Quizlet: a Good Site for Learning

A while back, my wife Melissa recommended to me a website she had come across that is a handy studying aid. Called Quizlet, it is a directory of different curricula submitted by the public, with various ways offered for students to self-quiz. There are many different categories of study topics offered, but I am particular to the language section. I take whichever language I want to practice my vocabulary from and choose a submission that contains what I deem to be an appropriate word list for me. Then I hit the "scatter" option on Quizlet and practice matching that language's words with their English equivalents. It's very easy to access, extremely flexible, and broad in the choices offered. I come away from sitting at Quizlet for about 30 minutes with the feeling that I have given my brain a good workout and that I have enhanced my knowledge and ability in whichever areas I have practiced.

Quizlet has a free membership and allows visitors to sign in. If you follow this course, then you can compete for "best times" in some of their games. For me, though, I prefer to simply visit and "play" anonymously without signing up.

I have been able to review the Japanese hiragana and katakana syllabaries, the Hindi writing system, and various vocabulary lists in languages like Chinese, Vietnamese, Russian, German, Spanish, French, Japanese, Polish, Hindi, and Arabic. I do have a problem with the Arabic offerings, though. The printed Arabic text here excludes the short-vowel markers that often accompany school texts. Without them, I can only guess as to the exact pronunciation of a particular word (unless of course it is a word that I have already learned). And all of Quizlet's Arabic vocabulary, sad to say, omits those necessary (for me) short vowel markers (an analogous situation exists with Hebrew).

There are other areas in Quizlet to explore besides languages. Just try it and get what you can from it! And if you are well-versed in an area and have an altruistic heart, you might consider submitting your own material to Quizlet to aid others in their learning quests!