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A Hidden Gem for Language Lovers and Learners

This article presents a unique approach for intermediate to advanced (and beyond) learners of many languages to gain exposure to interesting material in their target language(s). It has to do with a very popular website that features short (usually less than ten minutes) presentations by some of the world's greatest and most famous minds (not always both ;) on their specific areas of expertise. It's called, simply, TED, and the presentations are called "TED Talks".

The TED website itself is not geared towards language learners or educators yet is useful for both. It is especially useful for English learners, as all the talks are in English. But it's also useful for anyone learning most of the world's most-spoken languages (as well as numerous lesser-spoken ones) who want to simultaneously watch inspiring, funny, courageous, fascinating, informative, persuasive, ingenious and often jaw-dropping presentations about technology, science, entertainment, design, business and global issues - all while gaining exposure to their target language. Here's how and why...

Language Learning Tips on Using Free Wikimedia Resources

This article points out six useful ways to use Wikimedia content from Wikipedia, Wikibooks, Wikiversity, Wikinews, Wiktionary and Wikiquotes for learning languages free.

What's highlighted here is also great for teachers because it is licensed via Creative Commons and available to use for free.

Spanish is used as an example here, but the same ideas are applicable to all languages for which content is available.

1) Know General Info about Your Target Language

Find out general information about a language by viewing that language's Wikipedia entry. For example, here's the Spanish language entry on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_language

It contains loads of general information, as well as specifics about grammar, alphabet, pronunciation, etc.

2) Use Wikibooks and Wikiversity Courses to Get Started

Free Multilingual Dictionary and Word-Related Apps

TheFreeDictionary.com is a great free dictionary available in over a dozen languages.

The English dictionaries are exceptionally broad-reaching and include Financial and Legal dictionaries.

Also of use to the language learner are their website features, including drag-and-drop rearranging of the interface and double-clicking of any word on the site to see its definition. Word of the day, news, quotations, horoscopes, daily articles and history tidbits provide a flow of updated content to work with.

Also available are word games and the ability to track a personal vocabulary list.

If you are language mobile, they maintain numerous dictionary and word-related apps.

Daily Front Pages from 89 Countries

Thanks to Newseum.org, you can catch a glimpse of today's front page from hundreds of the world's newspapers - in nearly two dozen languages - for free. A great way to gain exposure to news in a language you are learning, the website and iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch app created by Newseum.org are truly outstanding.

Browse the website or use the app to immediately gain access to the front page of hundreds of newspapers around the world, complete with a downloadable, readable PDF version. This is quite useful for language instruction based on lessons from today's world news.