Korean very quickly from their dialogues.

Learn-Korean.net

This isn't a site I would recommend as your main language learning site. However, if you can get around its obtrusive ads and a sort of lack of organization, you can actually get a ton of grammar knowledge for each lesson on Learn-Korean. The information is scattered and sometimes won't be in a very logical order, but you'll find that you learn quite a lot.

Learn Korean Now

I wouldn't normally recommend a site that you have to pay for, but I tried the free trial at Learn Korean Now  and it appears to be a very good website. Every lesson has a vocabulary list at the end, and every word has an audio so you can hear the pronounciation. If you're willing to spend money, this website should be one of your first choices.

Talk To Me In Korean (TTMIK)

Talk To Me In Korean is probably my favorite site for learning Korean. It's made up of a series of audio lessons (also available in podcast form) that each have an accompanying pdf. The lessons are very easy to understand and are fun to listen to. TTMIK also has a youtube channel that regularly releases review videos. In addition, on the website there are some very simple videos for learning Hangul, the Korean alphabet. I highly, highly recommend this site! :)

Word2Word

Word2Word is a good place to start when looking for good courses and classes for any language. It has a very extensive list, and elsewhere in the website there are other things like dictionaries and translation resources.

Livemocha

Livemocha is a language-learning site that offers courses for a variety of different languages. The upside is that it offers a ton of practice and criticism from actual speakers of the language, so you know what you're doing wrong. The downside is that there is no differentiation between different languages, so things specific to that language are not very well taught. For example, livemocha doesn't really go into the writing systems of different Asian languages. There also isn't really anywhere that teaches grammar.

So, although livemocha probably shouldn't be your main language-learning tool, it's still really good for practicing your language with native speakers and getting criticism from people who know what they're talking about.

Unilang

Unilang is a really good website for just about any language you want to learn. It has a very extensive list of resources that you don't need to be a member to have access to. If you do choose to become a member, the site also has forums and chatrooms.