The daily English show

There are many interesting tools in internet to improve your English: blogs, chats, dictionaries, podcasts, videos...

Here's antother one. Sarah is a New Zealander based in Niseko, Japan. Every week since 2006, she records a short video lesson, The daily English show. Everyone can watch these short lessons in her Youtube channel. In addition, you can find all the video scripts in The daily English show blog.

Moreover, she's got a set of delicious cook lessons for students of English. It's called the Sunday kitchen. Try this one: Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Watch this sample of The daily English show:

Hannah From Scotland, Airline Toilet Charges

• Babelan, the languages site >>

Germany vs USA - Foreign Languages

This is a video I found. Two guys talk about their experiencies with foreign languages.



Alex and Jim talk about Foreign Languages.

Alex (from Germany) and Jim (from the USA) talk about cultural differences and similarities between Germany and the USA.

• Babelan, the languages site >>

Improving foreign languages skills - Language exchange

When learning a foreign language, there are some different skills we need to improve in order to comunicate: writing, reading, speaking or listening. For example, it is pretty clear that we cannot speak if we cannot understand (listen) what the interlocutor is telling us.

Probably, the very first step learning a new foreign language is enroling a class. This could be either in a language school or with a private tutor. Obviously, this cannot be only source of learning and improving a new foreign language. Nowadays, new technologies, such as internet, offer us a wide range of languages resources.

Thanks to internet, you can improve your reading skills just with newspapers, magazines or blogs in the target language. Listening can also be boosted by listening radio stations and watching tv channels or videos.

The list of sites is endless in any language: English, Spanish, German, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Italian, Portuguese, Czech, Romanian, Vietnamese, French, Dutch, Hungarian, Polish...

Thus, it could be wise to search for pages that deal with a topic you like (e.g. a hobby). You will improve faster because the topic will attract you and you will pay much more attention rather than a boring issue. In addition, when you know the topic in your mother language helps to understand the new language easily.

Thousands of language students are willing to speak a foreign language with native people. So, why do not try to find a language exchange. This could be a one-to-one exchange if you both live in the same city or a virtual exchange using the new techonologies (e-mail, chat, messenger, webcam, microphone...).

Recently, I searched some different sites to meet native people for a language exchange. Check them out and use the one that fits your needs.

• Babelan is a languages site. There you can find for free (not registration required) native people from around the world for a language exchange via mail, chat, voice,... Also one-to-one exchanges in New York, London, Barcelona, etc.
  http://www.babelan.net/
• Another place is My Language Exchange. You can find several registered members to practice a foreign language via email, text chat or voice chat. Needs registration.
  http://www.mylanguageexchange.com/
• Shared Talk is a community to practice foreign languages. It has different tools such as text chat or a voice chat. Needs registration.
  http://sharedtalk.com/
• In Speak Mania you can find penpals for a language exchange. Needs registration. It has a an audio and video chat.
  http://www.speakmania.com/index.php?language_id=1
• Lang-8 is a language exchange community focus in writing skills. Needs registration.
  http://lang-8.com/
• ConversationExchange.com is a community offering three types of language exchange face to face, penpals and text and voice chat. Needs registration.
  http://www.conversationexchange.com/
• Gumtree is a classifieds website, although, it has a languages swop category mainly for the UK and Ireland. It's free and needs no registration.
  http://www.gumtree.com/
• Another classifieds site with a language exchange category is Justlanded. It works in a wide range of countries, The UK, Ireland, Romania, China, Russia, Italy, Spain, USA, Germany, South Korea and so on.
  http://classifieds.justlanded.com/

There ara several sites where you can find native people for a language exchange, you can find them searching in internet. This is only a sample of some of them that could be useful.

Language teaching abroad

Probably, you want to travel abroad to stay in a foreign country for a long time. Some people want to learn a language, to study in an university or just long for an experience in a different place.

Unless you are a rich person, you'll need to earn your living abroad. When arriving a new country this could be a problem, specially, if you don't speak the native language.

There are many sort of jobs as bartender, bellboy, cook,.. the list is endless. Although, you may choose to teach your own language and get some extra money. It makes no difference which language you speak German, Russian, English, French, Italian, Chinese or Japanese. There are hundreds of chances to teach languages in language schools or offering private tuition.

A part from rendering your CV in all the languages schools, you may use internet to offer you private lessons. It's free and everyone can reach your post.

Nowadays, internet provides many sites to post free adverts. Here, you can find a sample list of sites to find students for your private classes:

First of all, a language site called Babelan. Currently, this has a free message board to offer classes in New York, London, Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Paris, Berlin, Sydney, Toronto, Vancouver and Chicago. This website is focus in languages.
http://www.babelan.net

Another site to place your free classifieds is Justlanded. It works in a wide range of countries, The UK, Ireland, Romania, China, Russia, Italy, Spain, USA, Germany, South Korea and so on.
http://classifieds.justlanded.com

A New York classifieds site is ikinewyork.com that has got a tutors, language lessons category.
http://www.ikinewyork.com

A UK based forum for tutors, students and parents is Local Tutor Forum. Here you can offer your private tuition in the UK.
http://www.localtutorforum.com

Japanese, English and other languages can be offered in Tokyo Notice Board.
http://www.tokyonoticeboard.co.jp

Loquo is a free classifieds site in Spain. It's got dozens of categories such as room, cars, jobs or servicies, also, it has a 'tutoring and private lessons' area to post your adverts.
http://www.loquo.com

Campusanuncios.com and mundoanuncio.com are two global classifieds web pages. So you may post your advert to teach not only in Spain but around the world.
http://www.mundoanuncio.com
http://www.campusanuncios.com

Related links

Finally, I'd like to add some other related links that could be useful:

English language teaching job opportunities worldwide http://www.eslbase.com/jobs/

Language recruitment and Language Jobs in Madrid, Spain
http://www.toplanguagejobs.es

Classes, courses or private lessons
http://www.language-school-teachers.com

Directory of jobs for teaching abroad
http://www.teachabroad.com/search.cfm

English Teachers - Madrid
http://madridteacher.com/

• Babelan, the languages site >>

Lithuanian lessons

The latest link we added in our directory is Debesélis, an online Lithuanian lessons wesite. It's got an English version and a Spanish one.

Debesélis offers free lessons, grammar resources, phrases, vocabulary, links to other Lithuanian related sites and a forum. This is a site worth to visit for a beginner.

Debesélis: http://www.debeselis.net

• Babelan, the languages site >>

Russian dictionary

Multitran offers an online Russian dictionary which "includes phrases, examples and cross-references". The dictionary is quite comprehensive. In addition, users can edit or report errors.

It translates from Russian into English, German, Spanish, French, Dutch, Italian, Latvian, Estonian, Japanese and Afrikaans and viceversa.

Multitran dictionary >>

• Babelan, the languages site >>

Iranian Songs Translations

Learning by Singing Persian - Yadgiriye Farsi ba avaz khani یادگیری فارسی با آوازخوانی

Iranian Songs Translations is a blog that offers a funny way to learn Persian.

Her owner Laura Vivero describes her site as follows: "Salam, my name is Laura and I am a fan of persian music. Thanks to the effort of some iranian friends who kindly translated Iranian songs into english (specialy, my beloved friends Vanda, Mehdi, Mozhgan and Shakiba), I gathered a modest collection of translations which I here would like to share with you. They can help you to learn or improve your Persian, or just to enjoy the beauty of Iranian songs. I firmly believe that singing is an optimal way of learning languages. At least I´m doing that myself!".

Enjoy and learn Persian: http://iraniansongstranslations.blogspot.com

• Babelan, the languages site >>