Language Bubble

First in the series of looking at study materials is going to be LingQ.

LingQ is the brainchild of Steve Kaufmann (who you can find on my Blogroll over there <—- …and down a bit). Steve speaks a number of languages very well and the site is very much a mirror of his own preferred learning style, by self-admission.

In short, if you can’t be bothered reading what I say about LingQ… visit, sign-up (it’s free), and try it out. It’s not going to be a waste of time… so enjoy the offerings in English, Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, German, Swedish, Russian, Chinese and Japanese… and soon to come it looks like Korean.

In long, I’ll say a bit more but I should start with a disclaimer saying that I don’t use LingQ to it’s full potential. I only use a few features of the site as I have my own learning style that works for me, and if it ain’t broke as they say. Anyway, I’m happy to use LingQ as a supplement to my own methods.

Let’s start with the bad…

• I find LingQ a little slow at times; probably due to the high user number.
• I find LingQ a little cumbersome to navigate and use at times, but that’s probably due to my familiarity with the system.
• It’s online, so website downtime can mean learning downtime (although many things are available offline if you download them). Plus I’ve never seen LingQ down.
• A server crash could kill your learning database….. so could a harddrive crash at home…. or a small fire

Now, let’s get on with the serious stuff. What is at LingQ… umm, what is at LingQ that I use:

• Texts, lots of multi-levelled, good quality texts.
• Audio, lots of multi-levelled, good quality audio.
• Confidence building graphs that tell you how much you have read, listened, etc.

There are also a few other things at LingQ that I don’t make use of, such as:

• A form of flashcard system (the cards are called LingQs I believe… I could be wrong) - I prefer Anki as I can take it anywhere and it’s what I’m used to using.
• Tutoring service where you can speak with natives of your target language and receive a report detailing corrections – I use Skype conversations and if I want my speaking corrected I record the conversation to go over with a tutor or language exchange later.
• Have your writing corrected with a report – I use other sites such as Lang-8 for this.

I’ve probably missed a few things, but like I say, I only use LingQ for a few features; it’s a supplement to my learning, not my entire learning. And as an added note, I will say that LingQ doesn’t just have elements for the independent learner, but how about language teachers utilising LingQ in their CALL classes? Personally, if I had classes where CALL was a possible element, LingQ would be something I would introduce to my students to develop their autonomous learning skills. Giving them the freedom to build on their language in ways that interest them will equip them more readily to take the iniative outside of the classroom.

But anyway, to go over the things I use at LingQ, let’s take a look at the major two in my opinion… Texts and Audio.

LingQ has a well-developed database of constructed dialogues through to authentic texts that are divided by level. When you first begin it’s likely that the entire text will be blue but that changed pretty fast. Blue signifies a new word to you on the LingQ database. Once you confirm that you know a word it looks normal (i.e. no colour). There is a hovering dictionary of sorts to help you understand the passage, which is why I don’t download the text. However, you do have the option of downloading the text for use at home but I find I prefer to use it while logged in to LingQ as I can use the dictionary and also adjust my learning log to reflect how many times I have read and listened to the passage. Each of these passages has audio associated with them free for download which is fantastic. Reading along and listening simultaneously is one of the best ways to improve your language skills… particularly if you enjoy learning via copious quantities of input. Free Voluntary Reading is one of the principles here at play at LingQ and this is coupled with the learning log that helps to build your confidence as it constantly shows your progress.

I have to be honest, I don’t particularly enjoy reading but I understand the benefits of reading and as a result, try to read at least something daily in my target languages. It wasn’t until I started using LingQ though that I could see how much reading I do. Now, I don’t read much and I’m only using LingQ to help with my French and Japanese, but in seeing that through reading a passage a few times I have read some 2000 words in French, it’s pretty uplifting. You feel like you have accomplished something. Prior to this I used to count books… and it’s pretty depressing when you skip a few days and you’re still in the same book. But to see your total climbing by the word is a fine example of keeping your motivation high.

It should be obvious that I haven’t gone into too much detail here, but the premise is the same as many language program (Assimil, Linguaphone, etc) and also the same as using Audiobooks. Listen, read, listen, understand, listen, repeat/shadow. Don’t aim for perfection, just move on when you have a good understanding and you’ll constantly be seeing and hearing new material. And as a sidenote, I will personally enjoy looking at the Korean material once it’s available as Korean materials of an advanced nature are pretty hard to come by (I have been searching for audiobooks of major works for years with little success!).

In any case, I’d suggest giving LingQ a go. It must be said that it’s nothing new in the sense that virtually everything available at LingQ is available elsewhere, but it is a serious learning tool at your disposal and it’s obviously very convenient to have constantly new material for multiple languages all in the one place.