Free Online Language Resources
Well I am a blogger right? So needless to say, language interests me greatly, and I like to think that I have a not inconsiderable vocabulary (I know words like eldritch, egregious, pasquinade and I could go on but I don’t want to show off 
). Now I know that this has nothing to do with bargain hunting and great prices here, but the fact is that there are all these FREE resources out there, that if you don’t know about, you can’t take advantage of, and that would be a shame now, wouldn’t it? For instance, all these resources will save you having to ever buy another dictionary or thesaurus again, so that is a great saving!
There are a lot of online resources that can help us to improve our vocabulary and language skills, all for free. Did you, for instance, know that you can improve your vocabulary by signing up to receive a word and its meaning everyday delivered daily to your email inbox? One word, along with its meaning, origin, usage, variations, pronunciation (including audio pronunciation) is emailed to you each day. You can sign up to receive the word of the day here, and also browse to find the meaning of any word. Wordsmith.org has a similar daily newsletter which teaches you a word a day and has an anagram server as well.
Reference.com is a great site which offers dictionary and thesaurus facilities besides a whole host of other features like a multilingual dictionary, games and puzzles, grammar and usage and other language dictionaries as well.
Another free English Dictionary with instant sound is this one, which is a great way to know exactly how to pronounce difficult words that we sometimes know the meaning of but are reluctant to use in actual speech because we don’t know how they are pronounced.
Now another way to exercise both your mind and keep your language skills up to date is to do crossword puzzles and I do a puzzle from here whenever I have the time. It is neither too difficult nor too easy and best of all if you can’t solve a clue, you have the option getting the answer instantly. Not ‘getting’ one can be really frustrating you know!
Of course you should do that which is best for improving language skills, read! Not only does reading increase the fund of your knowledge, it is the single best way to improve language. I have said it before, reading is perhaps the best habit that we can pass on to our children as well!
It has always seemed to me that reading serves best for studying languages, but if it’s not a foreign language you want to study, but want deeper knowledge of your native language - crosswords are great!
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But do you really think that people now have time. I want to learn Japanese because I will join either Toyota or Mitshubishi … but for general purpose I am not going to invest my time in this …
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Yes Language is very important for us bloggers, thank you for sharing these free online resources with us. Bloggers have to improve there language as much as they can because writing is there weapon.
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[...] Daily Reads Need to improve your English language proficiency? Proceed to check out these Free Online Language Resources as recommended by Nicole Price [...]
Reading can definitely improve writing. You have to adjust your reading speed a little bit though. When I read purely for ideas, I read very fast and I don’t note the good and bad features of what I am reading.
On the other hand, I am reading Michener’s Iberia and just taking the time to enjoy the quality of his writing. I read a page or two per day. Sometimes I stop and memorize a sentence.
You’re right though, reading is the best way to improve language skills.
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