LingQ is an extremely useful and efficient language learning system created by Steve Kaufmann. The site has both free and premium paid content, and currently boasts tools for 10 languages: Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Swedish (which also happen to be the languages Steve speaks.) Korean is coming soon…
The beauty of LingQ is that when you save vocabulary items using the “LingQ” button, these words will appear highlighted in yellow in all future texts you study. You have the choice of adding your own hint for each word or copying/pasting from the integrated multilingual dictionaries.
There are heaps of lessons covering the entire spectrum of abilities and interests, and you can even import your own audio or text content. For example, I recently imported an e-mail I received in Chinese and then had a Taiwanese friend record the audio. Voila; instant content that is interesting, relevant and perfectly tailored to my learning needs. And of course, vocabulary within your uploaded content can be “LingQed” as discussed above!
Take Action
- Set up a free account at LingQ.
- Choose some lessons in the language or languages you are interested in.
- Read and listen to each lesson multiple times adding LingQs to unfamiliar vocabulary
- Download the audio to your iPod from the site (right click on “download”) or via podcast (you can subscribe to the various LingQ podcasts in iTunes here.)
- Upload your own materials and add LingQs.
- Sign up for a tutor once you are ready to begin speaking.