_None of the courses reviewed here seems ideal. Click the Better Language Teaching tab in the top menu to see ideas about better possible approaches for the future.
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Comparative Results
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It would be ideal if someone measured and compared the results of many programs. Apparently no one does.
Hundreds of state and local governments, thousands of universities, all teach foreign languages to millions of beginners every year, and any one of them would benefit from randomized comparisons of different teaching programs. On the other hand research by language teachers could appear biased by their experience with live teaching. Librarians might be a more neutral source of research in online courses, since many libraries offer these courses, and have an interest in what works best.
If you know any such comparisons of results, please send links.
A few small studies have confirmed that learning Esperanto before an Asian or European language is faster than learning the target language by itself, on average. They give no guidance on which courses are best in either language.
The US government language teachers cited in the section on "Obstacles to Learning Languages" call for research on:
Advertised Courses
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The heavily advertised Rosetta Stone mostly teaches listening and reading. Reviewers say its computer scoring of speech does not work well, so the main feedback on speaking seems to be a 50-minute online session after each lesson. In these sessions you talk with a "coach" and "2 other learners with a maximum of 4." Pimsleur has limited vocabulary and no feedback on pronunciation.
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Phonetics
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Phonetics teaches how your mouth forms sounds, how sounds differ between languages, and how to change the habits of your mouth muscles to form new sounds. Phonetics is rarely taught to language learners, and you may find it helpful in creating a good accent in any new language. Arguelles mentions the example that T is formed by the tongue touching the top of the mouth; different languages have the tongue in slightly different places, and Hindi has 2 different T's, in 2 different places. Learning the principle may help you listen for and create the right T. He has an introductory video on phonetics principles.
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News
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A large gap is the lack of teaching for news. Most courses are aimed at tourism, so they do not help people who want to understand foreign news broadcasts or read foreign papers.
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Dunwoody is the best for learning news vocabulary in 60 less common languages, with excerpts of news articles, vocabulary for those articles, and full translations.
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Pronunciator teaches words for numbers, time, cities, countries, geography, government, etc., which are useful for news. The purely audio proposal on this site at Wordlist recommends words in the same topics which can be taught by sound effects, with no explanations needed in another language.
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Business
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An even more important gap is the lack of teaching for business. Most courses are aimed at tourism, so they do not help people who need basic business vocabulary for phone or VOIP.
This website has an English lesson for receptionists who want to help foreign callers reach the right person in their companies, and bosses who want to reach someone speaking their language: "Please let me talk to Dr. Annan," "Does someone speak Arabic or French?" and "The person who speaks French will return tomorrow." No other course or website offers those lessons for beginners.
This website also has lessons for basic English needed in hotels, restaurants, and retail sales. It also has a comparison of 35 other courses for hotel English
As noted above, Pronunciator teaches words for numbers, time, cities, countries, geography, government, etc., which are useful for business and news; and the purely audio proposal on this site at Wordlist recommends words in the same topics which can be taught orally.
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Eurotalk has intermediate lessons for business in many languages. FSI teaches a few words for phone calls in a few languages, fairly late in the course. Busuu and Teach Yourself Business serve the need in English, French, Japanese, Mandarin and Spanish for people who already know the language well.
Scales and standard tests for language reinforce a bias for social, rather than business vocabulary.
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Multiple Voices
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Each course uses only one or two native speakers. Beginners can still learn a variety of voices by listening to all the free course, and the free samples available from paid sites (listed in the Overview).
For more practice, this site has songs in English, and YouTube teaches you the words and music of many songs in English, French, Indonesian, Spanish, etc.
Intermediate students who can read in the new language, can practice pronunciation with songs in Arabic, Chinese and Russian. However in some languages, searching for the local translation of "song lyrics" on YouTube just gives songs in English.
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English Dialects
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Courses do not show regional dialects for different parts of England or the US, which would help people traveling to particular regions, or wanting to understand the widest range of English-speakers. Scots is available from Kauderwelsch, and Celtic languages are available, but not Southern, Cockney, etc. By contrast there are books and CDs for regional French, German, Italian and Spanish.
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Slang
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Every movie and most conversations, even among professionals, includes slang and mild oaths, yet even the mildest are rarely taught in courses. Beginners understand they have to ask for explanations in a conversation, but both sides can be embarrassed after the beginner asks the meaning of or misuses: "bloody," "vachement," "gay," "un truc," etc.
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Kauderwelsch has specific books teaching slang for Australia, Britain, Canada, Cuba, France, Germany (East and West), Hindi, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Quebec, Russia, Spain, Spanglish, Turkey, United States.
Next: Pronunciation Scores
.
Comparative Results
.
It would be ideal if someone measured and compared the results of many programs. Apparently no one does.
Hundreds of state and local governments, thousands of universities, all teach foreign languages to millions of beginners every year, and any one of them would benefit from randomized comparisons of different teaching programs. On the other hand research by language teachers could appear biased by their experience with live teaching. Librarians might be a more neutral source of research in online courses, since many libraries offer these courses, and have an interest in what works best.
If you know any such comparisons of results, please send links.
A few small studies have confirmed that learning Esperanto before an Asian or European language is faster than learning the target language by itself, on average. They give no guidance on which courses are best in either language.
The US government language teachers cited in the section on "Obstacles to Learning Languages" call for research on:
- "Why is a class size of more than four too inefficient when we try to teach learners at really high levels of proficiency?
- Why is an early grammatical overview so helpful to adult learners of languages like Russian or German?
- Why is, for example, Estonian so much harder for English speakers to learn well than, say, Swahili, even though neither of them is related to English?
- Why is it really so hard for an adult English reader to learn to read another writing system fluently?
- There are many more questions like these." (p.84).
Advertised Courses
.
The heavily advertised Rosetta Stone mostly teaches listening and reading. Reviewers say its computer scoring of speech does not work well, so the main feedback on speaking seems to be a 50-minute online session after each lesson. In these sessions you talk with a "coach" and "2 other learners with a maximum of 4." Pimsleur has limited vocabulary and no feedback on pronunciation.
.
Phonetics
.
Phonetics teaches how your mouth forms sounds, how sounds differ between languages, and how to change the habits of your mouth muscles to form new sounds. Phonetics is rarely taught to language learners, and you may find it helpful in creating a good accent in any new language. Arguelles mentions the example that T is formed by the tongue touching the top of the mouth; different languages have the tongue in slightly different places, and Hindi has 2 different T's, in 2 different places. Learning the principle may help you listen for and create the right T. He has an introductory video on phonetics principles.
.
News
.
A large gap is the lack of teaching for news. Most courses are aimed at tourism, so they do not help people who want to understand foreign news broadcasts or read foreign papers.
.
Dunwoody is the best for learning news vocabulary in 60 less common languages, with excerpts of news articles, vocabulary for those articles, and full translations.
.
Pronunciator teaches words for numbers, time, cities, countries, geography, government, etc., which are useful for news. The purely audio proposal on this site at Wordlist recommends words in the same topics which can be taught by sound effects, with no explanations needed in another language.
.
Business
.
An even more important gap is the lack of teaching for business. Most courses are aimed at tourism, so they do not help people who need basic business vocabulary for phone or VOIP.
This website has an English lesson for receptionists who want to help foreign callers reach the right person in their companies, and bosses who want to reach someone speaking their language: "Please let me talk to Dr. Annan," "Does someone speak Arabic or French?" and "The person who speaks French will return tomorrow." No other course or website offers those lessons for beginners.
This website also has lessons for basic English needed in hotels, restaurants, and retail sales. It also has a comparison of 35 other courses for hotel English
As noted above, Pronunciator teaches words for numbers, time, cities, countries, geography, government, etc., which are useful for business and news; and the purely audio proposal on this site at Wordlist recommends words in the same topics which can be taught orally.
.
Eurotalk has intermediate lessons for business in many languages. FSI teaches a few words for phone calls in a few languages, fairly late in the course. Busuu and Teach Yourself Business serve the need in English, French, Japanese, Mandarin and Spanish for people who already know the language well.
Scales and standard tests for language reinforce a bias for social, rather than business vocabulary.
.
Multiple Voices
.
Each course uses only one or two native speakers. Beginners can still learn a variety of voices by listening to all the free course, and the free samples available from paid sites (listed in the Overview).
For more practice, this site has songs in English, and YouTube teaches you the words and music of many songs in English, French, Indonesian, Spanish, etc.
Intermediate students who can read in the new language, can practice pronunciation with songs in Arabic, Chinese and Russian. However in some languages, searching for the local translation of "song lyrics" on YouTube just gives songs in English.
.
English Dialects
.
Courses do not show regional dialects for different parts of England or the US, which would help people traveling to particular regions, or wanting to understand the widest range of English-speakers. Scots is available from Kauderwelsch, and Celtic languages are available, but not Southern, Cockney, etc. By contrast there are books and CDs for regional French, German, Italian and Spanish.
.
Slang
.
Every movie and most conversations, even among professionals, includes slang and mild oaths, yet even the mildest are rarely taught in courses. Beginners understand they have to ask for explanations in a conversation, but both sides can be embarrassed after the beginner asks the meaning of or misuses: "bloody," "vachement," "gay," "un truc," etc.
.
Kauderwelsch has specific books teaching slang for Australia, Britain, Canada, Cuba, France, Germany (East and West), Hindi, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Quebec, Russia, Spain, Spanglish, Turkey, United States.
Next: Pronunciation Scores
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