In general, my favorite translator ever is Reverso. For expressions and such, Reverso Context. For the most part, it's pretty accurate.
For English, Italian and French, I use Vanity Fair and GQ, as I learn vocabulary from the interviews and articles they publish. There are also different versions of things like Vogue and Elle in the languages previously mentioned, which is so useful. More often than not, the language employed is less formal than the tone they would use at a journal, so I feel like I can actually read the way people are expressing themselves in real time without it feeling outdated, or having people give you phrases no one ever uses.
In English I use Wordhippo a lot. You can do so much, even as a native, I think more people should use it. Great resource.
YouTube, of course. I love it and as I previously mentioned in some other answer to this ask, I like things that focus on the democratization of the internet, and in this case, educational resources. Say what you want about YouTube, but this is a pioneer of such task. Along the same line, Substack has been useful as well but it's a little bit more difficult to find a writer that doesn't speak English.
If you have more specific sites I could use, let me know <3
Jan 22, 2025
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It’s very frequent that I recommend learning languages through YouTube videos on this account. I’ve already recommended some content creators, both in French and Italian, which are the languages I’m currently learning.
In case none of the suggestions I’ve made are of your liking, or you simply are learning some other language, I still want to leave a generic list of the type of people you could look for in the hopes of achieving fluency. This is intended for people who are self-taught and are just starting.
It’s important you look them up on YouTube. In my experience, short-form content is not very good for attention retention. besides, it's better when you stick to a limited group of people you could get familiarized with.
The first type of people you should look for, are vloggers. The advantage of said type of content is the fact that it tends to be repetitive, as the routines displayed go on loop video after video. Plus, you could get used to their personality, voice and accent, which could lead you to internalize aspects of the language better. It could also help you to amplify your views on cultural factors. Similarly, you could also go for podcasts.
The other type of content you should look for, is the one of magazines and journals. I suggest magazines because they are much more simplistic in their tone as their reach is generally more massive. For instance, you could look up Vogue (i.e. Vogue Italia, Vogue España, Vogue France, etc.), ELLE, Vanity Fair, Cosmopolitan, etc. These are aware of the international platform they hold, as well as how varied their audience tends to be, so they typically do simple content surrounding stuff like fashion, makeup, house-tours, among other things that are relatively basic to any language in order to hold a conversation. It goes without saying, that you should also read their articles to improve and expand your vocabulary.
The third type of content creator I'm about to suggest is a bit screwed up. That is, people who locate themselves in the true crime genre. The reason I suggest this, is because they touch upon the routines of people frequently. I know not everyone feels comfortable interacting with that kind of content, but not everything is about bloody murder. Don't knock it until you try it.
Sep 23, 2024
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My favorite translator. Very useful when it comes to learning languages. There's also Reverso Context that specifically makes translations inserted within a context.
May 20, 2024
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A guide to follow the right people who'll help you learn:
1. When it comes to technique, I think it's better when people stick to a single creator. Preferably one that has credentials as a teacher. On YouTube, there's plenty and they facilitate free content for their students as well. I think it's easier to keep track of your learning progress when you're seeing a single person explain things to you.
2. Booktubers: they typically have good pronunciation, precisely because they read a lot. A lot of them speak slower than their counterparts in other niches and since they're speaking about books, it's more likely the topics will be diversified because they're reviewing books, explaining to you the synopsis, etc.
3. Singers: people who sing also tend to have a good pronunciation. I would say, look for someone who's a content creator first, singer second. That sounds very specific but it could benefit you in the long run when it comes to your oral and listening skills.
4. People who do storytimes: I genuinely think that the best way of learning is through storytelling. This can look differently for everybody. For some people it's vlogs, for some is true-crime, for other is podcasts. Do whatever suits you.
Obviously the preferred platform is YouTube in this case, as I think TikTok doesn't help you process a lot of information and it can become overwhelming to be on the app, which worsens your will to learn.
Nov 19, 2024
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