Using Google tools to improve your English (part 1)

Last time I wrote a few words about one of the Google tools, which was looking up definitions of words right from the Google search box.
Today I'd like to write a wee bit more about other ways to use Google and your Internet browser.

Google Translate
Google translate is a powerful translation tool that will translate for you from a wide range of languages to a language of your choice. Obviously the output text is hardly ever 100% accurate - it's flawed and sometimes difficult to read, but it gives you at least some general idea on what the input text was about. You can also translate entire web pages - all you need to do is enter the URL address in the box and choose the output language.
How can you use it to improve your English?
1. You can work on the translated text. Say, you are interested in oriental cultures - go to a website in Chinese, Japanese or Arabic and translate something that you feel might be interesting (e.g. when the picture on the website inspires you). Then you can try to work out the meaning and put it in correct sentences. Even better, translate something from Polish to English and then correct the mistakes.
2. Other way round. Find a text in English that seems interesting to you and try to do a translation of your own. Then translate the English text to Polish using Google Translate and see whether you got it right. It's not perfect, but still might be fun.

Google Reader
Google Reader is a RSS (Rich Site Summary) feeds aggregation tool. This means that you can collect and read news and information from many websites in one place. The news is being constantly updated, which means that you'll get it as soon as they show up on the original website. You can add subscriptions by typing in the URL or by browsing through the Reader's directory. You can label you subscriptions and group them. For most information sources Google Reader will give you only headlines with one or two introductory sentences and a follow-up link. However, many sites provide longer stories, which you can read them without leaving Google Reader. You can also subscribe to blogs like mine ;)
The only problem with Google Reader is that it requires having or setting up a Google account.
If you need more information on Google Reader, go and see the Official Google Reader Blog.
How can it improve your English?
1. You can subscribe to English news and in that way practise your reading skills. And you don't have to read what you don't like, just read what you're really interested in.
2. You can use news to learn something new - look for phrases, collocations and words that are new to you or - even better - which you know but rarely use. Try to see not only what is said but also the way native speakers express their meaning. And it's not 'the more you read, the better' - it's 'the more carefully you read, the better your English gets'. So it's a matter of awareness. And practice ;)

PS. Please note that there are many RSS readers on the market. Most of them are software you need to install on your computer. One of the most popular Polish programs is Cafe News.