Learning new languages develops human beings. It is a kind of a bridge to fantastic opportunities of the 21st century. By knowing a foreign language we can entertain ourselves in much more interesting way. We can read new and fresh media, books, watch films in original languages. It is very helpful and useful to know as much languages as possible for our career too. Every company needs to have at least a few workers who speak different languages. If you know a foreign language you are able to get access to much more information in the internet space, to play an active role in various trainings and also to lead business correspondences. You can meet interesting people. In other words, you open new opportunities for your business development and you get a chance to experience a new culture and heritage. Do not forget about travelling! Any foreign language will help to: buy food or book a table in a restaurant, find your way or some place, buy tickets, and again to meet and communicate with new different people.
There are traditionally several methods of learning foreign languages. Among the most well-known is the teacher-student method where there is a lecturer teaching one person or a group of people. Today due to new technologies and mainly the Internet we can witness the rise of new methods and approaches. Not so long ago a professor of psychology at Loyola University in Chicago has developed a so-called Community leanguage learning (CLL) method.[1] Generally the idea of CLL is that students (those who want to learn a new language) work together during the whole process of learning. They decide together which part of the language to learn and revise. In CLL the teacher plays a role just of an adviser or a councellor. In other words, the students contribute to language learning of everybody, while the teacher simply observs them and time to time steps into the process and helps if necessary. The most interesting thing about this method is that the students are becoming «co-authors» during the learning process. They work together and finally form a product which all of them benefit from and this expirience could be used by other people too.
There are several companies that provide us with the CLL method of language learning. Some of the most famouse are: Babbel, English Portal, Language Kompis, Penal Parade, Fluent Future, Livemocha, Language for Exchange, and others…
The leader in community language learning is Livemocha (www.livemocha.com). Here what the official site of Livemocha says about itself: «Livemocha is the world’s largest online language learning community, offering free and paid online language courses in 35 languages to more than 9 million members from 195 countries around the world».[2] Already the numbers tell us that Livemocha is really popular among language learners. The following languages are avialable at present: American English, Spanish (Castellano), Persian, French, Hindi, German, Italian, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Mandarin, Icelandic, Korean, Arabic, Turkish, Polish, Ukrainian, European Portuguese, Greek, Dutch, Estonian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Finnish, Hungarian, Croatian, Czech, Slovak, Urdu, Catalan, Swedish, Hebrew and Esperanto. And also, it is possible to vote for new languages to be introduced, which makes Livemocha flexible for changes and modernization.
Generally, Livemocha offers grammar instructions, reading comprehension exercises, interactive role playing and both live and asynchronous interaction with other native speakers within the Livemocha community. When learners submit coursework for peer review, native speakers in that language can provide feedback on how that learner is progressing. Users can aid others in learning the languages that they are proficient in while learning other languages themselves.[3] There are usually four types of exercises in each lesson. You first learn new vocabulary by reading and listening to new words. By the way, all recordings are made by the average users as us. After that you are offered to check whether you remember new vocabulary by a short quiz. Then there is usually a writing part where you are working only with those words that you have learned so far. And finally, and here is probably the most interesting thing about Livemocha, there is a talking exercise. You simply have to record yourself reading a few sentences (possibly adding a few words in some places). It is interesting because after you are done with all four exercises a native speaker will check your work.
Also, the Livemocha web-site tells us: «Global interest in language learning is exploding. Trade, immigration and travel are conducted across countries and continents like never before in human history. The result is a powerful desire shared by people around the world to communicate with one another and understand different cultures. Not surprisingly, the size of the language learning market is estimated at a staggering $50 billion USD. In a world hungry for new language skills, and increasing broadband Internet access and VOIP adoption, our mission is to provide a more accessible, affordable, and engaging way to learn a language. Livemocha allows people around the world to help each other with language learning, and provides our community with opportunities to learn and practice new languages together».[4]
The last two paragraphs shows us some of the elements of collective intelligence. I do not think that all CLL method based establishments are part of collective intelligence, but I believe that Livemocha is defenetely one of them. There are almost 10 million users of Livemocha. They all contribute to language learning both in the interests of themselves and in the interests of others. Together they (we) build a huge platform which is avialable for everybody.
I also believe that another concept is used in Livemocha. With the internet growth and the boom of social networking technologies Livemocha is able to take advantage of the Web 2.0 concept of information sharing and collaboration tools, for which users can help other users to learn languages by direct communication or mutual correction of proposed exercises.[5]
Livemocha partly takes after popular social-networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. It allows its users to create profiles so as to communicate with others on the website. You can edit you profile, add images and add friends, which is again a very useful tool to practice a language.
Livemocha is partly connected to the transmedia storytelling concept. It uses many ways to attract people who search for learning languages. It is fully connectable with Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, Youtube, and others… There are many articles about Livemocha written in newspapers, blogs, forums. Also, if you will search on Youtube, you would find many videos both official made by Livemocha's team and also amateur made by its users. The result of such work and such «transmedia storytelling» is that when you search (or simply google) information about language learning then Livemocha is in the top of the list. That means that Livemocha is highly popular and that search engines view Livemocha as a reliable sourche of information.
In addition to that, the official web-site says: «Livemocha is proud to have two of the world’s leading language publishers as partners. With unsurpassed educational publishing expertise, our partners provide Livemocha with world-class language learning content. The first is Pearson Education – the international media company. The second is Collins – the leading brand for bilingual dictionaries in the UK and Europe».[6]
To conclude with, there was a recent scholar research regarding studying new languages. The research has shown that language learning changes the brain density the same way as physical exercises develops your muscles.
I encourage you all to learn new languages bucause due to foreign languages you can easily travel in the ocean of information, opening new continents and islands, meeting and communicating with new people. It is up to you whether you will use Livemocha or something else.
Written by Bulat K.
[1] Richards, Jack C. (1986:113) Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching
[2] http://www.livemocha.com/pages/about
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livemocha
[4] http://www.livemocha.com/pages/about
[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_language_learning#cite_note-0
[6] http://www.livemocha.com/pages/about
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