The Firefox add-on Ming-a-ling aids in the learning of vocabulary of one or multiple languages. Its approach is quite unique, as it replaces selected words on websites with words from the language you are learning. The idea is to create a connotation between words in your native language and words in the language that you are learning.

The sentence “we need to cut down the Baum” is a basic example. The English word tree was replaced by the German word Baum in the sentence.

So how does it work in detail? It would be quite problematic if the extension would start changing words right away, or to many words, or words that you do not know yet.

The first step in making best use of the language learning tool is to add words from your native language. This is done by selecting words on the page, right-clicking them and choosing Add Phrase. It is then necessary to pick the source language and the destination language. The translation is shown and needs to be confirmed. The word will be automatically displayed in the language that you are learning whenever it appears on a page. The selection of the source and destination language is only necessary once, and then only if languages need to be switched.

The words are automatically highlighted on the page. You can move the mouse over the word to see its translation in a tooltip.

The extension places an icon in the status bar which can be used to access its preferences, to change the source and destination language and the frequency of translations on pages.

The add-on preferences contain options to disable or change the highlighting of translated phrases, disable add-on menus and to import and export data sets.

A left-click on the add-on’s icon in the Firefox status bar disables it, helpful if you need to work on something distraction free.

Ming-a-ling’s theory is interesting: People learn the vocabulary of a language easier if they can connect those words into their native language’s context. The setup may keep some users from utilizing the add-on to improve their vocabulary.

The developer should think about adding a stock of basic vocabularies to the add-on that can be activated directly, say the top 1000 words and phrases. It should be noted that this works best for languages that use the same, or a similar alphabet.

Interested users can download the Firefox add-on from the official Mozilla Firefox add-on repository. It is compatible with all versions of the web browser from Firefox 3.5 on.

Once you’ve decided you want to learn a new language, how do you go about it? Many places now have language-teaching centers, and for a nominal fee, you can join them. Beware, however, of bogus institutes, as many of these are only interested in the money and not the teaching. They either do not have qualified faculty or the necessary equipment and will most likely ditch you once the money has been paid. The best way to select a good language-learning institute is to talk to people who have already been there. Never judge and decide based on advertisements, as they will be misleading at most times. This is one way of learning a new language. There are many other ways too, for instance you could learn from a friend, a family member, or someone you know. Alternatively, you could learn on your own from a book. Whatever the source, it’s the learning that counts, and it is essential that you choose the most correct and reliable source.

There is another, much easier, and just as reliable way of learning a new language. That is by using language learning software. Language learning software is one of the most effective ways to learn a language, as it teaches with the help of videos, audio clips, and pictures, thus creating the perfect ambiance to learn in. The best part, you can do all this right from the comfort of your home by just spending a little time each day in front of the computer for a few weeks. While there remains no actual substitute for live teaching, software has come very close to achieving it. Choosing the software that works best for you is a task that needs to be looked into carefully. Generally, there are specific software for individual languages, and it would be best if you did a little searching on the internet to find out which software is the best for you. By reading user reviews on places other than the official site you can gauge a specific product or by inquiring with people who have actually used that software before.

Once you’ve decided you want to learn the language using language learning software, the next step is to search the internet for a list of the best software available. It is recommended to refer to a trusted review site, as more than a few websites may be biased and may not provide accurate information.

Now, let’s look into the things that make up great language learning software:

First, you should look into the company’s history and how long it has been around. This is because a company that has been around for quite some time is more likely to cater to your needs in an efficient manner because it has the necessary experience in dealing with individual requirements. Though the new start-up in your neighborhood may boast of big names on the faculty, nothing beats actual, hands-on experience when it comes to teaching a language. The main reason behind looking for an experienced company is because different people have different learning requirements. The longer you are in the business, the better equipped you are to understand this fact.

Second, look for the diversity in courses offered by the company. If a company has been around for about 20 years and offers just one language course, and if that is the language that you want to learn, then be sure to check it out, as they are probably the best in the business at what they do. It is not necessarily true that a company that offers scores of languages is a good one. Most new companies do that so they can attract more customers and extract more money from them. So this is a factor too while choosing the best language learning software for yourself.

Third, and one of the most important things, is to look at the technology used by the software in particular, and the company in general. Modern language learning software features speech recognition, pronunciation stress, and vocabulary checking. Checking out the technology is essential because when you pay for it, you expect the best. And speech recognition records your speech, and checks it for correct pronunciation, and tells you if there are any mistakes, and how to correct them. Such features are common place nowadays and thus should be included in your language learning software.

Fourth, the software should have a trustworthy and reliable customer support backup. Preferably, the company should have an employee from each nationality, who can speak the native language and assist you in case of any difficulty. It would be of no use if a German wants to learn English and in the event of trouble, calls up the customer service only to discover that they speak only English. Thus having a support team is a must for any language learning software, and this will come in handy at times.

Fifth, look for the user interface. Software thrives on how easy it is to be used and a good interface is what you should be looking for. Software that has loads of features but does not know how to present them is of no use. The first impression that you will get on the software will depend on the user interface, and the easier and more comprehensive it is, the greater the chance of you using it successfully is. Thus the user interface is an important factor. Check for screen-shots in review websites to see if the interface is appealing to you. Also be sure to read the reviews about the interface, and if there’s a demo version of the software available, then try it out, and see for yourself.

We have thus seen at the essential things to be looked into while choosing language learning software, so keep in mind these tips and march your way into learning a new language! Good luck!

Firelang is a sophisticated add-on with an incredible feature set that helps users learn a new language while surfing the Internet. For that, it comes with several tools.

Probably the most common of them all is a translation add-on, to translate selected words while surfing. The add-on comes with several dictionaries included, and options to add more dictionaries easily.

All dictionaries are available on right-click after selecting a word or phrase. The add-on furthermore remembers the last used dictionary and displays it prominently to save some time.

Included in the initial configuration are dict.leo.org, lingvo.ru, Wictionary, Urban Dictionary, Google Define and Wikipedia.

A unique feature from what I can tell is the translation history. Firelang keeps record of all translated words and their context, giving the user the opportunity to take a look at the words and their context at a later time, again with possibilities to display the translation.

And while we are at it. The history can be exported as flash cards. The program exports them into a text file which can be accessed in a standard text editor, printed, or imported into the popular Flash card learning software Anki.

But that was not still everything the history feature is good for. Firelang offers to highlight words in the history. How does it work? If highlighting is enabled in the add-on’s options, all words that have been translated in the past are highlighted on all pages they appear on in the browser. That’s great for seeing them in different contexts for instance.

Firelang offers several tools that are useful to users who are learning German. For one, it offers to colorize all German nouns in text. This is important for languages like German that has genders (unlike English which does not).

There are furthermore several language learning tools available. The article hiding tool removes articles from pages, replacing them with interactive placeholders which show their article on mouse-over.

Firelang offers several additional features that are well thought out. It is for instance possible to bind domains to dictionaries, good for learning multiple languages. The program offers hotkey support and lots of configuration options in the program’s settings. Definitely a tool to check out, especially for users who are learning German.

That’s were learning software like Teach 2000 come into play. Teach 2000 offers a flexible learning system which is based on flash cards which is excellent for learning words, letters but also everything else that can be put on the left and right side of a flashcard. The world’s capitals and their countries, the mountains and their heights and so on.

Teach 2000 comes as a portable version and as a version that has to be installed on the system. It comes with a few example fleshcards that explain the principle of the learning software but the user will have to create his own flashcards after looking at the examples. There is unfortunately no dictionary included for common languages.

Creating new flash cards requires some work and it is probably a good idea if additional users would join in and create flash cards for the language or subject that they are learning.

The learning software can test the user and records the history of the results. The tests are highly flexible. The user can select the order, the type of test (multi-choice, basic, puzzle and many more), select the error training interval and set error correction (for example that case does not matter in the answer). Some other interesting features of Teach 2000 are:

• Multi-line questions and answers.
• Phonetic symbols.
• Unicode enabled.
• Print flash cards, tests and crib notes.

Teach 2000 is a very nice learning software which requires some work in the beginning but provides a good range of tests and options for the learning student.