Word-by-word translating is a fail. It may be ok in very similar grammars, but with different languages the process looks like this: you read something in one language, grip the idea and then express this idea by the means of other language. So your ability to comprehend one language and express using the other one are the keys to success. That is why it's always easier to translate from a foreign language you understand well to your native language.

In my humble opinion, vocabulary.com offers a lovely game of exploring new words.

Waht?!?! I've studied french, they may seem common, but are extremely different.

You should really just practice more, read english newspapers/books, view movies in english, play on english game servers - everything works.
My funniest experience probably was on european servers of world of warcraft. Going through a dungeon with a party like myself russian, italian, swedes and an english dude, everyone using a voice server. Was just hilarious. And yet helpful enough.

Chatting is always helpful. Not necessarily with the natives, any english-bearer is fine. And don't be afraid to ask the meaning of words/phrases you don't understand, most people are eager to help you out.

Cheatah, thanks for a great source! The game is really absorbing and seems to be useful :)

I found myself really stupid Very often I know the meaning of the word in question, but don't understand the suggested answers

Yeah, me too. It's just they put there some quite rare words as answers. In these cases I just look up these words in their own dictionary :) And put some to learn mode if I like them.

Quite the same.
What worries me a little is that it is rather easy to “master” a word. Well OK, I picked up the correct meaning several times, but it does not guarantee that I won't forget this word in a couple of days. However, their FAQ says “we ... reinforce your skills by reintroducing words at various times to make sure that you are retaining the words you originally learned.”

I'm the 19th today with 70K+ words :D And I'm up to more))

Oh no! Stop that! Go out, take a walk. Get a life! :) I'm almost feeling responsible.


I think they just didn't quite expect you to spend five hours a day playing this :) If you play less (like 15-30 minutes), you'll come to repeating a word for several days before mastering it - this would probably be more efficient (although less points there).

Oops, I meant points, not words :D And that certainly took less than 5 hours.

I guess I'll play less as the time passes. But the initial interest it great :)

Learning is life too :) I don't think a walk can do me any good now. The weather is fine, but what do I do outdoors? I'm not a child to play and run about. So I prefer reading, browsing and learning new words today.

By the way, I've finished reading Stone of Tears today. As far as I know, it is the largest book of all the Sword of Truth series. I'm rereading the originals now and correcting numerous typos and other scan errors to make the ebooks quality really acceptable.

I can see you've made it to top 5 )))

Yeah, and that's enough for today. I'm glad there is no battle for the month's top like our rating one

F is for fiat :)

Not to mention Russian... ;)

English and French are so different yet so similar.
That was my classmate's opinion. Her primary foreign language was German, and English was mine. We studied French since form 6. Same thoughts.
"Et si tu n'existais pas, Dis-moi pourquoi j'existerais..."
"And if you would not exist, Tell me what I would exist for..."
See? Almost word-by-word equivalence, Roman roots, syllables in the same beat... :)