Thursday, September 18, 2008

Language Communities

There are a growing number of language community sites on the internet. I know I've mentioned Lingq and Livemocha before. Mango Languages is another such site that comes highly recommended.

These 'language community' sites have lots of features for language learners. There are tutorials, lots of audio, podcasts, ways to track your progress as you learn and interactions with teachers and other language learners. Most have plenty of free resources and features, but reserve upgraded features for a fee.

The lines can be very blurry as to what constitutes a 'language community' from a 'language exchange' site or even a tutorial, penpal site or forum. Take a close look at as many sites as possible to get a feel for them and what they offer. Choose one or two that most interest you or you can best fit into your study routine. These sites, when used properly and diligently, can form the core of your study for a long time.

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