Live mocha is also my favourite!

Thanks for adding up to those great links to the list.

All the best.

Milene

Thanks for the comments, some great links you're added there just checkout a few and will make sure I bookmark!

Thanks,

Paul @

TravMonkey.com

Anyway, thanks for this great list!

LiveMocha in particular is a favorite of mine. The web is full of other resources as well to get your language skills up to speed for your travels.

http://lang-8.com/
This is a journal writing service where you can write entries in the language you are studying. Native speakers will correct your entries, and in turn you can correct the entries of people studying your language. There is a great community aspect because of this!

http://edufire.com/
eduFire is a marketplace for teachers and students to have one on one tutoring or sessions with up to 100 people all through their virtual classroom. They have somewhat recently released a subscription program called Superpass which allows you to take unlimited classes for $29/month. Less than one dollar a day!

http://smart.fm/
Flashcards!! This website is a far superior alternative to making your own flashcards out of index cards and markers. You can study lists that are already made, or you can make your own to study from. Highly recommended.

Thanks again for your list! Good luck with the studies.

I was about to suggest the same!

Thanks : )

Milene

Thanks for all your comments guys, great article Milene!

Paul @

TravMonkey.com

Good on you! I'm sure you will become fluent faster without struggling so much and will also be able to enjoy yourself better than someone who isn't prepared at all. Good luck with it, French is such a beautiful language!! I'm jealous. : )

Merci pour votre commentaire!

Milene

You believe well … for the present time.

However there were many "most popular" languages in the past that didn't make it in the long run..

Esperanto offers an alternative which you will be happy to use when the fate of English has followed its predecessors.

If you don't want Esperanto, then prepare your children to spend their valuable time on …(I let you guess which one).

I can assure you it will be much more difficult than Esperanto.

The French are now very sorry that they vetoed Esperanto in the League of Nations (see Nitobe).

I recently went to Poland and I can assure you that the only place where I did better with my English than with my broken Polish was the Holiday Inn in Krakow, with exception of the time I spend with Esperanto friends.

The effort of learning Esperanto is so small, compared with any other language, that it's a sin to ridicule those who believe the choice of reason will prevail.

For me, the fastest way to learn a foreign language is first to start with Esperanto.

1) because the grammar and vocabulary can be learned very quickly.

2) all you must do is: train your mind to think fast in a foreign language, and get confidence in your ability of deprogramming your mother-tongue habits.

3) visit (or at least call) your Esperanto friends in the country where they speak the language you want to learn and use the traditional ways of learning already described here-above.

By the way, Esperanto is well-known in Brazil.

Those who didn't know what it was would probably say once they know:

"What a good idea! Why isn't it made mandatory to learn it?".

Remush

Awesome post Milene. I'm heading to France next year and hoping to get really into French before I get there. I know it's not required but it's more of a personal challenge to see how far I get.

Awesome news!

Not giving up on Esperanto though, but if you compare how many people speak Esperanto and English in the world, English is still the most popular language I believe.

The other day some people I work with didn't have a clue what Esperanto was.

Thanks for you comment!

Milene

Take a look at http://www.lernu.net

Esperanto works! I’ve used it in speech and writing – and sung in it – in about fifteen countries over recent years.

Indeed, the language has some remarkable practical benefits. Personally, I’ve made friends around the world through Esperanto that I would never have been able to communicate with otherwise. And then there’s the Pasporta Servo, which provides free lodging and local information to Esperanto-speaking travellers in over 90 countries. In the past few years I have had guided tours of Berlin and Milan and Douala in Cameroon in the planned language. I have discussed philosophy with a Slovene poet, humour on television with a Bulgarian TV producer. I’ve discussed what life was like in East Berlin before the wall came down, how to cook perfect spaghetti, the advantages and disadvantages of monarchy, and so on.