| URL | www.Livemocha.com |
|---|---|
| Slogan | Creating a world in which every human being is fluent in multiple languages. |
| Commercial? | Yes |
| Type of site | Social network service |
| Registration | Required for some services |
| Available language(s) | American English, Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Dutch, Esperanto, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Mandarin Chinese, Norwegian (Bokmål), Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Ukrainian, and Urdu |
| Owner | Livemocha, inc. |
| Created by | Shirish Nadkarni, Co-Founder; Krishnan Seshadrinathan, Co-Founder; Michael Schutzler, Current CEO |
| Launched | 24 Sep 2007 |
| Alexa rank | 3,920[1] |
| Revenue | undisclosed |
| Current status | official/paying |
Livemocha is a commercial online language learning community, providing instructional materials in 38 languages and a platform for speakers to interact with and help each other learn new languages. According to the site, it has approximately 12 million registered members from 196 countries around the globe (although this claim includes members who have signed up for 1 day and never returned). Over 400,000 users visit the site daily.[2] The majority of its members (more than 80%) are located outside the US.
The company was founded in 2007 by Shirish Nadkarni and Krishan Seshadrinathan. Nadkarni came up with the idea for a web-based approach to language learning while on a trip to Spain with his children—though they had studied Spanish in high school they were unable to engage in conversation with native speakers, but would log on to Facebook after returning to the hotel room. This led to the concept of utilizing the power of social networking sites for language learning, with an emphasis on active participation and exchange in order to hone practical skills and conversational fluency.[3] The name “Livemocha” was invented by the founders during a brainstorming session at a local café, and is meant to evoke the relaxed atmosphere of a coffee shop. On June 8, 2010, Michael Schutzler was announced as the new CEO.[4] Their headquarters is in Seattle, Washington.
The site has received significant attention from trade publications and national and international newspapers, including the New York Times[5] [6] and the Financial Times.[7] Time Magazine named Livemocha one of its 50 Best Websites in 2010.[8]
Contents |
Livemocha currently supports 38 languages: American English, Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Mandarin Chinese, Norwegian (Bokmål), Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, and Esperanto, which is the most recent addition.
The site can be viewed in 12 different languages: English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Turkish.
Free basic courses are offered in all the above languages, consisting in roughly 30-50 hours of coursework. Several languages, like Lithuanian and Brazilian Portuguese, were first added to Livemocha through the process of “Member Translation”: members fluent in two or more languages may translate already available course materials into their native tongue and publish the results on the site, with other users rating and improving the translations. This process is still ongoing.
More advanced courses—called “Active Courses”—are available in five languages: English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish.
These courses require a monthly or annual fee and are intended to achieve conversational fluency. Instead of signing up for one particular course, users can opt to purchase the “Gold Key” which grants unlimited access to the site. The active courses proceed through four levels of proficiency, and include reading, writing, speaking, and listening exercises.
Completed exercises from both basic and active courses can be sent out for review by other members (native or fluent speakers), who provide feedback and tips. Members can also pay for “Expert Reviews” from language teachers that have been certified by Livemocha. The user may rate the quality of these reviews, and choose to work with a particular expert reviewer. Private instruction sessions, conducted via video chat with a selected tutor, are also available for purchase.
Members earn “Mocha Points” by completing exercises and reviewing other people’s submissions. These points may be exchanged for paying features on the site, such as active courses and expert reviews. This points system is an integral part of Livemocha’s reciprocal-learning approach.
Livemocha calls itself the largest language learning community in the world. In many ways it operates like a social networking site, and the basic ethos of the system is peer-to-peer: registered members can engage in synchronous and asynchronous communication, make a personal profile, connect with a circle of friends, upload content (there is a page dedicated to cultural exchange), contribute translations and help expand the base of available languages, and review other members’ work, such as recorded dialogues from lessons. It has been referred to as “the Facebook of foreign languages,”[9] [10] and its potential impact on conventional language teaching compared to that of Wikipedia on the traditional encyclopedia.[11] One reviewer of the site observed, “With its unparalleled ability to connect people throughout the world, [the Internet] is changing the way that many people learn languages. There is no still way to avoid the hard slog through vocabulary lists and grammar rules, but the books, tapes and even CDs of yesteryear are being replaced by e-mail, video chats and social networks.”[12]
The main advantages of this new web-based educational approach are argued to include: easy and convenient access to native speakers (“learn from a native speaker without leaving home”);[13] exposure to how people actually speak the language, including slang, colloquialisms and everyday conversation; increased motivation and confidence through social contacts; and, the creation of a massive pool of expertise on a wide variety of languages. Criticisms tend to focus on the weak points of crowd-sourcing: there is no way to prevent sloppy or inadequate feedback, and the quality of translated content can be uneven.[14]
The topic of the impact of the Internet on language study is starting to elicit scholarly study, though it is often noted that there is a lack of empirical data to thoroughly evaluate the new methodologies. In one of the most comprehensive assessments to date, Meei-Ling Liaw writes: “Livemocha, with its carefully designed learning materials and integration of Web 2.0 technologies into learning activities, creates an interactive, authentic, and meaningful language learning environment that many traditional language instruction contexts cannot provide. Despite some of the specific concerns discussed in relation to Livemocha, the social networking aspect of the system undoubtedly plays a key role in making the learning interesting and attractive to its users worldwide.”[15]
In September 2011, Livemocha announced a partnership with the Brazilian education company Abril Educação, part of the media conglomerate Grupo Abril, which purchased a 5.9% stake in the company. Abril Educação will promote Livemocha to consumers and organizations throughout Brazil, with the aim of catering to the rising demand for language education and helping the country prepare to host the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics.[16] [17] In January 2011, Livemocha announced an agreement with Telefônica Brasil to offer its Internet customers discounted pricing to Livemocha’s English courses. [18]
Access to Livemocha’s courses is available for free through a number of public libraries in the US that subscribe to the site, including the Seattle Public Library.[19]
Livemocha is a privately held company. In 2011, it raised 5 million dollars in venture capital.[20] In previous years it raised 14 million dollars from investors August Capital and Maveron.[21] [22]