Thursday, November 27, 2008
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Thursday, November 20, 2008
WELCOME TO POLYGLOT
Free Language Exchange community
PART 1:
www.polyglot-learn-language.com is a website which is used to learn foreign language from the native or learner speakers of that language. I heard that this tool was suggested by the teachers of prep school of METU. As can be understood from the title this tool is designed to teach languages by exchanging in an online community. People share their knowledge about one or more language and practice their skills in this website. For instance a native speaker of a France can exchange his English knowledge with a Chinese or a two Arabians can write each other in Italian. “The first reason for membership” as the creators say “is to practice foreign languages.” They say; “ we try to offer you such opportunities. What we propose is not JUST socializing, we have a universal, humanitarian, social and professional goal, all at once! We endeavor to provide an adequate and comfortable environment to match your goals. In this mindset, we will give you the means to encourage yourself to use orally the languages that you spend so much time and effort memorizing.”
Home page has a table at the left side on which there are some links as Home, Network, Languages, About us etc. Although there is a link to about us page there is no clear explanation by whom the website is designed. However you can see the partners of the Polyglot-learn-language which are Babel.com, ASSIMIL, RosettaStone, GymGlish, AEGEEE Paris, Cucumis, Dragon creation, UNOSEL. The creators describe the site as the best place to learn new languages or just to know new cultures. Polyglot-learn-language.com gives you a platform in which you can be either learner or teacher of a language or simply both. Membership is required to benefit from the website.
Language you want to learn and your level
Language you can teach
registration
On the top left there is a link for registration. You do not need to pay to be a member of Polyglot-learn-language.com and registration process does not take such a long time. In the registration page you have to fill in the fields of languages you can teach and languages you can teach which is your native language and the field of language you want to learn and your proficiency level of that language. After you filled all the require fields you are a member of Polyglot club. Every member has his own profile. A member can select one of the options on the home page and find a pen pal or a meeting to get together with the language learners and teachers. Besides join forums in which people asks for help about the language they are learning, or click on “Find friends” button on the tool bar at the left to find a pen pal. You can share your MSN, icq or other communication addresses with your pen pal in order to have a broader access and more feasible communication with him or her. While searching for “friends” you should fill another document to inform the site about the specialties of the friend you are looking for.
Another service of the Polyglot-learn-languages.com is translations. You can select whether you want to be a translator or translated. The site is benefits from Cucumis a translation service. To use the Cucumis services, you must be a registered member, you gain points when you translate a text and you need points to submit a text to be translated.
Polyglot-learnlanguages.com also contains videos in all levels. A member has the access these videos to learn the authentic pronunciations and develop his listening skills.
PART 2:
When I start to search this tool I should confess that I did not like very much, because the photos of the members and the links like “find a friend” make me feel as if this is a social interaction address. However as I go further I saw that Polyglot-learn-languages.com is a language exchange site which has 185.500 members all over the world. In addition to this Polyglot has the European Language Label Award which may be count as a sign of reliability. I believe members of the site can profit by means of language learning to very high extend. There are meeting, pen pal, text chat, forum, voice chat, VDO chat opportunuties depending on what skill you want to develop. By being a member of it you can have access to the people who are volunteers to teach, to help your translations or to speak better. Polyglot-learn-languages.com believes that to learn a language one should have an active ear, active eye or active hand. Besides Polyglot suggests its members that learners should use target language because they believe that with most practice in target language and least use of mother tongue will bring the success in learning. It is one of the ideas that I also support.
The meetings that I mentioned in the first and second part are another chance for learners. These meetings are arranged by the administrators in a country and can be hold in any city. The days and places of the meetings are announced on the website. Members from all over the world can attend these meetings. They can be a chance to practice more.
The tool can be used most effectively by elementary, intermediate learners, because beginners may have difficulties due to their inefficiency and upper and advanced learners may find is too easy that is would be pointless to use.
The tool does not require any further technological equipment or a newer computer. The only thing you need to use the tool is access to internet and a membership. Nevertheless if you have head set and webcam they can be used for audio-visual communication.
On the other side I don’t believe a person with no knowledge about a language can not be able to learn a target language by this tool. Because to exchange a language one also should have knowledge to some extend. Besides before exchanging the languages you have to wait for a person who answers your private message or mails to the forums. I see lots of calls for teachers which has no answer at all. Another negative feature of the tool is that it can be used as a social interaction community by some people. Especially the meeting can turn into trips or gathering activities in which learning language is naturally completely forgotten.
PART 1:
www.polyglot-learn-language.com is a website which is used to learn foreign language from the native or learner speakers of that language. I heard that this tool was suggested by the teachers of prep school of METU. As can be understood from the title this tool is designed to teach languages by exchanging in an online community. People share their knowledge about one or more language and practice their skills in this website. For instance a native speaker of a France can exchange his English knowledge with a Chinese or a two Arabians can write each other in Italian. “The first reason for membership” as the creators say “is to practice foreign languages.” They say; “ we try to offer you such opportunities. What we propose is not JUST socializing, we have a universal, humanitarian, social and professional goal, all at once! We endeavor to provide an adequate and comfortable environment to match your goals. In this mindset, we will give you the means to encourage yourself to use orally the languages that you spend so much time and effort memorizing.”
Home page has a table at the left side on which there are some links as Home, Network, Languages, About us etc. Although there is a link to about us page there is no clear explanation by whom the website is designed. However you can see the partners of the Polyglot-learn-language which are Babel.com, ASSIMIL, RosettaStone, GymGlish, AEGEEE Paris, Cucumis, Dragon creation, UNOSEL. The creators describe the site as the best place to learn new languages or just to know new cultures. Polyglot-learn-language.com gives you a platform in which you can be either learner or teacher of a language or simply both. Membership is required to benefit from the website.
Language you want to learn and your level
Language you can teach
registration
On the top left there is a link for registration. You do not need to pay to be a member of Polyglot-learn-language.com and registration process does not take such a long time. In the registration page you have to fill in the fields of languages you can teach and languages you can teach which is your native language and the field of language you want to learn and your proficiency level of that language. After you filled all the require fields you are a member of Polyglot club. Every member has his own profile. A member can select one of the options on the home page and find a pen pal or a meeting to get together with the language learners and teachers. Besides join forums in which people asks for help about the language they are learning, or click on “Find friends” button on the tool bar at the left to find a pen pal. You can share your MSN, icq or other communication addresses with your pen pal in order to have a broader access and more feasible communication with him or her. While searching for “friends” you should fill another document to inform the site about the specialties of the friend you are looking for.
Another service of the Polyglot-learn-languages.com is translations. You can select whether you want to be a translator or translated. The site is benefits from Cucumis a translation service. To use the Cucumis services, you must be a registered member, you gain points when you translate a text and you need points to submit a text to be translated.
Polyglot-learnlanguages.com also contains videos in all levels. A member has the access these videos to learn the authentic pronunciations and develop his listening skills.
PART 2:
When I start to search this tool I should confess that I did not like very much, because the photos of the members and the links like “find a friend” make me feel as if this is a social interaction address. However as I go further I saw that Polyglot-learn-languages.com is a language exchange site which has 185.500 members all over the world. In addition to this Polyglot has the European Language Label Award which may be count as a sign of reliability. I believe members of the site can profit by means of language learning to very high extend. There are meeting, pen pal, text chat, forum, voice chat, VDO chat opportunuties depending on what skill you want to develop. By being a member of it you can have access to the people who are volunteers to teach, to help your translations or to speak better. Polyglot-learn-languages.com believes that to learn a language one should have an active ear, active eye or active hand. Besides Polyglot suggests its members that learners should use target language because they believe that with most practice in target language and least use of mother tongue will bring the success in learning. It is one of the ideas that I also support.
The meetings that I mentioned in the first and second part are another chance for learners. These meetings are arranged by the administrators in a country and can be hold in any city. The days and places of the meetings are announced on the website. Members from all over the world can attend these meetings. They can be a chance to practice more.
The tool can be used most effectively by elementary, intermediate learners, because beginners may have difficulties due to their inefficiency and upper and advanced learners may find is too easy that is would be pointless to use.
The tool does not require any further technological equipment or a newer computer. The only thing you need to use the tool is access to internet and a membership. Nevertheless if you have head set and webcam they can be used for audio-visual communication.
On the other side I don’t believe a person with no knowledge about a language can not be able to learn a target language by this tool. Because to exchange a language one also should have knowledge to some extend. Besides before exchanging the languages you have to wait for a person who answers your private message or mails to the forums. I see lots of calls for teachers which has no answer at all. Another negative feature of the tool is that it can be used as a social interaction community by some people. Especially the meeting can turn into trips or gathering activities in which learning language is naturally completely forgotten.
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