Lang1234.com
Search site (except tables):
  • Better Language Teaching
  • Reviews for Beginners
  • Best Courses in Each Language
  • Lessons
  • News

LanguageGuide

2/29/2012

0 Comments

 
Review of LANGUAGEGUIDE.org
Web, No pronunciation scores, Pictures, Free, ★★★★
This is free, with 18 European and Far Eastern languages. You hear words by clicking pictures, for example animals, or numbers from 1 to 102 (some languages have less than others). A few animals have sound effects besides the pictures. The site also covers some grammar in English, French and Spanish, and describes some of the teachers.
.
I advise beginners to start with numbers on LanguageGuide.org, for initial pronunciation. Then choose any other topics which interest you from Language Guide or Book2, Both are free. If you can afford $70, try Byki (in 72 languages), or if your US library has Pronunciator (in 47 languages), try it. Both of these listen when you speak into a headset or microphone, so they can score your pronunciation. All are rated at 5 stars.
.
Language Guide is an excellent place to start since it is visual, so you learn new words from native speakers with no distractions from your own language. They show pictures of food, technology, office items, government, geography, parts of the body, clothing, etc. You mouse over the pictures to hear each word, as often as you need to. Book2, Transparent, and Pronunciator have more words in more languages.
.
On Language Guide, you can right-click (ctrl-click on Mac) and "Save page as" in Firefox so the page with Alphabet or Numbers can be used offline (100-500 kilobytes per page). On most other pages the audio downloads but not the page image. "Save target as" in Internet Explorer or Chrome does not seem to work as well as Firefox, but you can right-click the audio play button in the upper right of each page and download the audio. Safari does not seem able to download the audio.

The audio is one MP4 file per page, and it can be played straight through. It has all the words (and animal sounds) from the page, though no pauses, repeats, or explanations.

You have 2 choices with the MP4 files:
  • (A) You can press Stop on your player to give yourself time to say the words. Also you might want a player which can rewind a few seconds, since there are no repeats. Do not try all this button-pushing while driving.
  • (B) Arguelles recommends listening to a recording like this, without pauses, and speaking along with the native speaker, at about the same volume, so you can compare your voice to the native speaker (shadowing). People learn songs this way, so try it for languages. He says to walk with good posture while speaking so your voice is clear. At first you can only speak sporadically, until you hear phrases enough to say them with the native speaker. 
Numbers are a natural place to start, since they are so repetitive, so start with  numbers. If it works for you, Language Guide and Book2 offer numerous topics entirely in the target language, without pauses, so download topics which interest you.
0 Comments
    Like:  Facebook, Twitter,
    Google+1,  Renren,  Weibo,
    Baidu Like,  Baidu Tieba,
    Baidu Cang,
    Reddit

    Dates are assigned arbitrarily to sort the articles.  Most articles have been updated more recently.

    Reviews of Courses

    All
    $
    $$$
    $0
    0bstacles
    0missions
    0ptimum Learning Time
    0verview
    101 Languages
    2practice
    50languages
    About Us
    Alison
    All Languages
    Andriantsivohony
    Arizona
    Asiatheque
    Assimil
    Auralog
    Babbel
    Babla
    Barrons
    Bbc
    Behindthewheel
    Berlitzaudiocd
    Berlitzcdrom
    Berlitzonline
    Bilingualbooks
    Blair
    Book2
    Britishcouncil
    Broadway
    Buske
    Busuu
    Byki
    Canada
    Carla
    Centralindian
    Colloquial
    Contact Us
    Cortina
    Criticallanguages
    Dalarna
    Defenselanguage
    Deutschewelle
    Deutschmitjulia
    Dietrichreimer
    Dioluin
    Dkpublishing
    Dorlingkindersley
    Drblair
    Drivein
    Drivetime
    Dummies
    Dunwoody
    Duolingo
    Dynamicenglish
    Dyned
    Earworms
    Elanguage
    Englishcentral
    Esperanto
    Europeanunion
    Eurotalk
    Faithcomesby
    Firstvoices
    Fluenz
    Foreign Service Inst
    Free Samples
    Fsi
    Gettheskill
    Gibberish
    Globalrecordings
    Gloss
    Goenglishme
    Harmattan
    Hearsay
    Hotels
    Hueber
    Hugo
    Idiotsguide
    Ielanguages
    In10minutesaday
    Indian
    Innotime
    Instantimmersion
    Intermediate
    Internetpolyglot
    Justenough
    Kauderwelsch
    Kershul
    Klett
    Langenscheidt
    Language30
    Languageguide
    Langues+mondes
    Learn35
    Learnables
    Learnalanguage
    Learninyourcar
    Learnoasis
    Learntospeak
    Letslearn
    Linguaphone
    Listennlearn
    Livemocha
    Livinglanguage
    Livingtongues
    Lonelyplanet
    Looknlearn
    Lund
    Madesimple
    Mango
    Maps
    Martindale
    Mcgrawhill
    Michelthomas
    Mp3
    Newspaperreader
    Obstacles
    Omissions
    Openculture
    Overview
    Parlons
    Passport
    Peacecorps
    Pimsleur
    Polyglot
    Powerglide
    Practicenimprove
    Privacy Policy
    Pronunciator
    Quickonlinetips
    Quizlet
    Radio
    Randomhouse
    Reise
    Rocket
    Rosettastone
    Rudigerkoppe
    Schaumsoutlines
    Schools
    Scored
    Skype
    Slang
    Speakinaweek
    Speedlearning
    Spokenlanguage
    Spreadsheet
    Startspeaking
    Stella
    Survivalphrases
    Swarthmore
    Talk
    Teachselfbusiness
    Teachyourself
    Tellmemore
    Texas
    Ticketto
    Transparent
    Traveltalk
    Ucla
    Voa
    Vocabularybuilder
    Vocabulearn
    Wannalearn
    Worldtalk
    Yabla
    Youtube

    Locations of Site Visitors

    RSS Feed

      Write in any language.
      Write in any language.
    Send