Whether you realize it or not, Google can prove to be a very useful tool for language learners. While it probably won’t make for an effective primary learning material, there are many things you can do with the powerful search engine that allows it to be a handy go-to resource.
- Search examples of vocabulary items in use. You’ve memorized a new German phrase, but aren’t sure in what contexts to use it? Go to Google and type in the phrase. What you’ll get are results of documents that use that exact phrase in sentences, allowing you to get a clear idea of when and how it is used. Can’t understand the rest of a sentence? Go to Google Translate and see what it means.
- Use Google Image. Come across a word you don’t understand? Type it in Google’s Image Search and you’re likely to see pictures of what the word means. Yep, photographic images that are way more descriptive than any dictionary definition can ever hope for. Make sure you set the URL to point to the country that speaks the target language natively to ensure best results.
- Use Google to correct your grammar. This one’ s probably more suited to non-beginners, but is helpful all the same. If you’re uncertain whether you’re using the right grammatical form for a word or phrase (e.g. you have the wrong gender), you can search all alternative forms in Google (with the URL changed to the country the language is from). The goal is not to get a straight “yes” or “no” on which one is correct. Instead, you’ll merely check how many results what you entered gets. If there’s a lot, then it’s probably correct; otherwise, it’s probably wrong (which is why native speakers don’t use it).
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