With access to the internet, it has become possible for people to actualize their dreams of becoming bilingual or multilingual (even in sign languages). There are a lot of ASL online resources and learning platforms available in the world that sometimes people are confused about which platforms to use and the style that will best suit them in learning ASL.
Can any online platform be considered the best? Remember, what may work best for some people might not suit others due to personal preferences, yet there are some ways that can help you get the best out of whichever resource or platform you may decide to use. Let us take a look at these ways.
Meaning of Online Resources and Learning Platforms
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Before we delve into how to utilize the available ASL online resources or language learning platforms we have, first, we must understand what online resources are.
Online resources are either webpages, audio, music, books, images/photographs, newspapers, magazines, or videos that are made available via the internet and that provide relevant information. This definition shows the wide range of online resources available to learn all languages including ASL.
Learning platforms on the other hand can be viewed as unified portals that combine various online resources in no particular way to enable teachers to connect with different learners at the same time depending on what subject is being learned.
Now that you have understood the meaning of online resources and learning platforms, we can say that various language learning apps are under the category of language learning platforms.
Now, how do you go about learning a new language with online resources or learning platforms?
Use the Language Preference in Your Browser
At times when you are surfing the internet on your phone or any other device, do you remember coming across the ‘language preferences’ tab? Well, the importance of this tab is that you get to choose what language you want to interact in. You can as well change the language to the language that you are learning, this way you can learn many words in the language all at once. This is recommended more for those who have gone far in their language learning. This option does not work for sign languages.
Use Language Extensions in Your Browser
Aside from changing the language option in your browser, another way to learn a new language is by including a language learning extension in your browser. Depending on which extension you use, you learn terms in the new language in a gradual manner than when you choose the language preference option, which alters the entire web page.
Visit News Sites
There are some news websites online that write their news in the language you seek to learn or are learning already. Search for these news websites and take the opportunity of reading them alongside the news written in the language that you are fluent in.
Play Games
Some video games can serve as language-learning platforms because the idea behind them is that you learn a language as you play. That is why you must have seen some games with different language options. This is to help players interact by learning a new language. Some ASL game options are found here.
Use Podcast Platforms
The beauty of podcasts is that they are not restrictive in terms of the availability of the information they have as well as in terms of convenience. Not only are there several podcast platforms, every day, but people also make new podcasts about different things that affect mankind. Language happens to be one of those things. So make use of the opportunity that these language podcasts present.
These language podcasts are like most audio files available online for streaming and downloading and can be listened to while you drive, clean, cook, walk, exercise, eat, or are about to sleep. As we said earlier it is pretty convenient. Through this means, language seeps into your brain unconsciously.
Because ASL is a visual language, it is not possible to use the podcast platform to learn ASL.
Visit Language Youtube Channels
Just like podcasts, there are several youtube channels dedicated to language learning. Youtube is an online resource that can serve as a learning platform offering visual and audio services at the same time. There is the opportunity to drop your questions in the comment section in cases where you need more clarity. Several ASL and Deaf youtube channels exist.
Use Other Interactive Social Media Platforms
Social media platforms like Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter, and Instagram can also be utilized to learn a language by connecting with native speakers of the language as well as with others who are in the same boat of learning the language as you. How much do you want to learn this language? Connecting with others can be a great opportunity. This leads us to the next
Be Willing to Put Yourself Out There
I guess this is the most important tool you need in learning a language through using online resources or learning platforms. You must be willing to put yourself out there. That is what using the internet is about. It takes you from your world into several others. The more eager you are to learn a language, the more you should be willing to reach out and be reached out, given how the world is digitizing everything.
Read Online Books, Magazines, and Blogs
There are books(fiction and nonfiction), magazines, and blogs that have been written in different languages to aid people to learn these languages. Have you tried looking for these? Expand your online search, and you will find out there are materials in the new language you seek to learn waiting to be explored.
Conclusion
So far, we have looked at the various online resources/learning platforms you can use to help you learn a new language. You might want to combine them or use them separately. Whatever you decide, these online resources/learning platforms point to something, and that is that the process of learning a new language is a form of education, and like the goal of any education, it seeks to improve the learner based on the given objective.
You definitely will most likely always need the internet to aid your language learning. Check out SignBee Academy, a very good ASL learning platform with a lot of ASL learning resources.
Thumbnail Credit Photo to: Image by rawpixel on Freepik
