Resources

Here's a list of some of the resources I'll be using to help me along in mastering new languages:

duolingo.com

This is a great free site for learning new languages because you don't just memorize vocabulary lists but actually learn the grammar and how to construct sentences. On top of that there are speaking and listening activities so you learn to understand and speak the language, not just read it.


memrise.com

This is a site I use to help me memorize vocabulary using spaced repetition and picture associations (memes). If you've never heard of it spaced repetition is based in science and has to do with trying to remind you of something shortly before you actually forget it. Every time you remember something the time before you would forget it increases. So if after you learn something you remember it for 2 days before you forget it then they'll remind you a day after you learn it. If you get it right then the next time they remind you is 2 days after that with the amount of time in-between reminders getting larger and larger. That's a really rough explanation but the gist of it is that it's useful when you want to remember something long term


italki.com

This site I'm still very new to so I can't say much but basically it's a site where you can find teachers, tutors, and friends from around the world who speak the language you want to learn. On top of that there's an area where you can pose questions to the general community that a native will answer and you can also practice your writing by posting short essays that natives then can go in and correct. It seems like a very nice community and I'm looking forward to meeting some nice people there but like I said, I'm new to the site so I'll post an update here once I know more.