October 4, 2007
The web 2.0 way to learn a language
If only I'd listened to my intuition and not believed everything I'd read about English being widely spoken in Panama...then we wouldn't have arrived in a Spanish-speaking country for 2 months, speaking about 3 words of Spanish between us and had to enroll in intensive one-on-one lessons after 2 days of being misunderstood when asking for milk for our coffee.
A new online system that I've just enrolled in to improve the Spanish now we're no longer immersed in the culture is LiveMocha.
The thing that sets it apart from other online language sites with self-paced tutorials is the ability to learn by interacting socially with other learners & tutors. You can record your answer to a question which is then open for feedback from other users & native speakers and you can practise set scenarios & conversations with other users and of course, return the favour for other learners.
It's not a patch on immersing yourself in a country that speaks the language you're trying to learn but it's not a bad substitute if you can't.
Comments (2)
At first blush this would seem to suffer from the same "collective wisdom" flaw as Wikipedia. Suppose you're the best Spanish speaker on the site but everyone actually believes you're the worst? What then?
Why not just stick to Spanish singles and networking sites and get a good collection of penpals? Then you'll not only learn the language, and the culture, but you'll have a ready-made guide to the best restaurants, too....
This worked for me with Russian.
Posted by Ian Kemmish | October 4, 2007 11:53 PM
Posted on October 4, 2007 23:53
Live Mocha really does seem like something that will help people in the future. Speaking is a big problem with any foreign language.
If you're interested in seeing another way to learn that helps make it a part of your daily routine today, stop by www.thesecrettolearninganylanguage.com.
It would be great to have you as an affiliate.
Posted by Jim | November 11, 2007 6:18 PM
Posted on November 11, 2007 18:18