If you’re trying to learn a new language, you have most likely heard about the popular language learning software Rosetta Stone. Rosetta Stone comes in a wide variety of different languages, allowing you to learn another language via specialized training software on your computer or mobile device.
However, the software is a bit on the expensive side. For example, most languages on the site are currently selling for $209, which gets you either online access, a download or a CD-ROM.
Although expensive, $209 is probably worth it if Rosetta Stone can actually help you master a foreign language. The thing is, the way Rosetta Stone teaches languages may not be that effective for some people. Rosetta Stone focuses mostly on being able to speak quickly and not as much on grammar, sentence structure, etc. For many, classroom learning is a better method, as it involves more interaction with an actual person who speaks the foreign language, the teacher.
If you want to get started learning a foreign language without buying Rosetta Stone or paying for classes, there are some decent free alternatives out there that you can try out.
Babbel
Babbel is an online tool for learning how to speak, read and write in a new language. The site mostly has lessons for European languages like French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, Swedish, Dutch, etc. In addition, it has Russian and Turkish.
The lessons are interactive and allow you to practice speaking also. The software has voice recognition so you can make sure that you are pronouncing the words correctly.
If you create an account, it will sync all your lessons to the cloud so you can move from your computer to your phone and continue from where you left off. In terms of pricing, they have some free lessons, but if you really want to learn a language, you’ll have to sign up for their subscription plans.
Overall, it’s a cheaper solution to Rosetta and they have a community that lets you connect with native speakers of the language you are trying to learn.
Busuu
Busuu is a language learning tutorial website that offers many helpful tools for learning English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German, French, and more. Busuu has a short video that quickly reviews the features of the website.
Busuu is a fairly good language learning software and it provides several different ways to learn a foreign language: everything from vocabulary and writing to punctuation and grammar. Busuu also features quizzes, which give you a classroom like learning style.
They have lots of lessons and just about all of them are free. If you become a premium member, you get access to grammar, voice recording and review exercises, faster correction from a native speaker, travel and business course and level tests.
The pricing is pretty close to Babbel and it follows the same monthly subscription model. Overall, it’s very well done and has a lot of resources for each language beyond just being able to speak it. They also have mobile apps for easy learning on the go.
Duolingo
Duolingo is the first tool mentioned here that is completely free. They don’t have a huge number of languages, but they have all the popular ones that we have already mentioned above.
When you start a new language, you start at the top of a path and work your way down. If you already know some of the language, you can take placement tests to skip the lessons.
The lessons include different kinds of interactive questions which will help you read and write the new language.
You can also hear how words and sentences are pronounced so that you can speak it yourself. In addition, you can add friends from Facebook in case you want to learn with someone else. They also have discussion forums and even real world articles that you can translate once you become proficient in the language.
LiveMocha
LiveMocha is a website that is owned by Rosetta Stone and is basically their lower-level cheaper option. It’s still not free, but basically lets you purchase lessons in small bits and pieces. They also give you some free credits to start with that will basically get you about 5 free lessons. After that you have to spend about $1 per lesson.
Some languages have more lessons and courses than others, obviously, and they do have quite a few languages available. If you are looking for something bite-sized, this is a good option.
The lessons are pretty basic in that they include a short intro video and then some vocabulary flash cards. They also include audio recordings for each word. Overall, it’s a different take on learning than the way it is done in Rosetta Stone.
So these are a couple of good options you have when trying to learn a new language. They are especially good for popular languages like Spanish, French, German, Italian, etc. If you have any other tools you use, feel free to mention them in the comments. Enjoy!
Feb 10, 2016 11:41 am | Aseem Kishore | Computer Tips
Automatically Refresh Web Pages in Your Web Browser
Are you one of those people that will keep refreshing a webpage in order to be the first to buy something during Black Friday? I know I am! It’s not very often, but there are these crucial times every year when you have to become a page refreshing pro in order to get the best deal.
However, it can be quite a task to continually refresh multiple web pages at the same time. Luckily, there are tools that you can use to automatically refresh a web page for you and I’m going to talk about some of them in this article.
I’ll mention tools for IE, Chrome, Safari and Firefox since those are probably the most popular web browsers currently in use.
Google Chrome Extensions
My favorite extension out of all the extensions for Chrome is Super Auto Refresh. It’s got the best mix in terms of features, functionality and design.
Once you install the extension, you will see a new icon at the far right of your address bar in Chrome. Click on that and you’ll get a long list of preset timings for refreshing the current page/tab.
You can set the refresh rate from as little as 2 seconds to as high as 60 minutes. The only downside to this extension is that it does not have an option to choose a custom time period, which a lot of the other add-ons do have.
Also, if you click on the little green hamburger icon to the right of the word “Refresh”, a new tab will load that will list out all the pages that are currently set to refresh along with the set time intervals and the amount of time remaining before the next refresh. Note that if you close a tab and then reopen it later, the extension will remember and apply the same refresh settings.
If you want to be able to enter a custom time, you’ll have to try another extension like Easy Auto Refresh. This extension works like Super Auto Refresh and has some extra options that I like. For example, if you are viewing a certain part of a webpage, then it will remember the scroll position and reload the page at the same location. This is great for longer pages where the content you are interested in refreshing may not be located at the top of the page.
Firefox Add-ons
Firefox is also another great browser that has a large number of add-ons to extend its functionality. The first one I like is ReloadEvery. It’s a very simple add-on that only adds an extra option when you right-click on a webpage.
Once installed, restart Firefox and then right-click anywhere on the webpage to see the menu option.
The extension has a couple of presets or you can choose Custom if you like. If you have multiple tabs open, you can click on Enable All Tabs to enable auto refresh on all the currently open tabs. You can also check Auto Enable New Tab if you want every new tab you open to have auto refresh enabled.
The second add-on that I like for Firefox is Tab Auto Reload. This add-on works a little differently in that you have to right-click on the tab itself and add a toggle icon to your menu bar.
Once installed, go to Customize and then drag the toggle icon to your menu bar. To refresh a tab, you have to right-click on the tab itself to get the menu options under Reload Tab.
You can disable auto refresh for a page by simply clicking on the toggle icon. If it’s blue and white, that means auto refresh is enabled.
From what I recall, neither of these add-ons will remember the settings for a webpage, meaning if you close the tab and reload the same page, you’ll have to setup the refresh settings again.
Internet Explorer Add-on
For Internet Explorer, there are not very many options. Actually, there was really only one add-on that I could find that was safe to use. It’s pretty old, but it still works in IE 11. Note that as of now, Microsoft Edge does not support extensions or add-ons, so there is nothing available for it.
Once you install Auto IE Refresher, open Internet Explorer and click on the Enable button in order to start using the add-on.
Once enabled, you’ll see a large gray bar appear at the top of the web page. It’s unfortunately very conspicuous and there really isn’t anything you can do about it. It would have been smart to simply use a button, but for whatever reason the developers decided a bar across the screen was better.
Just click on the bar to choose a timing or to pick a custom time interval. You can also set a different refresh interval for different tabs. That’s about all there is to this add-on.
Safari Extension
Finally, there is also one extension for Safari that works well. The Auto Refresh Safari extension is the work of one developer named Andrew Griffin. When you go to install it, you’ll get a message stating this is not a known developer, so just click Continue to install it.
Once installed, you can bring up the refresh toolbar by clicking on the Auto Refresh button.
By default, the time interval is set to 5 seconds, but you can just click in the box and change the value to whatever you like in seconds. Click the Start button and as long as you keep the toolbar visible, you’ll be able to see a countdown to the next refresh.
To hide the toolbar, just click on the button in the navigation bar area. Note that if you are in full-screen mode, the toolbar will disappear unless you move your mouse up to the top of the Safari window.
So those are all the different options you have for automatically refreshing web pages in Chrome, Firefox, IE and Safari. If you have any questions, feel free to comment. Enjoy!
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