By Miranda González

As a teacher for LiveEnglish with Livemocha on Facebook, I usually like to start my class with a warm-up question like “What do you like to do in the summer?” or “If you had a million dollars, what would you buy?”  These warm-up questions serve two purposes: 1) Students get a chance to practice their writing and 2) They get to share their interests with people from all over the world.  These LiveEnglish students come from distinct nations and speak many different languages, but they make a lot of the same mistakes when writing in English.  How can this be?  English is tricky, and some parts are trickier than others, so to help you out, I’ve compiled…  read more

Our community members frequently reach out to us with suggestions and requests for tips that will help them have a better experience with Livemocha. Last month we got a great request from a Livemocha user asking us for tips on how to best use the Chat feature. I asked Nate Sooter, our Senior Account Manager, who is in charge of working with Livemocha users from across our customer base to help ensure that their experiences are successful and satisfying. Here’s what he had to say:

Have a set of questions in mind before going to a conversation.  Know the basics — “Where are you from? What do you do for work? Do you have any family members? What do you…  read more

LiveEnglish with Livemocha teacher and host Miranda chimes in on our Diary of a Language Teacher series.
If you are one of the over ten-thousand people who follow the LiveEnglish with Livemocha English language learning sessions on Facebook, you’ll recognize this gal: Miranda is your host and teacher every weekday at 18:00 GMT. When she heard about Livemocha’s Diary of a Language Learner / Language Teacher series, she was excited to share with her students and the Livemocha community what her experience is as a teacher. Here she introduces herself and tells her story of going from student to teacher.

Here’s Miranda in her own words.

Before I was a language teacher, I was a language learner.  I grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico. …  read more

Yesterday’s interview with Michael Erard was fun, informative, and lots of other adjectives besides.
He’s a linguist and author who has written about language in the New York Times, Slate, Wired, Science, the New Atlantic and more. He recently released his second book, “Babel No More: The Search for the World’s Most Extraordinary Language Learners”, an investigation into super-learners who speak a whole slew of languages – 6, 12, or even 50. Yep, that’s a thing, unreal though it may sound.

I asked him questions from our members – a mix of language enthusiasts around the globe, including teachers, linguists, monolinguals aspiring to learn their first language, and polyglots working to improve their fluency in several. Michael shared some fascinating insights into…  read more

A big thank you to language-learning guru Aaron Myers for these tips on how to get the most out of Livemocha’s writing exercises!

One of my favorite features of the Livemocha community is the ability learners have to write and to get feedback on their writing.  Writing is an overlooked and often underutilized part of the language learning journey.  Most learners just want to be able to speak the language and don’t see the value in writing.  But writing offers some great benefits for language learners.

First, writing allows you to practice creating in the target language.  You are forming the words in your mind and producing them on paper but it is essentially the same process as speaking – only…  read more

Today we’d like to share some language learning advice from Benny, who learned to speak 8 languages fluently as an adult. He’s quite prolific. And he was kind enough to write an article to benefit our members! If you haven’t heard of him yet, trust us – you’ll be ready to join his fan club after reading this. 

The importance of speaking your language immediately

After I graduated university, with a degree in Electronic Engineering, I moved to Spain to work as an intern. I was enjoying my time so much that I decided to stay for an entire year, and of course learn some Spanish.

But the problem was that I was coming from a background of not being “talented” in languages….  read more

The E-Learning Queen, an edublog that explores “real-world e-learning issues and appropriate uses of emerging technologies”, posted a great interview with CEO Michael Schutlzer. It’s an eye-opening glimpse into what Livemocha is doing and why we’re doing it – plus a look at the big picture of how language education is changing. Read on for the full text!
Interview with Michael Schutzler, Livemocha.com, Innovators in E-Learning Series

New approaches to online learning take advantage of new mobile devices and the willingness of learners to engage across platforms, technologies, and infrastructures. Learning languages is no different, and the focus now with new technologies, which are used in online forums, bachelor degree programs, graduate programs (for example, an online master’s in Spanish), and even Ph.D. programs is all…  read more

Guest Post: Daniel Owen – Recruitment Consultant for Euro London Appointments, Multilingual Recruitment Specialists

Today, Daniel answers a question from a member: “What is the best way to achieve the fluency needed for a bilingual or multilingual job? How can I best demonstrate my language abilities to a prospective employer?”

Globalisation has changed the way we eat, live and sleep; it’s also changed how we conduct business. It enables us to eat food from halfway around the world, it provides the means to watch, read and listen to media of different cultures anytime and it allows us to conduct business almost anywhere in the world. Here at Euro London Appointments we see multinational organisations and institutions coordinate their efforts daily, all…  read more

Guest blog post: Jenny Davenport – Livemocha tutor

My Story.

Over 30 years ago, as a young African-American and Native American girl in Virginia, I discovered Japan. I found myself reading about it endlessly. I was captivated by the unique culture, especially the very particular, very strong sense of family – it reminded me of the deep emphasis on “family” in my own household. And so, at the eager age of 11, I began teaching myself Japanese.

When I went to high school, I became close friends with two Japanese sisters. The oldest sister taught me proper Japanese, and how to write in Chinese letters, while the youngest would teach me slang.

At 16, I went away to Princeton University to major in…  read more

Welcome to February (and Groundhog Day!).

Now that your New Year’s Resolutions have had a month to marinate, this is the perfect time to reflect for a moment, reassess your desire, and reaffirm your commitment to your language goals.

Every once in a while, you need to water your goals with some fresh inspiration.  Maybe your emotions have slipped off the “I can do this” track, and you’re feeling less than confident. Or maybe you started the month out plowing ahead under the banner of a new year, but now your resolution has started losing steam.

You are not alone. Resolutions aren’t easy.

45% of Americans usually make New Year’s Resolutions. And while only 8% of Americans stick to their resolutions for 365…  read more