Languages Revisited

(Recall this post, way back when.)

My new project: to learn some languages online. Why not? Currently, this is what I’m doing:

Spanish: my goal is to complete the courses in Livemocha. I’m in the 101 course at the moment. I like the format for learning vocabulary by means of flashcards. I don’t care for the main feature of this system, which is interacting with other folks. I had thought this would be a great way to practicing speaking/writing, but it seems more of a vehicle for guys trying to pick me up, which I’m increasingly finding annoying. So, I’ve set my status as offline, and when I’m done the courses here, I think I’m going to delete my account.

Japanese: Maki directed me to a fun, interactive site called iKnow! This is similar to Livemocha in many ways, even with the chatting with other members aspect. However, I think the Japanese classes here are much better laid out (I completed the Livemocha intermediate class and was not challenged by it), and they also have fun games as well.

Maki also has a neat blog about (mostly) Japanese, and I also listen to JapanesePod101.com on occasion. I would love to upgrade to a premium account on the latter, but I can’t afford to do this now.

Korean: At some point, I would like to learn some Korean. I’m thinking of starting out with basic phrases to get my ear tuned to the language. I’ve been eyeing SurvivalPhrases.com for a while now for other languages as well.

Mandarin Chinese will come at a later date, but it’s on deck for now.

If you can recommend other good online programs (preferably free, but I’ll consider fee-based ones for the future), then please feel free to write them in my comments.