Livemocha Unlimited Free Content

I posted about this before, unfortunately in that case the premium content was limited; you had to spend points that you were rewarded through grading other users' submissions. There is however, a way to receive unlimited premium content:

Hi Carm,


Thank you for applying to become an Apprentice Livemocha Expert! It is definitely not too late and we are pleased to invite you to join our force of Expert Reviewers. This is a special type of Livemocha membership that gives you unlimited access to our premium learning content in exchange for helping others on the site.

Expert Reviewers provide a consistently high caliber of feedback that students can trust. A key part of the position is providing words of positive encouragement to remind students that they are on the right track. Language learning can be daunting, which makes it hard to stay motivated - so you will play a key role in spreading enthusiasm and confidence.

Another important aspect of an Expert Review is helping the student improve grammar and pronunciation. Sometimes free reviewers provide incorrect suggestions, and it can be difficult for language learners to decide whose suggestions they can trust. Your feedback will be marked as an Expert Review so the student knows they can count on your accuracy.

Now for the nitty gritty details:

You will receive unlimited, uninterrupted Gold Key as long as you complete at least 10 quality Expert Reviews each month. An Expert Review typically takes anywhere from 5 - 15 minutes depending on the complexity of the student's exercise.

This of course, means that you have to spend some time grading users until you get to this point, but in the meantime you can practice whatever language you want to learn as well. This is "free" in the sense that you do not have to pay any money, and the fact that other users will be evaluating your submissions as well makes the system seem more fair than, "hey, come work for us for free!"

Livemocha Giving Away Premiuim Conent To Contributing Users

January 22, 2012 - I have a new article on becoming an Apprentice Livemocha Expert.

Livemocha, a language learning website, is giving away their premium content to Contributing users. Considering other users grade your submissions, you really should return the favor anyways. It's fun too, you listen to records others have made, you have to think about your language, as well as how this person can improve their language ability, and if you find someone who is a good grader/reviewer you can friend them!

If you haven't checked this site out yet, this is honestly a good reason to start now.

Meeting Forigen Language Speakers Online

It's easy to start a conversation with people on Livemocha

I have mentioned the language learning site Livemocha before. There you can practice learning another language and have other native speakers grade your work. Higher level courses cost money. However, the biggest benefit of the site is the that you can start up a conversation with almost anyone who is trying to learn English, or the language you are trying to learn. People are there to learn and practice so anything from a simple "How are you?" or "What's up?" works! You can message people or even chat in real time. Furthermore the site is always suggesting new "friends", and once you have "friended" someone you can help each other on correcting each other's submissions and so forth. The website seems to have a large Portuguese speaking population from Brazil, so if you are inclined to learn some Portuguese or meet Brazilians under the guise of teaching them English, this site might work for you.

Okcupid

In my attempts to meet new people I tried out using Okcupid as a means to find German speakers. The site actually has a search function that will let you search for people based on what language they speak, among other things. 

From what I have noticed, messaging people in another language that you both speak nets you better results than just messaging them in English. However, searching for people in the particular language where that language is spoken will yield you much fewer results. Perhaps it is because these people have the premonition that they are there to meet other people through the site. But hey, you could do a lot worse with your time online then not socializing.

If you are self conscious about creating a dating site profile because people you know might see you (in the process of looking for partners I found one of my TAs as well as a fellow students who was looking for casual sex) you can always say at the top of your profile page that you're only interested in talking with, or possibly meeting people who speak the language you are trying to learn. Your profile can also say that you are in a relationship or seeing someone. Of course if you are seeing someone, it wouldn't hurt to let your significant other know what your intentions on the site are.

Livemocha

Ok this is sort of a shameless plug, but I think this site is cool so here it goes.

Livemocha is a language learning site. Higher course levels cost money, but basic levels are free. The courses are like worse versions of Rosetta Stone. However the best part of the site is that there are exercises that have to be rated and graded by native speakers of the language, and as long as you are helpful you are matched with other helpful graders. This is absolutely free of charge. 

On top of that you can find native speakers who speak the language you want to learn. Because they are on a language learning site, they are more inclined to work with someone who does not speak well!

Check out the site, if you sign up cite rividzATgmailDOTcom as a referral if you can.
Website: https://www.livemocha.com/
My profile: http://www.livemocha.com/profiles/view/4388194