5 Creative Ways To Use Wikipedia For Language Learning
One day, I was at my bike mechanic’s in Toronto, trying to initiate an intelligent conversation about an awful screeching that was emerging from the heart of my bike. It was the bottom bracket, but the term wasn't a part of my vocabulary at that point.
In Russian, this piece of metal is called “каретка“, a nice little word that both Google Translate and my Russian-English dictionary translated as “carriage”. Well, nice try. The wide-eyed stare of my bike mechanic gave me a cue that a “carriage” is anything but a part of bike anatomy. Reaching mutual understanding proved to be quite challenging, if not merely impossible.
So, I was standing there, nearly performing a magic sangoma dance with finger pointing and gnashing to describe my bike problem until something clicked: Wikipedia.
I pulled out my phone and soon had the name of the bike part I needed to be fixed. It was the bottom bracket. My beloved Cannondale stopped making heartbreaking noises, and I emerged into the sunlight with almost a “Eureka!” feeling.
I realized that I could use Wikipedia to learn a language. And, as I later discovered, the Free Encyclopaedia has more to offer to struggling language learners than a mere translation of technical vocabulary. So let's dive right in.
Why should you use Wikipedia for language learning?
When you don't know where to start, start with Wikipedia. This ultimate human knowledge database allows you to quickly gain the basic background information of any subject, from the Normandy landings to the phonological system of Maori to the biography of Grumpy Cat.
But despite being free, written in 303 world languages, and containing billions of articles by native speakers of each language, Wikipedia remains largely undiscovered by the good part of language learners. This, ladies and gentlemen, is a shame.
Wikipedia can be used at any phase of your language learning journey, and even when you haven't started one yet. It is an incredible tool that opens up many opportunities for both beginners and advanced language learners.
Quick warning: you shouldn't consider everything written in Wikipedia to be valid, scientific, and grammatical. After all, the opinion of a rocket engineer can be overridden by any school kid with an F for both physics and liberal arts. So, set the right expectations from the beginning: think of Wikipedia as a large repository of texts in your target language. Your brain will figure out what's grammatical after collecting enough language data.
Now, how do you use this multilingual information hub proudly called Wikipedia to learn a language on your own?
#1 Translate specific stuff
It’s hard to find what you're looking for if you don’t know what you’re looking for. That was the case with that notorious bottom bracket and – later – with a bunch of linguistic terminology I desperately needed to translate into French.
Translating terminology is the most obvious way to use Wikipedia for language learning.
And, as you may have figured out by now, Google Translate is not the place to seek help from. Dictionaries, unless they are specifically designed to deal with your topic, are of no use as well.
But Wikipedia is a gem. You can simply search for an article related to the term you need in a language you know, say, in English. And thanks to the “Languages” tab, you immediately get a flawless translation of all the untranslatable stuff.
Moreover, should you read the article you pulled out, you're guaranteed to grasp a dozen other related terms within your topic. Thus, a “bottom bracket” quickly connects in our brain with a spindle, a crankset, bearings, sprockets (and other words you don’t know how to pinpoint to your bike). It is certainly not a part of “survival” everyday vocabulary. But naming stuff with words other than “this thing over there” makes you look more intelligent.
#2 Practice narrow reading
Narrow reading is a sprint vocabulary-building technique invented by language learner and linguist Stephen Krashen. Instead of trying to grasp a handful of words from here and there (typical classroom approach), he suggested reading within one topic, one author, or one genre. Considering the number of specialized articles on any subject hosted on Free Encyclopaedia, you can learn a language with Wikipedia using just this technique.
For example, at one point in my life, I was interested in two things: lucid dreams and Greek. And as I always try to kill two birds with one stone, I decided that it was time to merge my main interests for productivity reasons. The problem was that I had no idea how they called lucid dreams in Greek.
But using the Wikipedia magic described just a section before, I landed on “Συνειδητό όνειρο“. And so, there was a whole world ready to be read, learned, and explored davantage with inbound links, “see also,” “read more,” and – God help us – whole categories.
Wikipedia acts as a good seller: everything that can spark your interest is already linked to another page, which, in turn, is linked to a dozen other pages. By the end of a count, you end up creating a reading list filled to the top with Ψεύτικο ξύπνημα, Ύπνος REM, and Παράλυση ύπνου.
Honestly, no matter what language I read in, I always end up finding something interesting to read later.
#3 Read featured articles in your target language
Learning a language with Wikipedia can be incredibly fun when you read material that personally interests you. The sad truth is, however, that not all pages are available in your target language. English and the top 10 most spoken languages are responsible for roughly 80% of all the content on Wikipedia.
Nevertheless, there is something that only your target language can offer.
Think about it. No one can write about Italy better than Italians themselves. Search for "Italy" in Wikipedia and take a quick glance at the "Languages" tab. You'll see a gold star next to "Italiano." It means that Italians have done a pretty good job of putting together a complete, unbiased, and comprehensive article about their country.
This won't always be the case, but keep looking for these stars. You didn't choose your target language randomly; you had a reason for learning it. Whether it's for an upcoming trip, work requirement, or simply an attraction to the culture, knowing a thing or two about the country is always helpful.
#4 Stock up on free language learning resources
My favorite way of using Wikipedia for language learning is to explore the language itself – preferably even before making a decision. A quick overview of the grammar, writing system, and phonology tells me exactly what I'm getting into and what I should start with (or if I should start at all).
So if I'm thinking about learning Thai, I head to the Wikipedia page for the Thai language and scan it until frustration sets in comfortably.
My face after reading a passage about Thai phonology
Because usually, I don't like what I see at all. For example, with Thai, I see three types of aspiration, 18 vowels, 19 diphthongs, three triphthongs, and five phonemic tones. After this little introduction to Thai phonology, my brain gently whispers to me to press Ctrl+W.
The right thing to do in this situation is to control your "flight" impulse and scroll down to find real gems. At the very bottom of every language page, you'll find resources for learners, such as dictionaries, keyboards, literature, word lists, and glossaries, as well as software for ear training.
And this is how you can make the most of Wikipedia for language learning.
#5 Explore the culture of the target language
When it comes to getting started, my biggest headache is finding worthwhile resources (the more, the better) that I can read, listen to, and watch for months to come. So having a full list of movies, books, and podcasts ready to be explored is a must.
And guess what Wikipedia is? That's right, it's a full list of movies, books, and other media in any language. Categories like “Films by language“, “Books by language” or even “Magazines by language” are worth checking out. So do it right now.
No, seriously.
Of course, Google Search does a good job as well, but it can sometimes become surprisingly clueless about what I'm actually looking for. So having backup options like Wikipedia is always a trump card.
