Free language resources brought to you by Language Trainers.
At Language Trainers, our mission is to offer one-to-one or small group language classes to people that need a teaching schedule which suits their busy lives. But we can’t be in class all of the time. So, while your course instructor will set exercises, homework and fun challenges to encourage you to continue developing your language learning outside of lessons, it can be helpful to have some linguistic materials to call upon during those spare moments here and there. Thus, we have created and compiled free resources which are fun to use and useful for your language learning.
Browse our extensive collections of foreign songs, films and books and use your breaks or downtime to build your foreign language vocabulary while gaining some insight into another country’s artistic culture.
Enjoy our library of amusing games and test if your global knowledge of accents and flags around the world are as good as you think. Or check out interesting infographics and learn something new about the countries that speak the language you are attempting to master.
And assess your learning progress by taking one of our Language Trainers Level Tests to find out at what language proficiency you are reading and listening. We have designed these tests to give capability levels equivalent to those of the International Second Language Proficiency Ratings (ISLPR). So, practising with these tests can be a great way to prepare for the real exam, if you ever decide to take it.
These free resources should supplement your language learning by offering an assortment of entertaining and informative materials to help keep your education compelling. Take your time browsing our tools and reviews for something useful—and enjoy!
Have you been learning a language and want to know your current assessment level? Perhaps you are thinking about picking one up that you have previously studied and want an idea of your ability before you start a new course? Or maybe you want to practise your foreign language skills before an upcoming test or trip?
Our Language Level Tests are online linguistic resources which assess your current level for understanding foreign vocabulary, phrases and sentence grammar across a range of topics. Tests deliver multiple-choice questions in batches of 10 and each batch is progressively more challenging. You can choose to answer the minimum of 10 questions, or up to a maximum of 70.
Once you submit your responses, you will receive instant results! These free language services will assess your ability from Beginner Level to Proficiency Level. Each of these levels matches the equivalent criteria of the ISLPR, giving you a good indicator of your linguistic standard.
We currently offer Language Level Tests for more than 18 different languages and are regularly adding more.
It is important to know that while our Language Level Tests offer a very good indicator of your existing level, they cannot test all aspects of your ability, such as listening and speaking. However, upon starting your course, your teacher will comprehensively assess your full language aptitude. This is both interesting for you to know and will ensure your tutor can effectively cater personalised lessons to make your learning experience as efficient and enjoyable as possible.
While our Language Levels Tests measure your reading and grammar capability of your chosen language, another key assessment area is listening. Thus, another of the online language services we offer is our selection of free listening tests, available in more than 18 languages and we will be adding more very soon!
For each of our available languages, we have listening tests which measure your foreign language comprehension to an elementary and intermediate level. If you’re in any doubt about your present ability, we recommend you take the elementary listening test first. It consists of a series of 12 exercises based on short audio files, ranging from identifying family members to accurately describing the events of a person’s day, wherein you must answer several multiple-choice-answer questions.
In comparison, the intermediate-level listening test is only 3 audio files, but the soundbites are much longer, sometimes involving multiple people speaking, and with questions testing if you comprehend the more challenging subject-matter and vocabulary.
Whichever level you choose to tackle, you will receive your results instantly, giving you your total test score and an assessment level of your current language listening ability. You can read the assessment level descriptions and see how they equivocate to the ISLPR here.
Our listening tests are an excellent indicator of your current listening capabilities as our questions and scoring system reflect the ISLPR levels. However, for a complete assessment of your language ability, you will also need to test your reading, comprehension, and speaking skills. This is something your tutor will do as soon as you begin your course: firstly, to assess your initial level and to design a custom course and materials to suit your learning needs; and secondly, as a means of continuously measuring your progress throughout your course.
One requires more than just classes with a teacher to efficiently learn a language. Like any skill, you need to take your lessons away and try out what you have learnt, challenging yourself to develop on your own. Listening to music, watching a film and reading books are some of the best ways to test your grasp of the linguistic rules and to expand your vocabulary, especially if you don’t have someone else around who speaks the language.
It is easier said than done to find a foreign language artist that you want to play repeatedly. Fortunately, our music experts regularly find and review songs from all over the world and recommend them on our Foreign Songs Reviews page. We currently have a selection of over 120 songs to choose from.
Another way to improve outside of class is to watch movies where the actors speak in the language you are learning. Our Foreign Films Reviews consists of a catalogue of more than 140 films from various countries worldwide. Watching a movie, like listening to a song, is a great way to become accustomed to listening to another language and you will instinctively start to remember new vocabulary and phrases.
Similarly, we have more than 60 books listed on our Foreign Book Reviews page, available in a wide range of languages and levels, from beginner comic books to advanced novels.
You can filter all of our song, film and book lists by country, making it easier to find entertainment in the language you are learning.
While you can choose your favourite form of media to practise your language, we recommend you try a mix of all three. Each offers its advantages. Songs are short and catchy, so you can listen over and over and learn new words in the process. Movies are longer but you have visual cues, too, to give context to the words you are hearing. And books are the best way to learn sentence and grammar rules and they are easier to put down for a moment while you look up the meaning of a new word.
As professional language trainers, we know how important it is to have the right materials to learn a language effectively. Without well-paced guidance, clear explanations, balanced exercises and suitable vocabulary, learning a foreign language immediately becomes much more difficult and it takes far longer to become fluent.
That’s why one of our free resources on this site is a list of Language Coursebook Reviews that we have collated. Whether you are a language learner or a teacher, you can browse our list of more than 200 language coursebooks, read our expert in-depth reviews, and find one which will help you improve. We have even included a handy filter, so you can quickly browse through the coursebooks aimed at teaching the language most relevant to you.
Depending on your current language proficiency, our reviewers have allocated a level rating for each book: beginner, intermediate or advanced. A coursebook is an incredibly useful resource to start learning a language and can provide excellent supplementary learning material and exercises. However, to master a new language, you will need to supplement the book with other forms of learning, including speaking with natives, engaging in comprehension exercises, and challenging yourself to communicate effectively in real-world scenarios. The easiest way to do all of these, at a pace and style that is tailor-made for you, is to enrol in one of our languages courses.
Learning a language is just as much about having fun as it is staying committed. If you have a few minutes to spare, why not try your luck at some of our free trivia games. They’re a good laugh and will test your knowledge of our great and varied global community.
For instance, English and Spanish are two of the most widely spoken languages, especially when you consider the number of countries in which they are spoken. English is spoken by almost 1 billion people in almost every country throughout the world. Consequently, accents tend to vary greatly. Can you tell a British accent from someone from the States? Or what about a German reading English versus a person from Lithuania? Try your hand at our English Accent Game to challenge your ear for pronunciation.
Similarly, Spanish is spoken by approximately half a million people and is the official language in 20 countries. Most people are familiar with the European Spanish lisp sound, but can you tell the difference between Colombian and Mexican Spanish? We have a Spanish Accent Game to put your skills to the test.
We also have a Guess the Flag game. Most of us probably think we know the flags of the world quite well. After all, we’re here to learn a language and expand our means of communicating and connecting with the world around us. We’re worldly and cultured, right? But there are approximately 200 countries in the world and each has a unique flag (although some are extremely similar). How many can you identify?
Alternatively, why not take a few minutes to enjoy a breather and learn about coffee from around the world in our interactive infographic? As one of the world’s most popular drinks, we will teach you how to order a coffee in a few different languages, as well as offer some interesting facts about the producers of the best coffee beans worldwide.