Who Ruined Livemocha? The Death of a Great Language-Learning Tool

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A few years ago, I was a big fan of LiveMocha. At the time, it was one of the best free websites to learn foreign languages. Now that it's been bought by Rosetta Stone, it's horrible. I still think Rosetta Stone is a decent piece of software, but I don't understand why RS had to ruin a good thing. Tonight, I registered on LiveMocha again, hoping to learn some basic vocabulary. How disappointed I was! Now the website is completely different. I want the old LiveMocha back. While no program, web site, book, CD or DVD aimed at the language-learning crowd will ever be perfect, LiveMocha was a great alternative to paid products (which sometimes disappoint). The lessons were complete and weren't so much based on translation as on one of the greatest abilities we all have--inferring the meaning of new words. By slowly introducing new words and some grammar, LiveMocha was essentially spoon-feeding the user. I also really miss the recording feature. Users would record a text in the foreign language, then native speakers would correct their pronunciation. To be honest, I think Rosetta Stone is similar to LiveMocha in many ways. The main problem is that it's a very expensive piece of software. LiveMocha was such an inviting website that I really wanted to study multiple languages on it--just to get more points and meet new people. The social features of LiveMocha have all but disappeared, and the website won't stay free for much longer. It's been a long time since I've used RS for American English but I'll do some digging and see if I can find the CD somewhere. I probably won't be able to test RS in other languages unless I find out that they have it at my school.

I'm a Beginner Language Learner: What Should I Watch? Everything Is Too Difficult For Me! Part 1

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What should you watch when you're a beginner language learner? When you're a beginner and you're just starting to immerse yourself in a foreign language, you will soon realize that there's a big difference between watching TV in your native language and in Japanese/French/Italian/Spanish. I'm aware of this because there are still American shows that I don't understand perfectly. That being said, I don't always understand French TV perfectly either! Some TV shows have bad audio, and even if my hearing is good (I got it tested), I just can't stand bad audio quality. Usually, if you don't understand a particular movie or show, it's because of the slang the actors use. Becoming fluent in a language is a great experience and you will be able to understand lots of material very well if you work hard... but slang is really hard to master, even in your native language! I highly recommend you give shows for toddlers a chance, at least for a while. You can learn a lot of things by watching Teletubbies or Dora the Explorer. Even if can only stomach a few hours of shows for kids, you will have learned a lot, trust me.

Are You a Beginner Language Learner? Here's What to Do!

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I try to write comprehensible blog posts but most of my visitors probably have never learned a language before.
Fear not: you've learned and mastered your native language, so you are able to learn a foreign language.

Most of the people who are disabled and thus see the world a bit differently and have some learning difficulties can become bilingual. No matter who you are, you can learn a language to fluency.
Second language acquisition isn't rocket science, thankfully!

I guess language-learning is a bit like playing a sport. If you want to attack the other team, you need a plan. You also have to work on specific elements of your game to get better = you need to set some goals for yourself. If you are good at dribbling (using vocabulary about yourself and your family), try to dribble around some cones without touching them (make some sentences with your newly learned foreign vocabulary).
Try to find some beginner content to start with. I will be suggesting material on this blog at some point.

I hope you like these language-learning tips!
And don't forget: setting your goal is the hardest part. Decide what you want to work on and memorizing vocabulary or finding time to listen to the radio will become easier. Share this page on social networks such as Digg or Stumbleupon if you like it! The social media icons are below "Share this page" on the right-hand side of the blog. It only takes a couple of minutes!

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How to Have More Time to Learn a Foreign Language Part 3

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Announcement: The Social Sharing Icons have moved! They are now located under the title of this page for your convenience. Thank you for the Google +1's on my last article!

This is Part 3 of my mini-series dealing with time management and language-learning.

You undoubtedly lead a very busy life. I'm honored you found some time to visit my blog about language-learning.
Second language acquisition doesn't have to eat up all the hours of your day though.
I think most people have at least 30 minutes of unused time per day.

If you're washing or doing the dishes, how about playing the radio at the same time? A foreign language station can keep you entertained for hours.
While you wait for the water to boil, get that grammar book out. It may not be the most interesting book in the world, but reading it beats looking at water that's sitting in a saucepan.

You could also listen to some language-learning CDs and repeat the dialogs to memorize them. That way, you will work on foreign vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation at the same time.

Using these little abandoned chunks of time will help you become fluent in a foreign language. Thirty minutes of daily study is plenty. If you kept this up for a year, you would have accumulated over 150 hours of study!

Trust me, after 150 hours, you will be reasonably fluent in French/Chinese/Japanese/English/Spanish... I know that languages which use other writing systems take longer to learn at first, but 150 hours is plenty to learn all the basic kanji you need and some phrases/grammar/pronunciation.

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How to Have More Time to Learn a Foreign Language Part 2 Commuting

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This is Part 2 of my mini-series dealing with time management and language-learning.
Here is Part 1: http://fluent-language.blogspot.com/2013/06/how-to-have-more-time-to-learn-foreign.html

If you work or if you're still in school, commuting probably takes you a lot of time. Maybe you take the train or the bus if you're still fairly young. You might also drive to work with your own car (lucky you!).

What you have here is wasted time, even if you like to people watch. How about putting that time to good use instead?

Here are some language-learning tips for commuters:
* Put a CD into your car stereo and turn up the volume. Voilà, you're bopping your head to groovy Spanish music! (Or maybe not.)
* If you're more of a traditional language learner, you might like listening to audiobooks in your car. There are language-learning tapes out there, but they usually aren't any good. Play a simple audiobook instead, and your language abilities will improve quickly!

All those wasted minutes turn into hours if you don't harness them. Moreover, commuting is a lot more fun with a little music.
If you're alone, you could repeat the words to a song to practice your pronunciation.

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How to Have More Time to Learn a Foreign Language Part 1

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Most people waste a lot of time on a daily basis. I admit my time-management techniques aren't perfect, but I do what I can to use my time wisely. For example, do you *really* like all those shows you've been watching recently? If you do, that's great. If you don't, it might be time to stop watching so much TV. Or maybe you could try to find a dub of these shows in another language.

 I know some people are against watching a dubbed show just to get some exposure to a foreign language, but sometimes dubs are better than the original. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen. Hearing your favorite character speak Chinese or French is very interesting anyway. Sometimes they pick the quirkiest voices! Also, I think that watching reality shows in one's native language is a sure-fire way of wasting loads of time that you could be investing into language learning instead. Most American reality shows have been bought by other countries and are dubbed in foreign languages or were adapted for foreign television.

If you can, buy DVDs of reality shows or watch TV in French/German/Japanese. I'm sure you get a lot of foreign TV stations if you have cable TV!


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How Can You Learn the Grammar Rules of a Foreign Language?

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If you want to learn a foreign language, sooner or later you will have to deal with grammar.
Grammar *can* be fun, but it depends on how you learn it.

I'm sure you at least studied some grammar when you were "learning" your native language at school. Maybe you were surprised when you discovered that French has a lot of conjugations for verbs whereas English verbs are pretty easy to conjugate.

Some people (and I'm one of those people) actually like to read a grammar book from time to time. A good grammar book contains a myriad of bilingual sentences. 
Moreover, if you're at an advanced level, you can read a grammar book in the foreign language you're learning. That's a big plus!

Is studying grammar necessary when you're learning a foreign language?
Well, most of the time, it is. However, in some cases you can get by without knowing conjugations by heart. You could use the infinitive form of a verb for example, and you would still be understood.

If you want to be able to communicate more smoothly in a foreign language, perusing a grammar book would do you a lot of good.
While learning about genders might not be capital, learning some adverbs and connecting tools by heart along with a few example sentences can be very beneficial.

Remember, grammar should be part of your toolbox. It should serve *you*. If you are so stressed out about making mistakes that you can't communicate in a foreign language when you travel, it's no good.
Try to get someone to correct your mistakes, but above all, try to be understood.
Moving your hands or drawing pictures are also fine means of communication if you aren't fluent enough to construct understandable sentences yet.

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Don't Put the Cart Before the Horse

It'll take you a lot of time to learn a new language. There, I said it. Following the advice on this blog can expedite the process, but you'll still need to put in the hours.

When I was still in high school, I was forced to write in Italian/ German/ etc when I took exams. Most people would say "This is good practice."

How is this good practice?

How is making a bunch of mistakes in a foreign language beneficial?



Unless you have unlimited access to native speakers who can correct you, I strongly suggest you only practice in controlled settings. Doing exercises in high-quality language learning books is a great way to improve one's grammar without "learning" more mistakes.

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