Ask HN: How can I learn English?

4 points by matiasp 12 years ago | 7 comments

Im going to NYC for three month to launch my startup and need to improve my English.

Any startup doing something interesting on language learning?

arturogro25 12 years ago |

I've used the Rosetta Stone program for learning new languages and it's really cool. The software uses images, text, sound, and video to teach words and grammar by spaced repetition, without translation. It is used by the United States Army to help troops deploying to the Middle East learn the Arabic language for conversations and phrases important in a military situation. It was available to all US Army personnel, US Military Academy cadets, contracted US Army ROTC Cadets and other special guests with a sponsor. Try: https://www.rosettastone.com/‎

voidlogic 12 years ago | |

Rosetta stone is very expensive compared to Duolingo (which is free). Also there was study that showed while Rosetta stone was more effective than class room instruction it was only half as effective as Duolingo: http://static.duolingo.com/s3/DuolingoReport_Final.pdf

voidlogic 12 years ago |

Checkout Duolingo: https://www.duolingo.com/

This and watching English media should get you ready for an immersion experience which is considered by most the best way to learn. If you have the opportunity to speak with native speakers before your departure, do that too!

hmcm55 12 years ago |

Check out https://www.verbling.com/, its (YC S11)

gault8121 12 years ago |

Try http://www.quill.org

Quill provides interactive English grammar lessons. The entire site is free.

matiasp 12 years ago | |

Love the 9 errors game.

I've never seen 'Learning by Proofreading'.

gault8121 12 years ago | | |

You can see all of our lessons here: http://www.quill.org/lessons

We've already built 150 lessons. If you'd like to track your progress, you can create both a teacher account and a student account. Assign lessons from the teacher account to the student account.