Using the Internet Effectively in Foreign Language Learning

 Many traditional ways exist in foreign language learning: first you can travel to a foreign country where they speak the language. Second, you could take a formal language class at a language institute, college, or university. Third, you might hire a private foreign language tutor who is a native speaker of the foreign language you wish to learn. Then too you might consider using foreign language learning guide books, grammar texts and other materials written for language learners. A few other traditional ways of foreign language learning are listening to DVDs and audio-cassettes, watching foreign language TV programs, viewing foreign language movies and video programs. But wait, there’s more. You might try to memorize foreign language phrases from phrase books. Finally, you could try using the resources available on the World Wide Web or even better, you can employ a combination of several or possibly all of the above.

Okay, so not everyone can manage to live in Acapulco (or Hoboken) for a year. Perhaps where you live there aren’t any native speakers of the foreign language you want to learn available. Try learning Yoruba in Omaha, Nebraska and I bet you’ll see what I mean. Maybe there’s a dearth of written or recorded materials in the foreign language you’re most interested in learning. Try as I might, I couldn’t locate ANY materials for learning the Eskimo Inuit language here in Cali, Colombia in South America. Okay, so there are major languages such as Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Arabic and English programs which are broadcast via cable TV. For that matter, there are available resources for language learning of Korean, Arabic, Portuguese and Japanese in multi-cultural cities worldwide. Really, TV soap operas in Catalan are broadcast nightly in Barcelona, Spain. You can watch variety shows in Lebanese on cable TV in Toronto. They have Arabic, Spanish, German and French on too in this predominantly English-speaking metropolitan area. Amazingly, Korean is easily available here in Spanish-speaking Colombia. However, it’s safe to say that the majority of the world’s 6912* spoken tongues are simply not accessible outside of their locally-used areas. So what’s an up-and-coming language learner supposed to do?

A highly probable answer is, of course, the World Wide Web or Internet. Use an online search engine like Google to type in “foreign language learning courses” and more than five hundred twelve thousand hits pop up instantly. Use just “language learning” as your search phrase and a staggering fifty-two Million one hundred thousand results emerge. Search for “language learning websites” and a paltry eleven million six hundred thousand site addresses scroll down the page. (That should keep you busy during a lunch hour) Using the Internet, language learning of exotic tongues like Afrikaans, Punjabi, Hebrew, Quechua and Zulu, along with thousands of other language learning listings sprawl before you but a mere mouse click or two away.

“But how do I go about it” you ask? In the next, part 2 of this article series, we’ll continue to explore with three initial ways of using the Internet effectively in foreign language learning. See you then.