Back in June I posted My Personal Top 10 Tips. There were a lot of great comments on that post and lots of othert tips and suggestions from readers since then. So, we want to share a couple of them with you.

elenkaest suggests -

elenkaest, an Estonian Russian language teacher, wrote in suggesting that language learners wear headphones as much a possible. You can play books on tape, a news radio channel or an interview, or maybe even songs being sung in your target language. While listening you could wash the dishes, or walk your dog, or even work in the garden.

Thank you elenkaest for the tip.

Livemocha Summer Video Challenge participant Meredith Miller, and Italian language learner, just sent me a link to her favorite Italian radio station to listen to: Radio2.rai.it. Follow the link, then in the red banner near the top of the page, click on: “ascolda Radio2″.

Meredith says, “I especially like their ‘Moby-Dick’ music show. You can also subscribe to Moby-Dick podcast on iTunes.”

Radio2 also has a YouTube channel, if you choose to find them there.

To tell you the truth, I’m listening to this station as I’m writing this blog post. I don’t speak Italian, but I’m repeating everything the DJ is saying. I’m telling’ ya, listening to your target language is The way to go!

Matthew Roy shared this -

I truly love this (the Top 10 post)! I will be using many of these(tips) in the future. I can say that reading children’s stories are an excellent way to learn. For German I am going through the 200+ the folk storys of the Brothers Grimm, using the site Grimms’ Fairy Tales. It’s a very good resource and it links to all the stories by Anderson. The great thing about this sight is that you can read the stories in parallel in two different languages: English, Deutsch, Français, Español, Italiano, Dansk, and Nederlands. It’s like having one of those Dover Dual Language Books on your computer! Plus, the stories are generally quite bite-sized and give you a good handle on vocabulary and grammar.

Excellent tip for a great resource, Matthew. Thank you!

‘Schatziwolfe’ shared her story –

Thanks for all of the advice.  These are all really helpful tips when stranded out there in your own self-learning program.  I have learned along the way to give up the dictionary and the translator; I think we get stuck looking for that right word instead of working our way around it.  Invariably the native or someone else will supply the correct word, and you will never forget when you learned THAT word.  I found that when I did this, I became a better listener in Spanish.  I have applied that same theory to my new target languages, Italian and German.  I am no longer afraid of making mistakes because I KNOW I WILL and I am also now confident that I will be corrected. My other big advice as you’ve stated here is to practice speaking/writing your language as soon as possible.  I started a thematic blog recently in my target language…I hope you all check it out.  ilearndeutsch.blogspot.com…and trust me I am an absolute beginner.

Great ideas. Drop the dictionary and really learn the language.

Thanks to everyone who shared their tips and resources. This is what our Livemocha community is all about!

Does anyone know of another website like the one that Matthew suggested, or a fun blog written in your target language that you’d like to share? Or maybe a resource for books on tape, or radio channels, or podcasts we can listen to while we’re laying poolside this summer? If so, share them in the comments below or send them to blog@livemocha.com. And, by all means, keep your tips and tricks coming! Who knows, maybe your trick will be the one that makes the difference for someone in their language learning goal.