As someone who has been teaching English for many years and is also a lifelong learner, I know how important it is to find helpful resources. That’s why I want to tell you about Readlang. It’s one of the top tools I recommend to my students who do a lot of online research in English and who want to expand vocabulary. It’s a fantastic tool for improving your English skills, so let’s explore how it works.
What is Readlang?
Readlang is an online service that can assist you in translating unfamiliar words within their context. It also provides features to help you store, learn, and review these words at regular intervals, which sets it apart from other similar services.
To get started, you can easily set up the Readlang browser extension at no cost. Alternatively, you can use the bookmarklet and activate it on almost any website. However, please note that this extension is not compatible with cell phones.
One of the advantages of Readlang is that it allows you to translate not only individual words but also entire phrases. In the free version, you have the ability to translate up to 10 phrases per day.
Why is it important to see and translate phrases rather than individual words?
Translating phrases instead of individual words allows for more accurate and correct translations since the service relies on Google Translate. Let’s compare the two translations below:
Phrases provide a micro-context, allowing you to see how a word “works” both grammatically and in terms of its conjugation with other words (such as articles, plural forms, verb endings, and auxiliary verbs). Additionally, phrases are easier to remember than single words.
You can review these words and phrases in the form of flashcards using the spaced repetition system. Also, you have the option to set up reminders that will be sent to your email, helping you track your progress on a schedule.
Start reading English websites using Readlang
You can start using Readlang to translate unfamiliar words and phrases even without registering. However, if you want to save these words and phrases for future reference, it is recommended to register for an account.
Registering for the service is free. While the paid version offers additional features, the free version is sufficient for most English learners.
With free registration, you can:
- Import articles, web pages, and other texts such as documents and books.
- Remove “unnecessary” words from your saved word lists.
- Learn words through automatically generated flashcards that provide examples from the text.
- Systematically learn words using an interval repetition system, where “difficult” words are repeated more often than those you have already memorized.
This way, you can enhance your English reading skills and expand your vocabulary effectively.
Readlang Web Reader – the browser extension
To activate the extension, simply click on it. When the window opens, it will ask you to select two languages. Choose the language you want the article translated into, which is often your own language. Then, choose the language of the article you are translating, which is usually English. Registering immediately is recommended to save both the article link and the translation, but it is optional.
If you find a word you don’t understand, click on it. Google Translate will show you its translation. Remember that it will show the first meaning of the word. This may not always be the right meaning for the context. So, the translation may not always be accurate. However, if you select 2-3 words that are close to each other, the translation will become more accurate.
This browser extension works well for almost any text, including Wikipedia articles or other works you need to understand. If you want to go beyond that, you can go to the website. There, you can study or review the words and phrases you have translated.
Learning unfamiliar words using flashcards
In the Flashcards tab, you can choose how many unfamiliar words or phrases you want to practice. You have three options: 8, 15, or 23.
If you want to not only repeat these words once, but actually learn them, it’s a good idea to select the “Send me an email every day if I forget to practice” option.
Here’s how the cards look:
- On the left side, you’ll see the word or phrase in English that you are trying to learn. You can even listen to how it’s pronounced.
- At the top, there’s a part of the sentence from the text you read with the word you translated.
- On the right side, you need to recall the translation. If you can remember the word or phrase quickly and accurately, click “Yes” during the test. This way, you won’t have to repeat this word often in the near future. However, if you couldn’t recall the word, click “Not at all” and the algorithm will make sure you see it more often during subsequent repetitions.
If you mistakenly selected a word or if it’s no longer relevant, you can remove it from the list.
Later, you can “activate” the most useful vocabulary by using the words in your own sentences to remember them better. And if you have confuse certain words because they seem similar, you can ask ChatGPT to explain the difference.
Conclusion
The Readlang service offers several benefits. Firstly, it allows you to translate words and save them for future reference. Additionally, the service adjusts the number of times a word is repeated in subsequent card-based lessons based on your ability to remember it.
By practicing every day, you can easily keep track of your progress according to a set schedule.
In summary, Readlang is a valuable tool that aids in reading English websites, comprehending text, expanding vocabulary, and monitoring your progress. So go ahead and test it out.
