newelty

Like a lot of travelers, I want to learn a second language. I want to be fluent in a second language, which is why I’m planning on attending a language school (a.k.a. Dutch Princess School) this summer.

In the meanwhile, I’m studying my heart out here at home using websites and software programs to bolster my never-quite-good-enough knowledge base.

When doing my own internet research on this topic, it seems like everyone wants to know the same thing: which language sites are good?

Accordingly, I put these sites through their paces and came up with a highly-subjective-but -hopefully-useful list that exposes the good, bad, and just plain ugly in language-learning sites. (As always, no money exchanged hands for these reviews.)

Ready for the ratings? Let’s get started!

1) LiveMocha.com

Here was the first thing that struck me about  LiveMocha.com: It has a substantial language base. Most sites don’t offer more obscure languages like Dutch (boo, babbel.com!) or have only the basic pleasantries available for you to learn (as with the BBC’s rudimentary site).

LiveMocha goes way beyond the French-German-Spanish-Chinese axis and lists languages I’ve never even heard of. So add a point right there in its favor.

The downside to LiveMocha is a problem with its software’s intelligence–or lack thereof.

LiveMocha’s software isn’t sophisticated enough to adjust to your levels or prevent repetition. The software developers should look at freerice.com, which actively adjusts your difficulty level if you answer questions correctly or not.

Even with that flaw in mind, of all the online sites I tried, LiveMocha had the most variety in types of questions and the most ambitious attempt overall. GRADE: B+

2) Rosetta Stone

Rosetta Stone works for some people. I’ve spoken with them in various Dutch-language meet-ups and real-world classes. But two things about it I find super-tedious:

Unbelievably bad stock photography–from 1988. Seriously, Rosetta, spring for some new pics. The version I have isn’t that old, and yet everyone is rocking the acid-washed, high-waisted denim look. The Selleck ‘stashes on their subjects make it impossible for me to concentrate. I’m only partially kidding.

Click-and-click again interaction design. The foundation of Rosetta Stone’s teaching philosophy seems to be the same ideology that says reciting multiplication tables is the proper way for children to learn mathematics. It may very well be, but…blarg. This is not a fun, 21st-century way to engage with this material.

Once I’ve clicked on the white bowl, and the blue bowl, and the red bowl, and the blue car, and the red car, and the white car, I feel like it might be a perfect time to start watching back episodes of Lost. The last thing I want to do with my spare time is something so un-fun. Did I also mention that Rosetta Stone costs hundreds of dollars? GRADE: D-

3) FlashcardExchange.com

I thought FlashcardExchange.com was what I was looking for. Combined with the knowledge I have from books that explain grammar and colloquial sayings, flashcards would help me learn words in a quick, straightforward, self-paced manner.

The navigation and setup are simple: click “c” to continue through the card and see the answer, and you can also indicate which ones you got correct to shrink your pile. Genius!

I worked my way through almost 200 adverbs. When I got down to the final three from the list (FINAL THREE FROM A LIST OF 200 ADVERBS!), I was stuck on the word for “false.” Because looking up words in my Dutch dictionary often helps me by showing me the root of the word or relationship to other, similar words, I headed there to get over my memory block.

It turns out, the word on my flashcard means exactly the opposite of what the flashcard said: the dictionary told me the word I had been studying means “true,” not “false.”

Grr.

The drawback of free sites, in general, is that they’re only as good as the knowledge members contribute. In this case, someone just sloppily entered a list of adverbs, and because the words are all new to me, I had no way of knowing that I was learning incorrect associations. The idea of this site was great, but without trust in the material itself, I won’t go back. GRADE: F

4) Wikibooks.com

Pretty pictures, clickable pronunciations, and clear write-ups. Plus, did I mention it’s free? Wikibooks.com, including the Dutch lesson series, seems like a winner at first glance.

What’s good on the site: Clear, concise descriptions of obscure, difficult Dutch grammar constructions, delivered with the earnestness of a kid collecting funds for UNICEF. But it’s almost too earnest, too authoritative for its own good, as in this example from the first lesson:

The above conversation utilizes the familiar form of the personal pronoun (je, jou) where English uses you. However, Dutch also has a polite or formal form of the personal pronoun for the second person (you), u. Many languages have this distinction. It is e.g. comparable with Sie in German, vous in French or Вы in Russian

Dude. I don’t speak Russian. Some days, I barely speak English.

Wikibooks can leave me feeling a little…dumb. But more than that, because it’s not interactive, it’s lacking the gameplay and quizzing functionality of sites like LiveMocha. Essentially, it is what it says it is: a book. And for me, it’s easier to work with an actual book (I like Bruce Donaldson’s Colloquial Dutch). But it’s still a great, thorough online resource. GRADE: B

5) Laura Speaks Dutch Podcast

Weird name, right? A friend pointed me to this free podcast in iTunes, named by a Dutch guy (Brenno de Winter) in love with an American (Laura) and teaching her his language. LauraSpeaksDutch is very sweet, and his enthusiasm for the subject bubbles over. Sometimes, he reminds me of a wedding DJ, happily taking requests from the crowd.

It’s a true labor of love, and while I don’t know that it could replace a textbook, with 55 episodes, he’s created more than I can keep up with. He seems to have stopped for now, but I hope he takes it up again.

His efforts are superior to anything that was produced commercially or by the collective, and while not every language is likely to have a Brenno, it’s worth looking at iTunes podcasts as an equal–if not better–source than many of the language-learning sites out there. GRADE: A

Have you found a language site that could school these five? Let us know!