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FREE online language lessons similar to Rosetta Stone


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A missionary friend just introduced us to this program. He is very pleased with it, and I thought I'd pass it along. It sounds similar to Rosetta Stone, in that it's on the computer, there are lessons, audio clips, visuals, written work, along with voice/accent corrections (although this program utilizes the knowledge of peers ~ others who speak that language.)

 

Sounds promising, so I'm hoping it will be a help to someone! :001_smile:

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A missionary friend just introduced us to this program. He is very pleased with it, and I thought I'd pass it along. It sounds similar to Rosetta Stone, in that it's on the computer, there are lessons, audio clips, visuals, written work, along with voice/accent corrections (although this program utilizes the knowledge of peers ~ others who speak that language.)

 

Sounds promising, so I'm hoping it will be a help to someone! :001_smile:

 

Thanks for that. I bookmarked it and plan to check it out tomorrow.

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  • 10 months later...

Here are some GREAT sites to use:

 

http://www.fsi-language-courses.org/Content.php?page=Spanish

 

That is the FSI (Foreign Service) programs. Many languages, all free.

 

Also, http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/e/index.html

 

How to Learn Any Language is a GREAT site! If you read enough forum posts you will see why Rosetta Stone isn't as great as people think. (It's a neat video game-type thing, but few people attain real fluency with it.)

 

However,....if you were to combine FSI (free) with LiveMocha (free) you could really learn a lot! The FSI courses are boring, but effective.

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I just want to mention one thing about Livemocha to all of you. It's been a while since I've logged on there, so things may have changed, but for what it's worth, please monitor your children's usage if they will be using the part of Livemocha that allows them to practice their foreign language by conversing either in text or verbally with a native speaker of that language. In the past some parents posted on other forums that inappropriate or not G-rated words and comments were used.

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  • 6 months later...
I just want to mention one thing about Livemocha to all of you. It's been a while since I've logged on there, so things may have changed, but for what it's worth, please monitor your children's usage if they will be using the part of Livemocha that allows them to practice their foreign language by conversing either in text or verbally with a native speaker of that language. In the past some parents posted on other forums that inappropriate or not G-rated words and comments were used.

 

Yes - please monitor your children's accounts. This can be easy as everything is done through email. Because of the social aspect of Livemocha users can send personal email messages - my 12 yo son has had a couple of messages from foreign women wanting to meet up!! I promptly delete those!!!

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Yes - please monitor your children's accounts. This can be easy as everything is done through email. Because of the social aspect of Livemocha users can send personal email messages - my 12 yo son has had a couple of messages from foreign women wanting to meet up!! I promptly delete those!!!

:001_huh: Wow. That's alarming. Thanks for posting that so other parents can be alerted to monitoring their children if they use this program.

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Yeah, I'd read a great review of livemocha in Secular Homeschooling Magazine, and I've got it bookmarked. At some point (maybe next year? 7th grade? 8th? I don't know) I will want to check it out with my daughter and see if it's something we want to stick with. She has expressed interest in learning Spanish. Maybe we'll try it over the summer or something!

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Hmmm. I just signed up to check it out. The page states "Try Free for 3 Days,

$29 a Month or $149 for One Full Year".

 

From the FAQ:

 

Is Live Mocha free?

 

 

Membership is completely free. Your membership includes lots of free features: chat, flashcards, messaging, making friends, and more.

If you want to learn with a language course, we offer both free and paid options.

 

You can learn for free with Basic courses 101, 102, 201 and 202. These courses include Learn, Review, Write and Speak exercises, of which the Learn and Review exercises are always available at no cost.

Some languages will require you to unlock the other exercises by earning a high teacher score, or you can get immediate access by upgrading to the full version of your course. PDF, video and audio downloads of the course material are included so you can study offline.

 

Our premium offering is our Active series. We highly recommend upgrading to an Active course if it is available for your language.

 

ETA: It looks like it's now a lot more confusing to sign up for the basic (free) course than when I signed up last year. I tried to figure out how to add a new (free) language course and can't figure it out. :(

Edited by shinyhappypeople
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Here's why the Basic (free) courses aren't available in all languages:

 

(from their fb page)

As you noticed, Basic 101- 202 coursework is not available in all languages at this time. We are very sorry for the confusion you've experienced as a result.

 

By way of explanation: as a company, we are switching our focus from Basic to Active coursework, in order to provide a high quality learning experience. For a long time, Basic 101-202 coursework was all we had to offer, but we are proud to say that thanks to publisher partnerships and funding, we can now provide a learning experience of a much higher caliber.

 

Since we are focusing on Active as the future of our coursework, we have begun restructuring our free course content, in order to more accurately offer it as supplementary practice material. Some of this content will not be available during this period of transition. While it is being reorganized, we encourage you to experiment with the 3-day free trial. Active Courses are a paid service, but they are also a far superior product designed to help you achieve your goal of fluency, which is our goal too. Active courses are comprehensive, fun and easy to jump into at any learning level, from beginner to intermediate.

 

If Active isn't for you, we have plenty of free content for you to play with, from flashcards to writing and speaking exercises and live chat.

 

Thank you for your patience as we work through our growing pains!

 

 

Basically, if a language has an active/paid option available, the free basic version is disabled. If there's no paid option then the Basic course is still available free. Also, if you signed up for a basic course prior to the change in their business model, you can continue using your basic course.

 

On the bright side, Arabic, Russian and Japanese are still free.

 

Very, very disappointed. :(

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