Learn the top five tools for learning American English
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| Ryan: Top 5 Tools for Learning English. I'm Ryan. |
| Chihiro: And I'm Chihiro. In this lesson, we want to give you some ideas on useful tools on the internet that you can use to help you with your English studying. |
| Ryan: Apart from using our lessons of course, you will most likely need extra help when studying. Here, we’ll give you some websites that you might find useful. What’s the first one? |
| Chihiro: Well, how about a good dictionary. |
| Ryan: That's very important. There are many to choose from and some of you may already have a favorite. |
| Chihiro: A good dictionary is necessary when learning another language whatever your mother tongue may be. If you want to buy one, a good thing to do is look up the same word in the dictionaries you're comparing, and see which definition is easier for you to understand. |
| Ryan: And also check to see how recent it is. |
| Chihiro: An online dictionary that might be helpful for studying is Wordreference. |
| Ryan: This dictionary gives definitions in Spanish, French, Italian, German, Russian, and English which would be useful to those whose native language are those mentioned. |
| Chihiro: It’s a good online dictionary because it has a discussion forum where you can ask questions if you’re not sure about the word used in context, or the word use in a phrase. |
| Ryan: Even for those whose mother tongues are not included, the English definitions also have discussion forums. |
| Chihiro: Okay, what’s the next tool Ryan? |
| Ryan: Since we’re talking about dictionaries, how about UrbanDictionary.com? |
| Chihiro: A good one to know. If you frequently wonder about certain words that you hear and notice that they’re not in the dictionary, then this may be the dictionary to go to. |
| Ryan: Urban Dictionary gives definitions of slang, buzzwords and phrases that you might not find in a regular dictionary. It gives the definition and a sample sentence. |
| Chihiro: Right, but a warning, along with slang, buzzwords, and everyday phrases comes a lot of profanity as well. So just to let you know for those who might be offended by... certain words shall we say? |
| Ryan: Good point. That one deserves an explicit lyrics sticker. What’s the next tool? |
| Chihiro: How about the BBC Learning English page? |
| Ryan: That’s a good one. The BBC website has an English learning page that has articles, quizzes, listening practices, blogs and more geared toward the English learner. |
| Chihiro: This is a good way to study English in the news or for businesses purposes. The articles are short and they come along with a listening practice. |
| Ryan: Be careful if you’re studying American English though, since the pronunciation of the recording, pronunciation tips, as well as the spelling will be in British English. |
| Chihiro: And on to the next one. |
| Ryan: Let’s talk about a grammar tool. How about Guide To Grammar? |
| Chihiro: Everybody has grammar questions when learning another language. This website will help you with questions you may have regarding grammar. |
| Ryan: It has an index which you can look up your grammar question with, and also a search engine. |
| Chihiro: It also contains quizzes that you can take to improve your grammar. Native speakers even need grammar tips from time to time, so it doesn't hurt to turn to this tool from time to time. |
| Ryan: Okay, and what’s the last tool? |
| Chihiro: Well, the last one isn’t quite a tool, but rather a game that will help boost your vocabulary with some fun. And it's called TextTwist! |
| Ryan: Ah, TextTwist. It’s a simple game that can be played online or downloaded off the web that will help you improve your vocabulary. |
| Chihiro: The object of the game is to rearrange the given alphabet letters to make as many words as possible. If you can get the longest word, then you go to the next level. |
| Ryan: It’s simple enough to play, and at the same time it’ll make you want to know much more vocabulary than you currently do. |
| Chihiro: Okay, there are plenty more on the web that are useful when learning English, but here are five of our suggestions. |
| Ryan: Right, use them to help you along with your learning process and it’ll make your life a lot easier. |
| Chihiro: I’ll see you soon! |
| Ryan: Bye for now. |
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