Learning languages is fun and very advantageous: you will have the opportunity to communicate in another tongue and enjoy the fruits of your labour as you use your new language in your future endeavours. There are so many ways in learning languages and one method that has been proven to be effective is the method used by Languages Out There: language learners go out on the streets and learn to speak their target languages in a real setting.

Recently, Languages Out There has caught the attention of the public because of their innovative and recognized work. There is an article published by prleap.com where they describe the success that LOT is having in the UK with their language materials and innovative methods.

Languages Out There has various programs in helping language learners achieve fluency in English. The most popular one is teaching English in classrooms and then taking the language students out into the real world to practice what they have learned from the classrooms and interact with the native speakers of the languages they are learning. The concept is to learn languages actively and naturally, without having to worry a lot about it thus assuring learners that the program is “brain friendly.”

Recently, LOT has organized meet ups where groups of people who are interested in a language meet up in a certain place, learn the language through Languages Out There’s professionally published lesson plans and student worksheets, and then interact with each other and native speakers of the language! Parks, museums, shops, and galleries are among the many places where Languages Out There learners meet up; they learn the basics of the language and then apply what they learn. Through the meet up program, language learners don’t need to use a classroom at all but learn on the spot where the language is alive and used by the people in the area.

Three hour session meet ups involve three stages: input, activity, and result. Language learners are taught the language; become get used to the language by practicing it with each other; then using it with people they have not met before. The language teacher will be around with the meet up group the whole time and give out learning materials, advice, and support.

The advantages of the Languages Out There Program for language learners include stopping them of being afraid of speaking their target language; grow their confidence and improve their fluency in just a few sessions; become more motivated as they experience success in using their target language; and turn their “passive” knowledge of the language into “active” knowledge.

So are you interested to learn a language in a fun and interactive way? Check out Languages Out There and have the chance to learn a new language and meet new friends! If you want to learn more about this meet up or join the group please visit Meetup Homepage. Also, if you are interested in purchasing some of the language materials that LOT uses please visit the homepage of Languages Out There.

The internet is a very powerful tool that has become essential when it comes to communication, research and publications that had lead to a valuable pool of information. Online language learning has become one of the trends these days and there are many language learning methods available online.
Due to the internet, language learning has an easier access with online courses and personal tutors online and is not limited to learning through language schools. However, there are some people who are not totally convinced with learning languages online; let’s check out the advantages and disadvantages of online language learning.

The Pros:

• Most online language learning resources are free. Online language learning materials whether powered by a large company or a single person are available to be used for free. These available materials are great resources for language learners who are on a tight budget.
• Online language learning is less formal. Compared to learning in a classroom, online language learning sites tend to be presented in a less formal way compared with the usual commercial language learning products. Some sites provide information which you can’t find in books or other language learning tools. The information that you find on the Internet is usually updated and you will have access to the latest information most of the time.
• Multimedia learning. Online language learning sites offer various media in order for you to learn your target language. Some lessons come in text form others in audio, still images, or video. Multimedia materials may make it an interesting and exciting language learning experience for you. It’s even better if they are free!

The Cons:

• Most language learning resources and methods are for beginners. Most of the resources and methods online contain just the basic lessons for those who are still in the beginner level. Some of the materials are not as thorough and comprehensive as commercial products. Some sites limit their available materials as you progress in your target language. Eventually they will ask you to purchase their products.
• Some of the most complete online courses are not for free. Language learning materials are usually free online, but complete materials and lessons that have a broader range of courses and levels in a target language might not be free to use. Some of them offer a free trial period so that you can check if you like the method and then you can purchase access to their site or to the other materials that they offer.
• A computer and internet access are required. In order to have access to online language learning materials and methods, you obviously need a computer with internet access. Some sites require connections with greater bandwidth than the regular dial-up service in order for you to have a full interactive experience. Online language learning is cool however it is not that convenient.

Online language learning is an efficient and accessible way to learn languages via self-study. It has unlimited potential in helping you to become introduced to the basics of the language and also developing your fluency as you progress. However, it is advisable that you supplement your online language learning course with other materials and methods in order to become truly fluent in your target language.

Hi, just wanted to let you know that we are offering language podcasts in our Blog. We have advised several times that you should listen to your target language so that you can improve, so we decided to supply you with a tool that will help you to listen to your target language.

If you check our right sidebar you will find the widget that contains the language podcasts. You can play the different lessons available by pressing the blue play button.

On the top left corner of the widget you can find the menu button, when pressed you will have the option of choosing podcasts in different languages. Right now we have english, spanish, italian and chinese podcasts available, but we are working on providing more language variety.

Below I have placed a couple of pictures to make it easier for you in case you have trouble using this widget.

For many of us who have family, friends, and business contacts abroad, we communicate with most of them through the web on instant messengers. Instant messaging or chatting is one of the fastest and cheapest ways to communicate with people on the web and it is very useful especially if you need to send important information immediately. There are many instant messaging applications available for download from the internet for free and most of them have almost the same features.

Chatting is an easy thing to learn and do; however, it has its own limitations. You need to know how to operate a computer with an internet connection in order to chat and you must know how to communicate with the person you are chatting with. What if you and your contacts do not speak the same language or are not proficient enough to communicate efficiently in the same language? You need the help of a language translator but it may take you some time to exchange messages faster right?

MeGlobe is a web-based chat application that allows its users to send instant messages with real time language translation! It is a free web application that integrates instant messaging with real time translation and simply allows you to translate to and from fifteen different languages as you chat with your friends from various countries!

MeGlobe was created with the concept to weaken language barriers from online communication. The application lets you type in your message in your own language yet it will send a translated version in real time, in the language of the person whom you are chatting with! It’s a great tool since you will not have a hard time getting “lost in translation”.

This software is open to let its users edit translations which may be a bit off from the original context. Contributions by the users help MeGlobe become a better language translator and help diminish language borders.

The languages supported by MeGlobe include Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Japanese, Italian, Dutch, Greek, Russian, Swedish and a lot more! It is also looking forward to include more languages in order to help more people communicate with each other effectively.

It’s users can also import their contacts from their AIM, Yahoo, and MSN accounts. The application is compatible with Internet Explorer 5.x-7.x, FireFox, Opera 9.x, and Safari browsers for Windows users; Safari and Firefox 2 and 3 for Mac users; and Sea Monkey and Firefox for BSD, Linux, and other users.

So whenever you would want to have hassle-free, no language barrier communication with your friends from different parts of the world check out MeGlobe and have an interesting experience.

Related: Read this review about several free online language translators.

Original Article on  Live Science,

Having bilingual parents and the experience of hearing two different languages may give babies an early learning advantage even before they know how to speak!

A recent study conducted by Jacques Meler, who is a cognitive neuroscientist at the International School for Advanced studies in Trieste, shows that bilingual babies can quickly get used to different learning cues at seven months old compared with babies who live in single-language homes. The results of the studies may lead researchers to rethink how hearing two languages trains the young brains of babies even before they have learned how to put together words.

Babies from bilingual environments develop early learning advantage skills but this may not automatically mean that they will have higher intelligence later on in their lives. However, it reveals that babies benefit early on from having bilingual exposure, even when they still babble incomprehensible words. The enhancement of these babies’ learning advantage is due more to perception at their young age rather than language production.

Scientists have known since before that babies begin absorbing language fundamentals even before they can speak and that they can tell the difference between the sounds from different languages. Previous researches have also gathered that regularly using two languages improves some thinking processes among children and adults.

The research was designed and conducted by comparing bilingual babies with monolingual babies. Each group had to look at screens in anticipation of visual stimulations with puppets associated with sound cues with the image. In all the experiments, the bilingual babies beat the monolingual babies even when the sound cues changed from nonsense syllable combinations to a structured sound cue and then a visual cue.

The study clearly showed that bilingual babies have an advantage in thinking that involved the so-called executive function which helps regulate abilities such as being able to start and stop actions. The study also indicated that having early bilingual exposure could train the mind in a more general sense rather than just a language-specific sense as some researchers had suggested.

Since the bilingual babies don’t know how to speak yet, no one can attribute the knowledge of two languages to them said Mehler. However, the results of the study do not indicate that the early learning advantage of bilingual babies can translate into better intelligence in later life and it doesn’t deny the possibility that monolingual babies have plenty of opportunities later to exercise executive function.

Exposure to two different languages at an earlier age may enhance the learning advantage of young children. However, if we would want them to become truly fluent with languages, we should encourage them to learn as they grow.

The official name of the language spoken in China is Mandarin, which is mostly spoken in mainland China and Taiwan. Even though Mandarin is the official language, in China there are many other languages and dialects spoken, such as Wu (77 million speakers), Min (70 million speakers) and Cantonese (55 million speakers). We recommend you to start with Mandarin, since most people in China and other regions can speak this language and also because it is considered to be easier since it Mandarin has 4 tones while Cantonese uses a range of 6 to 9 tones.

Learning Mandarin is one challenging endeavor and having the desire to learn the language is an admirable one. Mandarin is quite a complex language because of its great variety of sounds, not used in other languages such as English. Also, it is written with characters which are unlike western alphabets. Despite these differences, many people in the world right now are learning the language for various reasons.

The following are some of the many reasons why you should learn Mandarin:

• Almost one quarter of the planet’s population speaks Mandarin. More than a billion people not only in China but also in countries in Southeast Asia and in Chinese communities all over the world. Being able to communicate with more people may open more doors to more opportunities for you.

• Learning Mandarin will be a challenging yet amazing experience since it is a unique language. Mandarin has an extraordinary writing system which offers visual comprehensibility, and is similar with Cantonese since they share written characters with a few exceptions. The grammatical structure of the Mandarin language is pragmatic as well as logical and it is related to the particular way of Chinese thinking. Having the ability to understand the written Mandarin language will lead you to know more about the culture of one of the oldest civilizations in the world.

• The traditional Chinese culture, the Chinese cuisine and literature, the Chan Buddhism and Confucianism, martial arts and festivals, have a great influence on many countries not only in the East but also in the West. If you know the Mandarin language, you will be able to have a deeper understanding of the culture and of the various works produced in the Mandarin language.

• China is one of the fastest growing economies in the world and it is considered to be the potentially biggest global market in the twenty-first century. If you learn Mandarin and become fluent, you will have the opportunity to be one of the many who will be able to find jobs in various fields in government, tourism, business, international relations, education, translation, and so much more. A lot of students in American colleges and universities have enrolled in Mandarin courses since they see the importance of the language in the future.

The Mandarin language is increasing in importance in our world today. If you would like to be among the billion people that are speaking Mandarin, and you’re interested in traveling to China to study the language, please visit our web and look at the courses the school in Shanghai offers.

Learning a foreign language refers to the acquisition of a language aside from the learner’s native tongue. Having the ability to speak more than a language is beneficial for various purposes and there are many different ways to learn a language.

The following are some ways and tools you can use to learn a language. Please read up on them and vote on our poll to see which one everyone thinks is best.

• Language Schools -  offer various types of language courses either group courses, one-to-one courses, or combined courses. Language schools also use different approaches in learning a language either the direct, vocabulary-based, communicative or other approaches.

• Language Reading Materials (magazines, books, etc.) – reading materials which are in the language you want to learn are available in bookstores and magazine shops either in your local vicinity or online. Magazines and books are rich sources of authentic material and they can be very useful since they usually contain a wide range of excercises you can do in order to practice what you have learned. Also, these type of materials usually have information about culture and places where the language came from.

• Language Audio Materials (CDs, tapes, podcasts, etc) – audio materials are useful in learning languages because you get acquainted to the language sound. You will be able to develop listening and speaking skills with your target language and will have the opportunity to repeat them anytime you want.  They are portable and accessible; you can listen to them at your own pace. One disadvantage with audio materials is that you might not strengthen other language skills such as grammar.

• Language Software (CD-ROM) & Online - language learning  software  are available in different forms that you can install in your personal computer. Some of these effective tools for language learning can be bought in software stores, some libraries lend CD-Roms and  also can be downloaded online or you can go through lessons online if you don’t want to install it.  Language software have step-by-step guidelines in learning and improving your language skills. Most of the software available have educational games and graded tests to aid in keeping track of your progress.

• Language Immersion – language immersion abroad is one of the popular and recommended ways to learn a foreign language since you will have the chance to experience the language in the place where it is spoken. You will live and breathe the language day in and day out,  so there’s a greater possibility that you will be able to learn the language faster since you will be using it everyday.

The information stated above are just some of the many more ways to learn and acquire languages. Among the given ways, which do you think is the most effective? Please join our poll and choose the one you think is best.

English is one of the most learned languages in the world as a second language and it is considered to be the lingua franca of planet Earth. Many people learn English for self-improvement, for additional skills, for business and educational purposes, or just for the pleasure of learning English. Some learn English so that they will be equipped with the language whenever they decide to travel or migrate to an English-speaking country in the future.

If you are interested to learn English and you are a resident of a non-English speaking country, it will be a quite challenging task for you to learn the language. However, if you just put your heart into it and set your goals to learn the language, you will eventually achieve fluency.

The following are ten easy ways for you to follow as an English language learner in your own country:

1. Become familiar with the internet. The internet is a trove of resources which you can use as tools for learning English. Reading materials, translation sites, audio tools and so much more are available for you to use for free!

2. Stack up and explore reading materials in English. You can go to your local library or bookstore and pick out stuff written in the English language. If you are a total beginner, you can start off with books or magazines for young people since they are easier to understand.

3. Practice your listening skills with music, podcasts and recorded lessons. There are a lot of CDs and other media available either online or in local stores which sell music albums and language lessons in English. Listening and even singing along to English songs as well as repeating the words in audio language lessons can help you become more familiar with the language easily.

4. Watch movies in English. Your local video store may have English movies available so choose them and pay attention to the movie. Watch how the mouths of the characters open when they pronounce certain words and try to imitate them. You can pause and replay specific scenes as often as you can as long as it helps you improve your English skills. Also, using subtitles in your language or in English will help you read and understand what the characters are saying.

5. Record yourself speaking in English. This exercise will help you gauge yourself on how you sound like to other people. If you think you still need to improve, practice more and try recording yourself again.

6. Whenever you encounter an English word and you don’t know what it means, write it down and research on it. Know what the word means and explore what are its possible synonyms so you can learn more words along the way.

7. Keep a journal written in English. You can write anything you want even just about trivial stuff. The purpose of keeping the journal is to help you to improve your writing skills in English.

8. Practice speaking English with your friends. You may have friends who do not speak English yet they are interested to help you out and learn the language too! Conversing with someone can help you become confident with using the language. Speaking with people who are at your same level is convenient because you will probably know the same vocabulary. You have to combine this with speaking with people who are more advanced than you so that they can correct you in case you make any mistakes.

9. Enroll in an English language course. If there are English language courses available in your area, sign up for it so that you may be able to learn the basics of the language in a formal setting. However if there are none available in your vicinity, you can try signing up for online English classes.
There are so many ways for you to learn English at home. Make use of what is available and enjoy learning the language!