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Translations, Dictionaries, Glossaries
Try Google
Translate, Bing
Translator, and SYSTRAN Translate to translate text and web pages.
Context-based Linguee is "a
unique translation tool [among several European
languages] combining an editorial dictionary and a
search engine with which you can search through
hundreds of millions of bilingual texts for words and
expressions." IATE, the European Union's
inter-institutional terminology database, gives
translations of EU technical terms, abbreviations,
acronyms, and phraseology among two dozen European
languages.
• bab.la--
From Oxford Dictionaries, "the portal for language
lovers... 44 dictionaries for 28 languages, blog
articles about life abroad, language games and
quizzes, verb conjugation for 12 languages, phrase
books for university, business or travel, an
internship platform and many other language-related
products."
• Cambridge Dictionary-- Look up
meanings of English-language words, idioms, and
phrasal verbs, plus translate English words to and
from other languages.
• Dictionary.com-- Wide variety of English language tools, including interactive translators, flashcards, crosswords, English and English-Spanish-English dictionaries, thesauruses, and more.
• Dictionary of Slang-- Large
source for English-language slang, from a UK
perspective. The links section is a rich compendium of
sources on slang usage in English and a few other
languages.
• Free Dictionary-- "The world's most comprehensive dictionary: English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Chinese, Portuguese, Dutch, Norwegian, Greek, Arabic, Polish, Turkish, Russian, Medical, Legal, and Financial Dictionaries, Thesaurus, Acronyms and Abbreviations, Idioms, Encyclopedia, a Literature Reference Library, and a Search Engine all in one." Also check the Free Thesaurus, "a comprehensive online thesaurus of synonyms, antonyms, and related words" in English, and the Farlex Grammar Book, a guide to English language grammar, punctuation, spelling, and pronunciation.
• Freelang--
Multi-purpose
site
for language learners, offering free online and
downloadable dictionaries in many languages, common
expressions in many languages, fonts, quizzes, news,
and more.
• Glosbe-- "Free dictionaries for
almost every existing language," plus examples,
phrases, and expressions.
• Language Dictionaries and Translators-- From Word2Word, links to numerous dictionaries and translators, online language courses, chat sites in many languages, audio, language-specific search engines, and language learning and practice aids.
• Lexico--
From Dictionary.com and Oxford University Press,
dictionaries, thesaurus, grammar rules, translation
tools, tips, and trivia, "to
help users worldwide with everyday language
challenges."
• Lexicool-- "Directory of all the online bilingual and multilingual dictionaries and glossaries freely available on the Internet... for translators, linguists, language students and all those interested in foreign languages... currently has links to over 8000 dictionaries and glossaries, many... created by translators working in specialist fields."
• Linguee--
Very useful translation facility between English and
various European and Asian languages, showing both
meanings and the chosen words and phrases in varied
sample expert usage contexts in both languages.
Dictionary app available for mobile use.
• Merriam-Webster Online-- "The
most up-to-date [English-language] dictionary on the
Web," with thesaurus, video clips, word of the day,
word quizzes, and section on the Spanish language.
There is also a Merriam-Webster Visual Dictionary Online and a Learner's
Dictionary of American usage for ESL, EFL, and
TOEFL test students.
• One Look-- Dictionary search
engine to find the meaning of words in English and
several other languages, covering millions of words in
over a thousand online dictionaries.
• PONS
Online Dictionary-- Provides translations of
words among many languages and translations of texts,
from "one of the leading language publishers in
Germany."
• Power Thesaurus-- "A fast,
convenient and comprehensive online thesaurus,"
crowd-sourced and user-friendly, for the English
language.
• Verbix-- "Independent non-profit
organization that aims to promote and protect
linguistic diversity... This site contains verb
conjugations for hundreds of languages, ranging from
national and international languages to regional and
even extinct languages."
• Vocabulary.com--
Online English language dictionary that provides
narrative definitions for frequently looked up words
and explains the difference between often confused
words, with over 100 million sentence examples.
• YourDictionary.com-- "Easiest to
use on-line dictionary and thesaurus... simple,
straightforward definitions that actually make sense
along with example use cases for the most popular
words, [plus] quick-click access to more in-depth
information including specialty definitions and
related articles."
Sites for Learning English
• American English-- From the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State, a "resource center for teaching and learning about American English language and culture. This website provides a variety of engaging materials and resources for teachers' professional development and for students in the classroom."
• American
English Speech-- Free online audio speech course
from Carnegie Mellon University, emphasizing the
"standard" pronunciation style.
• BBC Learning English-- Large,
varied, thorough, and well organized site for English
learners at most levels from the British Broadcasting
Corporation.
• Dynamic
Dialects-- "An accent database, containing an
articulatory video-based corpus of speech samples from
world-wide accents of English. Videos in this corpus
contain synchronised audio, ultrasound-tongue-imaging
video and video of the moving lips." Collaborative
project among several UK universities.
• English Grammar-- Blog that offers tips, lessons, videos, and so forth: "Grammar lessons, exercises, and rules for everyday use."
• English as a Second Language for Teachers and Students-- From ThoughtCo, many resources to advance your reading comprehension, conversation, and writing skills in English.
• ESL Cyber Listening Lab-- Very useful site with many English language conversations in audio files and accompanying sheets, "mainly designed for (1) self-access learning where students do the listening activities on their own, and (2) teacher-directed learning."
• Farlex
Grammar Book-- Excellent guide to English
language grammar, punctuation, spelling, and
pronunciation with "clear,
easy-to-understand explanations of everything you
need to master proper grammar, including complete
English grammar rules, examples, and
exceptions—plus a grammar quiz at the end of every
topic to test what you’ve learned."
• Howjsay-- Instant audio feature presents correct pronunciation for well over 170,000 English language words, in Standard British English, with World English alternatives.
• Language Nerds-- Site for
language enthusiasts, focused largely on English, with
fun facts and useful tips about the quirks and
oddities of English and of languages in general.
• Learn English Feel Good--
Grammar, vocabulary, comprehension, and pronunciation
exercises and quizzes for beginning, intermediate, and
advanced levels, with audio and video, idioms, phrasal
verbs, resource packages, US/UK language differences,
and "Travel English." Links to several related
cost-free sites on learning English from the same
organization.
• Learning English-- From the Voice
of America, an excellent and rich "multimedia source of
news and information for millions of English learners
worldwide. Our audio programs and captioned videos are
written using vocabulary at the intermediate and
upper-beginner level. Our programs are read one-third
slower than normal English speed. Online texts, MP3s and
podcasts let people read, listen and learn American
English and much more."
• Linguasorb--
Offers helpful "verb conjugation resources, grammar
lessons, vocabulary lists... with audio, translations,
practice quizzes and more" in English.
• U.S.A.
Learns-- Growing from a U.S. Department of
Education project, "an easily accessible Internet
learning tool that contains instructional materials...
to teach basic English skills and help adults improve
their English proficiency... [and] designed to allow
learners with low-level literacy skills to use the
tool independently, but it can also be used with a
teacher or tutor." Requires free registration.
• Using English-- "General English language site, specialising in English as a Second Language with a wide range of resources for learners and teachers of English... Different varieties of English are used; there are contributors from the United States, Canada, Pakistan and non-native speakers, but much of the site uses British English as it was set up in the UK." Includes forums.
Languages and Language Learning Generally
• Center
for Applied Linguistics-- From a private,
non-profit American organization of language scholars
and educators, a fine online reference for the best
language learning and teaching resources for teachers
and students. Free online resources include
"downloadable digests, informational brochures,
frequently asked questions and more."
• Duolingo-- Very
highly rated free interactive site with lessons
(reading, listening, and speaking), feedback, and
guidance in 35 languages. iPhone and Android apps are
available.
• Effective
Language Learning-- Foreign language guides,
learning tips, sources for free lessons, and reviews
of commercial language courses.
• Ethnologue:
Languages of the World-- "The comprehensive reference work that
catalogs all the [over 7000] known living languages in
the world today," with
information and statistics viewable by regions,
countries, and various cross-classifications.
• Free Foreign Language Lessons-- Well arranged and annotated directory for lessons in many languages through several types of media and feeds, from Open Culture.
• Global
Languages-- From MIT OpenCourseWare, free
downloadable courses in many languages, literatures,
and cultural studies, as taught at MIT.
• Goethe-Tests--
Thousands of free online language tests in many
languages and ability levels, with answers, from the
Goethe-Verlag in Munich, in "25 languages and 600
language combinations."
• Interagency
Language Roundtable-- U.S. federal government
"interagency organization established for the
coordination and sharing of information about
language-related activities at the federal level."
Provides free information and self-assessment tools to
check one's own level of foreign language mastery,
translation and interpretation skills, and
intercultural communication skills, using the ILR
scale employed by the U.S. federal government.
• Language
Guide-- "Offers free sound integrated resources
for learning languages [for over a dozen languages]...
developed collaboratively with the help of
volunteers." "Place your cursor over an image and hear
the word associated with it pronounced."
• Language Magazine-- Free "monthly publication that provides cutting-edge information for language learners, educators, and professionals around the world."
• Learn a Language--- Created by
the U.S. Institute of Languages, a site where you can
learn up to 19 foreign languages cost-free with audio
lessons and games.
• LingoHut-- Here you can
learn any of over 45 foreign languages, with 125
lessons each of useful words and phrases, with audio
clips of correct pronunciations, study tips,
games to practice each lesson, and a blog. Has a
section on learning
English as a second language.
• Mixxer-- From Dickinson College,
"free educational community for language learners and
teachers to find a language partner for a language
exchange. The language partner is someone who speaks
the language you study as their native language and is
studying your native language. As a member of the
Mixxer community, you can communicate with your
language partner via Skype to practice speaking. You
can also submit documents and ask native speakers to
correct your writing."
• TypeIt.org-- This site allows you to type unique characters in many European languages easily, even if you don't have a specialized keyboard, then to edit your text in the box and copy it to your document, e-mail message, etc.