Social networking may be a very important part in learning foreign languages. By talking to other people who can speak the language that I want to learn, I can practice and at the same time I can make friends. In this sense, “Live Mocha” is very interesting site where people can learn and teach different language each other.
According to Naone (2007), Live Mocha is “designed to emphasize conversation with partners found through the site’s social network.” When a user registers for the site, he/she is required to provide information of their native language and the language that they want to learn. And, there is a search function in the site that users can search and contact native speaker of their target language so they can chat with each other. By doing so, users teach and learn different language through natural conversation.
In addition, users can practice writing and speaking in their target language. For example, after a users writes about one of the topics that Live Mocha provides, he/she submit it and get personalized feedback from Live Mocha certified tutors or even he/she can get feedback from other users who use the language as the first language. Also, he/she can help others who want to learn their native language by reviewing their submissions. I think this is quite an eye opening exercise; I can help others and I can get help from others with free of charge but with valuable social networks.
After reading Naone (2007)’s article, I visited and registered for Live Mocha and actually used some of the functions that they provide and I could see this site was very good to learn every day language and build new social networks. I already have two friends form the site by reviewing their Korean writings and giving some feedback that I could provide. It was very interesting experience!
Reference
Erica Naone. “Learning Language in Context: Startup Live Mocha Leverages Social Networking to Teach Foreign Languages,” Technology Review (October 5, 2007), http://www.technologyreview.com/Biztech/19484/?a=f
You have inspired me to sign up for LiveMocha myself to review some of my language skills for french...used to be fluent, but that was 10 years ago since I used it.
ReplyDeleteSusan,
ReplyDeleteI would love to hear your feedback about the Live Mocha site. One of my daughters is very interested in learning French. We bought some very inexpensive curriculum this year, just to "test the waters." I've looked at Rosetta Stone and Tellmemore, but the price presents a challenging, so I'm looking for good alternatives. One of the tidbit articles this week indicated that there may be a cost involved with LiveMocha for some of the advanced features. Anyway, I would love to hear more about your experience.