RESOURCES

SITES:

CATEGORIES TO TARGET IN SEARCHES

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS:

IMPACT:

ADVICE:

It is never too soon to begin looking for scholarships. But it can quickly become too late. Many scholarships have application deadlines in the early Spring. Hopefully these tools and words of wisdom will help you reach your financial education needs. Do you have any other resources to share?

This is the third in a series of posts about the college financial aid process. Subscribe to our feed so you won’t miss future tips on loans and debt recovery.

IMAGE COURTESY OF SXC.HU

DO I NEED TO MAKE A SPECIAL GRANT REQUEST?

Generally schools automatically consider eligible applicants for all monies available – including federal grants, institutional scholarships, state grants, and federal loans. Non-institutional scholarships and private loans are things you need to pursue on your own. A handy guide to the world of grants can be found on My College Calendar.

IS EXTRA AID WORTH FIGHTING FOR?

Yes. Using rounded estimates, according to Jonathan, “FDU doled out an average of $19,500 towards the general $30,000 annual tuition cost in 2008.” If you feel your need based aid is not accurately reflected in the FAFSA figures, contact the school. If you are a finalist for a merit based institutional scholarship, do all that you can to set yourself apart in follow-up interviews or essays. Outside of the federal government, the school is likely the source of the highest aid available to you. The monies are available to those who are deserving and early to the party.

ARE FREE RIDES A RESONABLE EXPECTATION?

No. They are the exception. Even if tuition is completely covered, room & board is still a big expense sometimes equaling half of the tuition cost. GPA and other performance requirements each school year are often necessary to keep the good deal in place.

IS AN AID OFFER NEGOTIABLE?

Yes and no. If there have been changes to your family’s current year financial figures over the prior year’s you can submit a change of circumstance request with your school. According to Jonathan … “FDU personally responded to all of the approximate 500 appeals received in 2008 from the approximate 5,500 aid packages offered. Approximately 75% of those appeals held legitimate circumstances where we tried to entertain solutions. These solutions were personalized on a case by case basis.”

If you have received a better offer from another school, sharing that information with other schools may not be as helpful as you imagine. Jonathan states that “people like to share that kind of information during appeals, but we are doing what we can within our own budget and model. Other school’s offers don’t really have much of an impact.” However, he did also mention that “good students know” if they are highly desirable to a school and will do their own homework (i.e. research) when applying to begin with. The more desirable you are, the more likely a school will want to award their available resources to you. Letting them know how close or far apart they are from your other choices certainly doesn’t hurt your case. But essentially, each school is given a limited amount of funding to work with by the government. Institutional monies are the only flexibility they have and eligibility requirements must be met.

HOW DOES SCHOOL SIZE EFFECT MY AID PACKAGE?

State schools offer affordability to a broad range of students, provided they elect to stay in-state. Smaller private schools can compete with state schools often times by using need based financial awards to high need students with strong academics. Prolific higher cost private schools have trended towards an exclusive need based model (knowing competition for acceptance is high) whereas more affordable private institutions still combine merit awards with need, narrowing the gap in out of pocket expense. Knowing your school of choice’s aid model can help you see how you fit in their money pie.

ARE AWARD PACKAGES LOYAL TO RETURNING STUDENTS?

Yes and no. Merit based portions remain in place provided performance criteria is met from school year to school year. Need based portions are re-evaluated from school year to school year. The sooner you submit your FAFSA the earlier your school has your financials and the more likely you are to receive need based aid. Don’t assume your school will set aside need based funds for you from year to year just because you are a returning student. They have a fixed amount of money to dole out to needy students each year – first come first serve.

DOES ACCEPTANCE OF AN AID PACKAGE EQUATE COMMITMENT TO ATTENDING THE SCHOOL?

No. There are deadlines and deposits involved, but accepting an offer of aid does not mean you are obligated to attend the school. However, if you do not accept the aid package, away it goes. Accept those offers while they are out there and weigh your options as they come in. One school’s larger aid package may not result in a better deal for you. Overall college expense is key, in addition to commute, region, student to teacher ratio, work experience and of course, the biggest educational potential for the career path you choose.

ARE THERE NON-TRADITIONAL GRANT OPTIONS?

Work Study. Resident Assistants. Teaching Assistants. All of these are options you should be asking your school’s aid department about. While work study is generally built in to aid packages, you may need to be proactive about requesting RA and TA positions. While TA positions tend to be for graduate students, RA positions can be available to undergraduates and will help to reduce your Room & Board expense in exchange for monitoring your peers in the dorm.

DO MY CONNECTIONS REDUCE MY COST?

If you are related to an alumni, not only can it boost your admissions appeal, but it can reduce your tuition cost. Many schools also offer discounted rates to family members attending the same school together. The more the merrier as they say.

WHAT CAN THE AID DEPARTMENT DO FOR ME?

In addition to doling out aid packages, they can be a good resource for understanding the various aid outlets overall. As Jonathan points out, “FDU is unique in offering financial aid workshops to prospective students and members of the community, in addition to being available for one-on-one counseling.” Their next workshop is being held January 23rd and is open to the general public – details can be found here. Aid departments for any school should be available for questions about the FAFSA and you should ask them about informational aid programs that they provide. They may also point you in the right direction for state related scholarships and lenders, but generally these and private scholarship resources are things you will need to seek out directly.

Schools are not inaccessible entities randomly doling out fixed aid figures. They have aid departments and directors dedicated to matching students with the federal, state and institutional funds available. If they can’t make their school affordable to you, you can’t attend. You are an asset they want to invest in, so if you have questions or feel their assessment of your financial situation is off base, contact them. They do have budgets and models they have to work within, but the sooner you get your information in front of them the better your chances. And a personal conversation can go a long way.

This is the second in a series of posts about the college financial aid process. Subscribe to our feed so you won’t miss future tips on scholarships – where to find them, how to get them.

IMAGE COURTESY OF SXC.HU

I have found a company, owned by Amazon, that has a great reputation and can get your book published, with a proof ready within 1 week of you submitting it for review. I have learned over the last few weeks: writing the book, designing a cover, preparing a manuscript, proofing etc.

In this article I will show you what I have learned and hopefully you can be one step ahead of the game when you publish your own book.

There are 5 components to getting a book published using Createspace.com:

• Setting up an account
• Preparing Your Manuscript
• Preparing your artwork (book cover)
• Uploading for proofing
• Approve proof

Setting Up An Account

Go to www.createspeace.com and click on the ‘Create New Account’ and fill in all the necessary details.

You will receive an email to verify your account with Createspace. Once you have done this, you are ready to get started creating your first book.

Preparing Your Manuscript

To prepare your manuscript you don’t need any expensive desktop publishing software. You can simply use Microsoft Word, OpenOffice or whatever is your want.

Length

Your book can be almost any length you want but must be a minimum of 24 pages. The size of font you use, the size of the book, the margin sizes etc will all have a bearing on how many pages your book will be. As a rough guide I would say no less than 100 words per page, so a 24 page book would consist of 2,400 words, which is about the length of two posts on Lifesnips.com.

Font

It would be wise to remember that the font you choose affects the reader. Whilst a nice font might look cool to you it might be difficult to read so choose a good font that is readable.

The font size should be from 10 – 12 pts depending on the nature of the book. If it is a children’s book with graphics etc the font size will be larger. If it is an standard book then a smaller font size of 10 would be better.

Page numbers

Just like in an ordinary book it is good to have page numbers at the bottom of each page. You will need to find out how to put in a page break in your document as you will not want to number all of the pages e.g. the contents, the dedications etc. This can be a little tricky but if you Google it you will be able to find out how to do this with the program you are using.

Proofreading

For your book to sell and get good reviews it would be wise to get your book proof read by a proofreader. You can hire proof readers on elance.com, guru.com, warriorforum.com. Make sure the person you hire has had good feedback from other users and preferably a qualification in proofreading.

Turning your book into a pdf

Createspace ask for the manuscript to be uploaded in PDF format. Don’t worry if you don’t have a pdf program to convert your word document you can do this online or download free software to do this from:

www.doc2pdf.net/

www.pdf995.com/

www.primopdf.com/index.aspx

Preparing Your Book Cover

Go to Artwork At CreateSpace

This is where you will find out how to create the book cover templates.

You will need to know what size you want your book to be. This is easy, just look at the standard sizes and measure it out on a piece of paper with a ruler. You will soon learn all the various sizes without needing the ruler as most books are done in standard sizes.

Video on How To Create A Book Cover For CreateSpace

Some of the free graphics programs you can try are:

www.gimp.org/

www.getpaint.net/index.html

www.ultimatepaint.com/

Uploading For Proofing

Now that you have completed your manuscript and artwork it’s time to upload everything to createspace and give some more information.

You will be taken to a screen like this:

Put all your details in the boxes as required. The boxes to pay special attention to are:

Subtitle: use this box to load as many keywords as possible without making it sound too bad. This is for the searchability factor. The subtitle will only be seen when your product is shown, and not on the book cover.

Description: Give a good description and make it appealing. read the blurb on the back of some of the books in your niche and get an idea of what to write.

Primary Category: This is important as it is hard to change after you have chosen it.

Search Keywords: Load some great keywords in here

Authors biography: make sure to pus something in here that gives you authority and make browsers want to buy from you.

Add File Properties

This is basically how the book will look at how many pages it has etc. Again it is self explanatory

Add Files:

This is where you upload the files you made earlier for your book interior and your book cover in PDF format.

There are a few more questions after this, and you will have completed the initial stage of proofing.

You will then be asked to order a proof copy of your book. Depending on the country you are in and how quickly you would like it sent you will be charged for this.

Approving your proof

You will be sent a copy of your completed book as it will look for the buyer.It is up to you to make any changes that is necessary. When you receive the book try and be as objective as possible and look at it from a readers point of view and not from an excited, newly self published authors point of view.

A Word About Royalties and Taxes

If you are in the US then all is well with your publishing deal and royalties figures. The illustration above shows how much you would expect to get if you sold your book for $14.99. The PRO plan is an upgrade plan you pay a one off fee of $39 and then an annual fee of $5. This will give you a bigger royalty cut and you will also be eligible for the new expanded distribution payout as well.

International Customers

If, like me, you are an international customer you will need to fill in a few extra forms called the:

W-8BEN from – this shows you are in a country where a treaty has been agreed between the US and your country and the taxes will have already been agreed. For the UK it is 0% taxes.

However, there is also another form to fill in which is a little more tricky to do. This is called the W-7 form and this allows you to apply for an International Tax Identification Number.

The process for doing this is:

You need an ‘acceptance Agent’ to do the documentation to apply for the ITIN

These acceptance agents can be found all over the world and you can find out here:

Acceptance agents in your country

What is required:

* Completed W7 form , address is your UK address and acceptance agent will complete the top section (reason for applying)

* Copy of picture page of passport (notarized by Notary Public and with Apostille from the Hague attached ) Acceptance agent can notarize the copy in their offices but you would have to be present. You will be able to find out your local Notary Public by contacting your solicitor. Your notary public will send to the Hague (if in Europe)for Apostille and this service may cost you £60 or so.

* Letter from Create Space stating that they require you to obtain an ITIN This must be on their headed paper and signed

* A fee £120 UK cheque or C/C payment for the acceptance agent

It all seems a little complicated but if you are planning on selling a lot of books it will be worth the hassle.

If you don’t get an ITIN you will be charged 30% on all your royalties.

Royalty payments

If you are in the US you can be sent your royalty payments by direct deposit into your bank account. If you are an international user you will be sent a cheque, which will cost to put into your own bank account.#

Conclusion

I have published one bookwith them so far, 100 Ways To Develop Your Mind and have been sent the proof copy. I am fixing a few little things, but overall I am extremely happy with the way the book has turned out. I am not too happy about the payments and having to pay extra money to get an ITIN but I think it could be an extra source of income when the book does go up onto Amazon.com after the new year.  I am sure as more and more writers start to use this form of publishing the international users will get a better deal and taxes will not be added.

BOOKMARKS:

You need to find the right websites and bookmark them in your Favorites folder in your browser so that when you are ready to research and apply you will have all of the sites you need at your fingertips. Some suggested sites to bookmark include:

PASSWORDS:

For many of the sites you have bookmarked, you will need to set up User ID’s and PIN’s in order to access your personal information and applications. Of special importance is applying in advance for a PIN to use on the FAFSA application. This is obtained online at http://www.pin.ed.gov/. Both the student and parents (if claiming the student as a dependent) will need their own separate PIN’s. To receive the FAFSA PIN each party will need their Social Security number and date of birth. These are also common requirements for PIN’s on investment, lender and bank sites – along with your account numbers.

FAFSA = Free Application For Federal Student Aid

EFC = Expected Family Contribution

SAR = Student Aid Report

CSS/PROFILE = College Board’s Financial Aid Application

SEE YOUR ACCOUNTANT:

Schedule an appointment with your tax preparer before year-end. Your accountant can guide you in making decisions on manipulating your income and assets prior to the end of the year. How can you best reduce your income for the year from an aid perspective? Is there a bonus, raise or additional income source such as alimony that you can delay until after 12/31? This will keep your income level lower for the upcoming school year’s aid calculations. However, it may also increase next year’s income figures, making your aid figures less attractive for you in the following school year. Are there capital gains that can be offset through sales of assets with losses? This can help your taxable income and also reduce your asset base for aid factor purposes. Same goes for charitable contributions. Tax and aid laws are complicated. Work with your accountant to make the waters less muddled.

Your accountant can also assist in estimating your year-end income figures and resulting tax calculations that will be required on the FAFSA application. Working off of the prior year’s returns and using pay stubs and account history details from your bookmarked websites will help provide the details needed. You can file your FAFSA before filing your federal returns using quality estimated figures. Upon your actual tax filing, which should be done in early February once all tax forms have been received, if your formal figures do not match your estimated figures, you will need to update your FAFSA. This can trigger requests for document copies and hold up your resulting Student Aid Report (SAR) however, so estimate with pristine care and calculations. Your accountant can be an excellent resource for providing estimated tax return figures in advance of filing.

SPEND:

In calculating your Expected Family Contribution (EFC) the government uses all of the financial information reported on the FAFSA. What your definition of an EFC is versus the government’s is generally vastly different. The government wants the student and their parents (if claiming the student as a dependent) to spend down their non-retirement assets almost entirely towards education. They don’t allocate as much for a reserve toward everyday living expenses, taxes and insurance payments as you might imagine. So when you receive your SAR you may be disappointed with the EFC results. Since they are expecting the student to use all of their hard earned dollars towards education, why not go ahead and beat them to the punch? Every student needs a computer or laptop. Perhaps some storage organizers for the dorm room. Use assets solely in the student’s name to purchase these items before year-end. This will reduce their assets, using them for school related expenses that would be spent anyway in the upcoming year. And it can lower the EFC, increasing the aid potential.

TALK TO THE SCHOOLS:

Many applicants use their high school’s Guidance Counselor to research financial aid information. However, most colleges and universities provide departments available as a resource for the financial aid process. More unique are schools such as Farleigh Dickinson University who offer workshops and one-on-one assistance with an aid counselor to prospective applicants. Check with the schools you have applied to and find out if they have a program or department available to assist with application questions, resources or guidance with the FAFSA and other aid options.

Look up their college codes on the FAFSA website or obtain from the school directly and list the earliest deadlines first on your FAFSA so they receive your SAR in time.

In order to receive an aid package from your school you may need to complete a CSS/PROFILE application in addition to the FAFSA which has an entirely different set of financial questions excluding less than the government does. Each school sets their own deadlines for CSS and FAFSA aid filings and you need to know what they are. Call them and get that date firm on your calendar. Many are around February 15th since it can take over a month for SAR’s to be generated. PROFILE’s can be filed prior to year-end and the exercise can get you prepared for the FAFSA process.

Look beyond overall tuition, room & board pricing. You want to know about any flexibility across their various plans. What are the Meal programs or requirements for on campus students? Do different Housing locations or sizes carry different costs? How can you be considered for one over the other? Are there free or discounted transportation options for on or off campus students? Are rentals available for electronic needs? Is the school’s health insurance cost less than what you currently have? Whatever you can do to reduce your complete college cost will reduce the amount of your government assigned EFC that you need to spend. Knowing the true figures and available cheaper options when calculating your budget will leave you better prepared when seeking supplemental aid.

DON’T GET LAZY:

Money you are given as opposed to loaned is the best kind. Use your time wisely now and while waiting for the government by seeking out and applying for scholarships. These pools of money are limited too, and the sooner you can find the ones that you genuinely qualify for, the better your chances are of being a lucky recipient. Employers, communities, intended career organizations, academics, athletics, military, arts, music, specialty competitions and other avenues are all worth looking into. Just beware of scams and unrealistic opportunities.

Implement these tips and you will be better positioned when the filing window opens for the FAFSA, and for knowing what your overall aid package needs to provide. Do you have any other resources, tips or tricks for maneuvering the college aid maze?

This is the first in a series of posts about the college financial aid process. Subscribe to our feed so you won’t miss future tips on scholarships, loans and other aid related issues.

ALL IMAGES COURTESY OF SXC.HU

READ TO THEM

From the moment they are born, read to them. Make the bedtime story a routine. Never turn down a child when they ask to have a story read to them. Even if you’ve read it to them 100 times in a row. They need routine, repetition, and security. Sitting in your lap or tucked into bed each night having their favorite book read to them fulfills those needs. It also gets them familiar with what a book looks like, which way the pages turn, how stories begin, evolve and end, and uses pictures to guide their imagination.

ENCOURAGE READING OF ANY KIND

Words don’t just exist in books. Ask them to read off the grocery list to you, pick their own meal by reading off of the menu themselves, read instructions to you while you put something together, or read the recipe to you while you cook. This is good every day practice and also highlights the importance and usefulness of reading. They may not enjoy reading books from school, but it may be hard for them to keep their nose out of a sports magazine or comic book, the funny pages in the newspaper or game sites online. The key is finding something they enjoy and incorporating the reading into that context.

GET THEM A LIBRARY CARD

Kids like independence. A great way to give some to them is with a library card. Bring them to the library and have them request a library card. Going through that process themselves and being given something of their very own to hold onto, care for and use is empowering. Give them a tour of the library – not just the children’s section. Let them see the world of books, genres and resources that the library provides to all levels of readers. Then let them browse and pick out their own books. After clearing their selections with you, have them pull out their own library card and check them out on their own. This process might just motivate them to read more.

TECHNOLOGY IS YOUR FRIEND

When I was growing up, we used to play Mad Libs on long car rides or stuck inside on rainy days. Making silly stories was easier the more words we knew to plug in. Without even knowing it was work, we learned what nouns, verbs, adverbs and adjectives were. Mad Libs are still around. But as technology has changed, kids can learn all about reading, spelling and vocabulary with LeapPads and online computer games. Matching your child’s interest in technology with reading is a great idea. Find educational sites, software and games that focus on stories, books, vocabulary, and writing. Doing word puzzles, crosswords and other games can be easier to encourage online instead of on paper. Here are some free online options:

GOODREADS

When your child turns 13 they can set up a profile online on Goodreads which is a social book club and catalogue resource for tracking books to be read and a platform for reviewing those completed. With monitoring by a parent or in the classroom kids are exposed to online discussions with others who have read the same books. They can publish their own ratings and reviews and organize virtual shelves in whatever way they prefer. Knowing there are other book lovers across the world reading the same things they are is a powerful tool to both inspire reading as well as meeting kids from many different walks of life.

PARTICIPATE IN A BOOK CLUB

Actively discussing something you have read opens up windows to all sorts of lessons. It teaches you how to convey your thoughts, debate your beliefs, see things from a different point of view and makes you pay more attention during the reading process to better absorb ideas for sharing later. If your local library or the school system doesn’t have book clubs for kids, start one as a family. Pick a book for the family to read – either together or individually at the same time. Then make time to meet and discuss it. It lets you monitor what your kids are reading while bringing the family together to share opinions. Encourage your kids to invite others into the book club, with parental permission.

EXPLORE GENRES

Your child might be turned off from reading because they haven’t found a genre or subject matter that they can relate to or that motivates them. If fantasy and fables don’t spark an interest, give them a biography or memoir of a person they admire. Introduce them to historical fiction, or mysteries. Most kids like to read about other kids their age going through the same things they have experienced. If your child loves to play baseball, find a book about a Little League team. Or if they love drawing, find a book about a famous comic strip artist. If they love action look for a book featuring a young character who saved the day on the high seas. And sometimes the classics like Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys will work their magic for your little sleuth just like they did for you.

MEET AN AUTHOR

Never underestimate the impression real life grown-ups have on your kids. They are in awe of meeting real firemen, policemen and doctors. But they also love meeting people that create – like artists, musicians and writers. Take advantage of any opportunities at your school, library or book store to introduce your child to an author or illustrator. Let them hear right from the source how they came up with the idea for that book your child is so familiar with. Let them ask for themselves how long it took to create that story, or decide what the character would look like. Let them shake hands, get an autograph or photo. Books are more interesting when they are personalized.

CREATE A BOOK

You appreciate something more when you know the effort involved in getting to the end result. Show your child how a book comes to exist. Have the youngest tell a story. Have the oldest write or type it out. Have the middle one draw pictures or take photos to illustrate it. Then work together as a group to edit it on the computer or in good old fashioned scrap book format. Bind it together and laminate the covers. Sit down as a family and read it. Then discuss it. Talk not only about the story and illustrations but the experience of working to pull all the pieces together and get them to fit into the book you hold in your hands. They might pay more attention to the words, illustrations, characters and layout in other books that they come across.

MAKE A BOOK COME ALIVE

Encourage your kids to act out the story behind their favorite book. They can put on a play, do a puppet show, make a video, or put it to music. Give them the old clothes to design costumes. Socks make great puppets. They can write their own lyrics to a musical version. Software on your computer can easily transform the photos or recordings of the performance and turn it into a slideshow or video. The kids will refer back to the book as a guide and their source for inspiration. They may enjoy the production process so much that they will be motivated to seek out more books with stories to bring to life.

SHARE THEIR EXPERIENCE

Create a family blog or newsletter where your kids can contribute their own stories, provide reviews of the books they have read, summarize your book club discussions, post videos of the stories they’ve acted out, share photos from that author they got to meet, display illustrations they’ve made of their favorite literary characters, or come up with a To Read list.

Reading doesn’t have to be a solitary experience or a chore. It can be enjoyable, informative, exciting, eye opening and inspiring. The more you make it a part of your child’s life, the easier their learning process will be. Get creative, make it fun and set a good example. Books are the movies of our minds. And reading is the key to unlocking all of that imagination.

What things do you do to inspire children to read?

ALL IMAGES COURTESY OF SXC.HU

Online learning is also very effective because it makes use of text, photographs, audio and video to permit you to both hear and see how the language is actually used. This is very different from reading a book on a certain language in which you are usually limited to the words that you may not know how to correctly pronounce. Language courses offered over the Internet are also interactive in nature so that you can practice your vocabulary and check your grammar. Many of the lessons can also be downloaded into your laptop or MP3 player so that you bring them anywhere you go. This will permit you to listen to the lessons and practice saying the words and sentences while you are doing something else, such as exercising or driving.

How Do You Choose the Language to Learn?

If you want to learn a language because you will need it when you travel to foreign lands, it is easy to make a choice. You simply select the language of the country that you often go to. However, if your purpose is to add to your knowledge and skills, you may want to choose one of the languages that is used in various countries, such as Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese, or Japanese. You may also want to learn similar languages at the same time, such as Italian and Spanish.

Online Sites for Learning a Language

There are thousands of websites that can permit you to learn the language that you have chosen. There are even sites that act as portals for the various language learning sites. One of these is the website is the Center for Learning and Performance Technologies. At this particular site there are more than 100 sites that are alphabetically arranged. These include the 200 word-a-day site that helps you increase your vocabulary by learning 200 words a day in German, French, Spanish or Welsh.

Another portal is Word2Word. A table of languages is presented that you can click on to visit the site for that particular language. Another portal for language learning is the Open Culture Free Foreign Language Lessons. This particular site offers a collection of podcasts that can be downloaded using iTunes. Aside from podcasts, some of the sites may also offer suggestions on books and software that will help in the learning process.

Another useful portal that you may want to look into is the BBC Languages site. This portal is focused on Italian, Spanish, German, and French, but is also provides training and activities for other languages such as Portuguese, Greek, Chinese, Japanese, Polish, and Urdu. You can also learn the UK languages, such as Gaelic, Welsh and Irish. You can also visit the World Nomads Travelers Language Guides. It contains basic phrases that you can download into your MP3 player or notebook computer so that you can bring them along while you are traveling.

Book Sites for Language Learning

Reading a book that is written using the language that you are trying to learn may also help. One important site for getting access to books in various languages is Project Gutenberg.

You can also visit the Foreign Language Book Sources site that focuses on several languages, including Bosnian, Dutch, Hungarian, Japanese, French, Danish, German, Italian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Portuguese, and Turkish.

Sites to Help You Practice

There are also a number of sites that can help you practice speaking, reading and writing the language that you have chosen to learn. One of these sites is the Internet Polyglot site that offers free online activities and games for those who already have a basic knowledge about a particular language. Another important practice site is Before You Know It that uses interactive flashcards. It also permits you to download a free language learning computer program.

Practicing with a Partner

It also makes sense to have a partner when you are trying to learn a language. This is because it is difficult to practice your conversational skills with software or a computer. A partner will help you hone your listening and speaking skills for that particular language.

For those who cannot find a partner who is willing to learn a language with them, there are websites that have forums and communities where you can interact with other people who are interested in other languages. One such site is Fluent Yet?. Meanwhile, the Language Learning Advisor site offers some guidelines and advice for language learners. It also contains various resources for certain learning techniques and languages.

How to Get Used to the Language

Another tool for facilitating the learning of a new language is to actually see people using the language and this could be done by reading their newspapers, watching their television programs, or listening to their radio programs. The Web-Radio site offers a way to listen to the radio programs of various countries. Thus, you can select the country that speaks the language you have chosen and try to understand what they are saying.

For television programs all over the world, you can visit the World Wide Internet TV site. It contains links to various television stations and it also has a library of recorded videos. You can pick the country and the kind of program, such as music, news, sports, or education.

Free University Courses

There are also free university courses available in the Internet. One is the Open Courseware of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Another site is the Open University Learning Space of the United Kingdom. These courses have the advantage of teaching about current issues and culture.