30 Great Sites for Learning a Language Online for Free
posted by Mark on June 26th, 2009
If you’re thinking about traveling abroad, don’t become one of those tourists who don’t know anything about the language or culture you’re visiting. With these websites, you can learn all you need to know before you even reach foreign soil. Even if you’re not going anywhere, broaden your horizons by learning a language or two; impress your friends and confuse your enemies.
About.com
Lots of useful information on French, German, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Spanish and English as a second language.
ASL University
Learn sign language using a mix of text, pictures and video, all for free ($483 if you want individual evaluation and documentation).
Babel: Arabic
Learn to read and write Arabic with text and audio, including 400 of the most common Arabic words.
Learn French
eLanguageSchool.net provides free French language lessons that start with the basics and move on to grammar, vocabulary and dialogue.
BBC
Learn essential phrases from 36 languages via mp3 audio, with more in-depth lessons and games for over a dozen of the languages.
Chinese-Tools.com
40 online Mandarin Chinese lessons with audio, including reading, speaking, writing, modern vocabulary, grammar, calligraphy, examples and exercises, available for download in mp3 format.
Deutsch-Lernen.com
Learn German, from beginner to advanced levels, with a variety of lessons, exercises and tests.
Digital Dialects
Learn vocabulary from over 50 languages through fun animated games.
EasyPortuguese.com
Simple, straightforward text and audio introduction to Portuguese.
Free Japanese Lessons
Free lessons on Japanese alphabet, vocabulary and phrases.
The French Tutorial
The free standard tutorial has 13 chapters and over 200 audio clips to help you learn French; deluxe edition available with a donation.
Iluss Free
Learn Italian through text and audio exercises, from beginner to advanced levels.
iTalki
Hone your ability to speak dozens of languages by practicing with a language partner, posting a question, using a wiki or joining a group (teachers also available for pay).
LanguageGuide.org
Learn vocabulary from 13 languages through a mix of text, pictures and audio.
Learn-Korean.net
Learn the Korean alphabet and language through various lessons, a dictionary and a forum.
Linguanaut
Learn alphabets and common phrases of over 50 languages, plus in-depth courses in nine languages.
Livemocha
Interactive lessons in over 20 languages, including text, photos and audio. Also connect with native speakers to help each other learn. Basic courses are free; $9.95 - $24.95 for premium courses.
Loquella
Choose from three languages (Spanish, French, Chinese) to learn via a mix of text and audio. Free limited access; $12 per month for full access and $49 for mp3 downloads.
MyLanguageExchange.com
Practice a new language with a native speaker who’s learning your language. Free basic access; $2 to $6 per month for Gold membership.
Polyglot
Like MyLanguageExchange.com, you can search for a penpal with whom you exchange knowledge about each other’s language.
MasterRussion.com
All you need to learn Russian: vocabulary, pronunciation, alphabet, conjugation, links and more.
Radio Lingua Network
Free audio lessons in 20 languages (supplementary materials for a fee).
Speak7
Learn the basics of six languages in straightforward text lessons.
StudySpanish.com
Free basic access to lots of useful information on Spanish pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary; premium access $9.95 per month.
Thai-Language.com
Learn Thai through a variety of audio clips, images, dictionary entries, and message boards.
TravLang.com
If you’re planning on traveling to another country, use this site to learn the basics of 80 different languages.
UniLang
Courses, videos, audio clips, dictionaries, phrase books, games and more resources, including an online forum, for dozens of languages.
Vocabulix
A resource to learn common verbs and vocabulary words in English, Spanish and German.
Word2Word
A list of hundreds of links to online courses, sorted by language.
xLingo
Connect with people around the world and practice languages with each other, including the ability to create “flash cards”.
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Tags: free resources, languages, Online Education, online resources
June 27th, 2009 at 12:09 am
Thanks aceonlineschools.com for this post, This list of websites is really very helpful to those who are learning French language, some of the above website are really very good, like about.com and bbc, I often visit those sites, French is a very sweet and interesting language, Earlier people are not interested in learning foreign languages like French, Spanish. German, Italian etc. But nowadays more and more people are interested in learning foreign language. French is one of the foreign language which is very popular nowadays. I am very thankful to you that you are promoting French language in such a nice way, Thanks.
June 29th, 2009 at 9:31 am
Very nice list - a few I’d add:
smart.fm - One of the best online flashcard programs out there
lang-8 - Language exchange where you write journal entries in the language that you are learning and people who are native in the language you are writing in will create the entries for you
edufire - not all free, but there is a good variety of free, live online classes you can take.
tae kim’s guide to japanese grammar - really good Japanese grammar guide that is translated into a bunch of different languages
Thanks again for your list, I found a few cool gems in there!
July 5th, 2009 at 9:32 am
Thanks for the post!
You should also check out Babbel —
http://www.babbel.com
for French, German, Spanish, German and Italian. What you can learn for free is a lot. There are interactive exercises and the chance to meet and exchange with native speakers. It’s also really accessibly designed.
July 7th, 2009 at 10:58 pm
Thanks for including italki in the list! That’s a good collection of sites and I like the quick blurbs that you included for each one.
I’d also mention iTunes which aggregates a lot of the best podcasts for learning languages, and youtube which does the same for videos. Input (listening, reading, watching) is a good way to start learning a language.
August 11th, 2009 at 4:18 am
Nice list! Just surprised you don’t mention http://www.lernu.net in there - that has to be the most comprehensive free language-learning website ever! 12 professional-quality language courses from beginner to advanced, plus grammar books, exercises, vocabulary lists and a library of easy texts. Plus throughout the site, including the forums, you can click on any word in order to see a translation.
August 21st, 2009 at 6:21 am
I agree a nice list, I would suggest you guys should also include http://www.blinklearning.com it is more than just a language learning website - I learnt spanish from this website thus I strongly recommend it !
August 24th, 2009 at 8:04 pm
This is a great list of free sites for learning a language on-line. I agree with Toffler above, iTunes is quickly becoming a great place to get free audios for learning just about any language. I live in Japan, and have used some of the resources there for learning. I am also studying Russian and am a big fan of the site http://russian-video-blog.com it has a really good free video series that has helped me with my Russian studies. I want to support the owner of that site, because it’s good. Great list!
August 28th, 2009 at 1:10 am
about.com is totally recommended. a great source to learn foreign languages.
January 29th, 2010 at 7:16 am
Thanks a lot for this list.
But you didn’t mention http://www.busuu.com, which is for me one of the website learning language website. You have free language learning lessons, videochat, grammatical guides, videos, podcasts, pdfs,… Enjoy it, it’s for free!
February 25th, 2010 at 9:22 am
Great list!
If I may suggest a website for learning Arabic, that would be http://www.speakmoroccan.com - Very useful if you want to learn a few phrases in Moroccan Arabic before flying to Morocco.
April 2nd, 2010 at 12:19 am
nice put up, this may increasingly assist me with some odd stuff i ought to do for school, thanks my buddy
April 16th, 2010 at 8:52 am
The best way to learn Mandarin Chinese! Online practical language courses combine audio/video, cartoons and pictures to help you learn Mandarin Chinese easily. In the meantime, live speakingpractice with teachers online will enhance your experience! Some free Chinese language lessons are waiting for beginners to try! All the educational resources are available in PDF/MP3format for download.
For more information about Learning Mandarin Chinese: