[whataretheysaying] Mary Madigan: Learn to speak

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Posted by Mary Madigan:
Learn to speak
http://whataretheysaying.powerblogs.com/posts/1203878863.shtml


   When iPods first came out, I hoped they'd change the way we learn
   languages...

     [1]Learning From a Native Speaker, Without Leaving Home

     THE best way to learn a foreign language may be to surround
     yourself with native speakers. But if you canât manage a trip
     abroad the Internet and a broadband computer connection may do the
     job, too, bringing native speakers within electronic reach for
     hours of practice.

     Web-based services now on the market let people download a daily
     lesson in French or Hindi, pop on their headsets, and then use
     Internet telephone service and the power of social networks to try
     their conversational skills with tutors or language partners from
     around the world.

     For those who want to polish their high-school German before a
     vacation, or to master snippets of well-intoned Mandarin Chinese to
     charm a future business host in Shanghai, these sites offer
     alternatives to more traditional tools like textbooks and CD-ROMs.
     LiveMocha ([2]livemocha.com), for example, is a free site where
     members can tackle 160 hours of beginning or intermediate lessons
     in French, German, Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, Hindi or English.
     There is no charge for tutoring; instead, members tutor one
     another, drawing on their expertise in their own native language.

     Members chat online by typing messages, by talking or, if they have
     a Webcam, by video, in exchanges with others who want to tutor or
     be tutored. English speakers learning Spanish, for example, can
     write or speak descriptions of a vacation and receive feedback on
     their grammar and choice of idioms from native Spanish speakers on
     the network. A Spanish speaker, in turn, may seek advice from the
     English speaker about English assignments.

   Skype also helps

     Another electronic-based language learning program takes a
     different approach: podcasting. Praxis Language, based in Shanghai,
     offers free lessons in Mandarin Chinese ([3]ChinesePod.com) or
     Spanish ([4]SpanishPod.com) as podcasts.

     Many lessons include business-based vocabulary on topics like how
     to hire a courier in China, said Ken Carroll, a co-founder of
     Praxis. While the podcasts are free, transcripts, exercises and
     other services typically cost $9 to $30 a month, he said. For $200
     a month, members can receive daily tutoring from professional,
     native-speaking teachers by way of Skype, the Internet-based
     telephone service.

     Mr. Carroll says ChinesePod has more than 270,000 visitors a month,
     several thousand of them paying about $240 a year for a combination
     of premium services. Most of the paying customers live in the
     United States, he said.

   [5]More...

   [link thanks to [6]Noam]

References

   1. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/17/business/17novel.html?ex=1360990800&en=284f2adf8221c428&ei=5124&partner=facebook&exprod=facebook
   2. http://www.livemocha.com/
   3. http://chinesepod.com/
   4. http://spanishpod.com/
   5. http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/11/9/195744/646
   6. http://tel-aviv-vistas.blogspot.com/