Learning languages

Learning foreign languages

There are many benefits from learning a foreign language (see https://etoninstitute.com/blog/top-10-benefits-of-learning-a-foreign-language), including of course enjoying holidays more. There are a number of ways you can learn a foreign language at no cost. One of them is to join one of our U3A language conversation groups! Details of all of our groups in on the U3A website at https://u3asites.org.uk/exmouth/groups. Our current U3A language groups include French, German, Italian and Spanish.

There are also many other ways to learn:

Library books

A very straightforward way to learn a language is to go to the local library - although of course all our libraries are currently closed because of the coronavirus precautions. When they reopen you will find that there are a number of good textbooks, many of which have an audio CD or provide access to online audio or downloadable mp3 audio files, so you can hear native speakers and also join in to practice. Libraries also offer audio courses on CDs. You can borrow books and language audio CDs for 3 weeks and then renew them if they have not been reserved by someone else. For a wider choice, call into Exeter Library. Your library card is valid everywhere in Devon, and you can return books to any Devon library.

Websites

One of the best free websites for languages remains the BBC. The BBC is not now allowed to offer new language courses, but its previous ones have been archived and cover 40 different languages. The website is http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/.

In addition, the BBC provides up-to-date free resources intended primarily for those studying for GCSE. They are known as ‘Bitesize’, and languages include French, Spanish, German and Mandarin. They are at https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/zhsvr82.

If you want more choice of online language learning, this article gives some suggestions: https://www.inc.com/larry-kim/9-places-to-learn-a-new-language-online-for-fre.html.

Apps

There are a number of apps which can be downloaded free to your tablet and/or smartphone from your usual app provider (e.g. Apple Apps or Google Play), and they are also accessible via their own websites. The most popular are Memrise and Duolingo:

• Memrise - https://www.memrise.com/
• Duolingo - https://www.duolingo.com/

This useful article compares the two: https://www.alllanguageresources.com/memrise-vs-duolingo/. There are a number of other free apps which have been recommended (although I have not yet tried them myself) – see https://uk.pcmag.com/education/116058/the-best-free-language-learning-apps-of-2019. They include:

• Bussul - https://www.busuu.com/en/app/learn-language-app
• HelloTalk - https://www.hellotalk.com/?lang=en
• Drops - https://languagedrops.com/ (time-limited access on free version)

Some of these may be a bit basic if you have studied the language before, but if you are new or want a refresher, they are good and quite good fun too. You may be able to be set them at different levels.

You can also download various apps to your tablet or smartphone from certain foreign broadcasters, e.g. France 24 (which streams a rolling news service and videos in French) – and see the section on video below.

MOOCs

If you are looking for a free structured online course, you could try a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course - see the topic of the month on MOOCs in the Previous Topics section of our Connect & Learn website). Just search for the language you are interested in via these providers’ search boxes:

• FutureLearn (UK) - https://www.futurelearn.com/
• OpenCulture - http://www.openculture.com/freelanguagelessons
• Open University (UK) - https://www.open.edu/openlearn/free-courses and https://www.open.edu/openlearn/free-courses/full-catalogue
• Coursera (USA) - https://www.coursera.org/ and https://www.coursera.org/courses.
• edX (USA) - https://www.edx.org/
• The Khan Academy (USA)- https://www.khanacademy.org/

Video

A number of foreign television channels are available to watch free (especially news channels) and can be streamed to your computer, tablet or smartphone. This enables you to sharpen your listening skills and experience the language as spoken by people in their own country. To view these, one way is to just type the language followed by ‘TV’ into a search engine such as Google and follow the links. So using French as an example, “French TV” shows the link to France 24, which is also available on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN20t84GCPE. It also shows this interesting article - https://frenchtogether.com/category/learn-french/how-to-learn-french/french-resources/ - and from it a list of French TV channels that you may be able to watch free from the UK: https://frenchtogether.com/watch-french-tv/.

Another suggestion is to access YouTube (see the YouTube topic in Previous topics) and again type in the language. So for example by typing in ‘French’ or ‘French TV’ or ‘French TV shows’, there is a huge range of videos, some of which are live streams, and some of which are free resources or courses.

Audio: radio and podcasts

Radio: You can listen to foreign radio stations streamed to your computer, tablet or smartphone, and identify them in the same way as video on Google or other search engine – typing in the country followed by ‘radio’. So again taking French as an example, RTL is a radio station that can be accessed via www.radio.net at https://www.radio.net/s/rtl and there are some further ideas in this article: https://www.fluentu.com/blog/french/listen-to-french-radio-station-to-learn-french/. If you listen to radio via other sources such as TuneIn (via the website https://tunein.com/ or via its app), again just try searching for radio in the language you are interested in.

Podcasts: If you type the language you are looking for in any audio podcast provider (e.g. Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Acast, Castbox) you will be amazed with what you can come up. Podcasts are usually available to stream if you have connection, or download to your device to listen anytime offline. So again using French as an example, here is a list of favourites: https://frenchtogether.com/french-podcast/ (and my own favourites are ‘News in Slow French’ and ‘DailyFrenchPod’).

Google Translate

Google Translate is one of the best translation apps around, and can translate instantly spoken or written words or phrases or whole sentences. Quite remarkable. This article gives more detail about it: https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/how-to-use-google-translate-app/. As well as being a free app that you can download on your tablet or smartphone, you can also use it on your computer via the Google search engine.where it is particularly good if you need to translate large pieces of text.

So what do you think?

Has this topic been useful and has this been of interest to you? Is there anything more that could be added? Any comments on these resources? What are your favourite websites, apps, courses, video and audio? Does this form of learning work for you? And do you want to compare notes and experiences with other members or share any of this with others? You can get in touch in the way shown in the Contact section of our website. And do let me know if you want to have a conversation over a tea or coffee - and of course you can always get in touch with each other!

This is also available as a PDF document (Portable Document Format), which you can download, save and store on your computer or tablet if you wish - just click or tap on the image just below here, or if you cannot see an image, try clicking or tapping on this link: Learning foreign languages