Social Language Learning Networks

I am sharing four social language learning networks which I have used and found very useful. If you also want to learn a foreign language or want to help others to learn your native language then these social networks sites will never let you down. You will enjoy learning as well as teaching at the same time.

My first site which I used for years-

Livemocha-

LiveMocha.com is a complete social network at its core. The site boasts over 6 million users and was named as one of Time magazine’s top 50 websites of 2010. In a Facebook like fashion, your personal profile appears with your picture and your friends list. You build your own profile and indicate which languages you want to learn and which languages you already know. Live chat is available with anyone that is online and people use the chat to practice their language of choice.

Earning points gives a huge incentive for learning as well. Users can earn Mocha points by being engaged in the site and completing coursework. You can earn Teacher points by helping other members with submission reviews, flashcards, and translations. If you earn enough teacher points, you can also earn free coarse sessions. After 5 minutes of being on this site, I already received a few chat requests from Farsi, Hindi, Arabic, Swedish, and Spanish speakers as well as requests to correct people’s English grammar that they sent me in audio and written form. I have to say that it’s quite rewarding to do such a simple task as correcting an English sentence and know that you helped someone out.

Important- Livemocha has changed now, but all the basic features are still free. And joining is alway free! If you want to enjoy the premium features, then it's paid. 

Visit. http://www.livemocha.com/  

My second site is Busuu- 

Bussuu is a language community that functions like a cool interactive game. It offers free interactive lessons, exams, text and video chat, writing exercises, reading comprehension tests and many other features. Users can write text in a foreign language such as Spanish and submit it to have a native Spanish speaker in the network correct their writing. Most of the features on the site are free though paid upgrades are available for features like audio samples, PDFs and Podcasts. Busuu must be doing something very right since they were selected as the Red Herring 100 European Winner of 2010!

My third favorite site is- Lang 8

The last one is-  Italki

Italki.com, pronounced I-talk-I, offers an enormous community of speakers of over 100 languages from over 200 countries. You can connect with new friends and language partners that speak the language you want to learn, find a language teacher, use the questions and answers section, and access a variety of other features to learn your desired language. In addition to being a social network, there really is an impressive body of resources to be found in this site.

Enjoy learning!