The New York Times describes LiveMocha as "Learning from a native speaker, without leaving home."
After joining Live Mocha (you must register for a user name/password, and you must be over 12 years old*) you choose a language you want to learn. From there, you have several options: you can work on ...
...lessons (the lessons are very similar to Rosetta Stone to me, but hundreds of $$ cheaper, since - of course - Live Mocha is free)
...practice by submitting a written or recorded
response to certain phrases or questions. Your work will then be
critiqued by native speakers (other members of LiveMocha, who speak
that language). My (botched) first attempt at speaking Spanish was
critiqued by 4 native Spanish speakers. The feedback is invaluable,
and I think the best part of LiveMocha.
...tutor others who are learning your native
language. I critiqued an audio from a native Mandarin speaker who is
learning English, and I critiqued a written response from a native
Spanish speaker.
Go to Livemocha and then come back here to let us know what you think! Here is what one professor thought of it:
"Livemocha is the best online language program I have seen and
used—vastly superior to Rosetta Stone in terms of cost and the variety
of language functions it offers."
Dr. Steven J. Sacco, Language Professor, San Diego State University
PhD in Foreign Language Education
*since this is a "social" site,
meaning, you can chat/exchange content with others around the world,
you will want to monitor children on the site
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