Hello and welcome to Website Wednesday; that day of the week where I tell you about a rather nifty website for learning languages, and why it is that I like it.
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| EGADS flags do not look like flags when tiled. Pretend it's abstract art instead. Sorry to those nations. (Also, is "Frugally" a word? I'm not sure.) |
Have you ever wanted to learn another language? Are you of the economical temperament which dictates that spending money hurts you more than your wallet? (Like me on occasion.) If so, then boy do I have the website for you! (Provided the language you want to learn is Spanish, French, Portuguese, German, or Italian... Please don't hit me.)
A few days ago, Quill18, one of the YouTube commentators that I mentioned here, tweeted a link to a website called "Duolingo". Said website, as I have come to realize over 2 days of use, is pretty awesome. Completely free to use, Duolingo allows you to learn from the languages I mentioned above, with the chance of expanding it's selection I expect, in what I have found to be a rather effective way.
Using a well thought out system of gradual introduction to words and concepts in a new language, I've gone from being the tastelessly uni-lingual person that I am, (bearing in mind that I struggle with even Afrikaans, a language I learned at school for years), to a tastelessly uni-lingual person that knows a fair bit more about the grammar and words of French. (Doesn't sound like much of an improvement yes, but to be fair, it's only been two days.)
The system is, to my experience, rather effective so far, and has taught me a fair few couple of the syntax rules in French; from the feminine and masculine versions of words such as le and la, as well as they times for their use; to the changes in word use that come about when speaking of plural nouns such as the changing of le and la to les, or the addition of an s to "some" words in this case. I'd say for 2 days of using the site, that's not bad.
Why am I learning French though? I actually really quite like languages and their historical roots. A fascination which would have me learn languages ranging from Gaelic to Russian if I can, simply because of my linguistic interest in languages such as those, and many more. You may have noticed that I frequently say farewell or goodbye my friends at the end of my blog posts in a variety of languages.
So if you are perhaps itching to add another language to your resume, or simply wish to expand your horizons, (to use a cliched term.), I would highly suggest heading over to Duolingo and checking them out. The best part: They are completely free. Perfect for the economically minded like myself.
In any case, please consider leaving a comment if you found this interesting, or have another website which is handy for the frugal to learn languages. Perhaps even consider sharing this if you have a friend who would like to learn a new language. Better yet, maybe even follow me on Twitter and/or like my Facebook page if you would like to see more OddballGreg madness and/or interesting dialogue (using the associated button on the bar to your right.) Regardless of what you do, I hope you have/had an AWESOME day, and I will see you tomorrow.
Au revoir mes amis.
