credit: sanja gjenero
Inexpensive hobbies are awesome. They help us make good use of our time and provide cheap entertainment. I personally love to travel. Love it. When I was still single I backpacked in foreign countries, staying at hostels and hitchhiking. Now that I have a family, travel is a bit more expensive so I don’t get to do it very often (though extensive travel is part of long term financial goals).
So enter the hobby of learning new languages. One thing I wish I had when I was younger was a rudimentary understanding of the language of the places I visited. I’m making up for lost time. There are tons of free online language sources available, many of them quite good. I am working on Japanese right now, but the following sources have tools for a large range of languages. Even my nine year old son is having fun with some of these.
Livemocha:
Livemocha is very similar to Rosetta Stone in its methodology. It is far and away my favorite resource! It uses pictures, audio and writing exercises to help you absorb the lesson. Setting up an account is free, and both the 101 and 201 levels are also free (beginner and intermediate). Your work is graded by a native speaker, and you grade work for those learning English or another language you are fluent in. There are some paid services also on the site, but they are not necessary.
Smart FM:
Smart FM is an application based site. It isn’t limited to just languages—you can learn geography, run math drills, or anything else you want to learn. You set goals on the site and choose which applications you want to use to reach the goals. Not all the applications are great, but a good many of them are highly useful and it is free to use.
Lang-8:
Lang-8 is for when you are ready to start putting into practice what you have learned. Lang-8 helps you find a native speaker to practice with, then provides a safe platform for your communication with them. I prefer Lang-8 to other penpal style sites, as it weeds out the creepy types and the scammers, staying on task as a language-learning site.
(This is not an affiliate post.)
Share your experience with these language sites or tell us some of your favorite free resources for language learning in the comments!
Hi! My name is Jenny. My husband and I started our life together broke. We had no assets, no cash, two kids, and barely earned $16,000 a year. This was in 2003. Over the last seven years we have paid off all our debts, saved money, purchased a home and done all of this using what I call the ‘Turnip Principal.’ My goal is to help you to realize your dreams too!
