October 31, 2016

The Best Language Learning Tools for Autumn/Winter 2016

1 hour 2 minutes

This episode of the Creative Language Learning Podcast is as fun as ever, covering the ultimate Good, Bad and Struggling and our Top 5 Language Learning Tools of 2016/17.

Our Favourite Language Learning Tools for Autumn/Winter 2016

Listen to the show to get the detailed recommendations, and here is a quick index.

1) Lyricstraining.com

This website is awesome!! It pulls in music videos from YouTube and VEVO, adds the lyrics and converts the whole thing into a game. Teachers might call it a "cloze exercise", I call it "fill in the gap", and anyone would call this one a whole lot of fun.

Get yourself to Lyricstraining.com and give it a go

2) Gus on The Go

A language learning collection created by parents for children. It's fun, it's beautiful, it's available as an app for your smartphone and tablet. In a sea of language learning apps, Gus on the Go stands out for its design and layout. There are apps available in 28 languages. Highly recommended for getting any young person started in a new language!

Get the link for your chosen language here

3) TuneIn Radio

A language learner's classic for natural input. This app and website lets you listen to radio stations from all around the world. It's perfect if you're at that stage where you're looking for a way to "level up" in your language. There are also podcasts, or you could search by favourite music style. The diverse voices of radio DJs and exciting foreign language music will give you a great new challenge.

Download the app or listen live at TuneIn.com.

4) Tiny Cards

This is a new app from the team behind Duolingo. It's all about adorable flashcards helping you review and check your knowledge on anything, from language vocab to colour theory. This promises to take the Duolingo design excellence to a new level. Great if you're looking for a new flashcard app.

Right now this is out on iOS only, but you can register Android interest here

5) Eggbun

Yes, it's another super cute app! This innovative little app works like a text chat, where you're chatting with your new friend "Eggbun", who is teaching you the Korean alphabet and language. If you're addicted to texting on your phone, here's an AI teacher who will reply anytime.

The app is out for Korean (iOS/Android), Japanese (iOS coming soon, but already out on Android), and soon coming out soon in Chinese. Get your preferred version from the lovely Eggbun website.

Honorary Mention

The All 4 App now has a wonderful "Walter Presents" range, bringing in comedies, dramas and crime shows in a really wide range of languages. If you're in the UK, you go and have a look.

Learn more about how to use TV to learn a language in podcast episode 31.

So The Podcast is Taking a Break..

But that does not mean you're going to miss us too much. Lindsay and I have gone through the archives together, selecting our own favourite episodes for you to try.

Here are our essential Creative Language Learning Podcast episodes you should not miss:

Episode 5 with André Klein, which was a truly inspiring interview about so much more than "German storytelling". André and I discussed why creativity is so important for language learner, and how you can use it to get out of the failures of school learning.

Episode 21 - Why Your Language Learning Goal Sucks and What to Do About It, in which I originally got on the mic only to tell you about my new course...but then I had a big rant about goals and why they suck.

Episode 30 - How to Achieve a New Year's Goal of Learning a New Language, which is full of small and actionable tips and you're guaranteed to find good advice for your language learning problem.

Episode 37 - The Secret Languages of Great Britain, an episode with the incredible Simon Ager of Omniglot in which we discovered that Great Britain actually has more than 10 languages - not just English!

Episode 40 - Live from the Polyglot Gathering in Berlin, a fun and lively audio-postcard from Berlin

Episode 45 - How to Learn a Language Using Snapchat, which turned out to be such a great guide show and covered one small topic from lots of fab angles

Episode 51 - Top 5 Fictional Languages is the podcast episode for listeners who love to spend a lot of time in the land of books, films and video games