One the one hand, there are so many free and easily accessible language learning resources on the Internet, it seems like it wouldn’t be too hard for a motivated learner to get everything they need online. On the other hand, classroom-based schools and local tutors promote the importance of face-to-face contact. Some would have you believe the Internet can’t do much more than help you with homework.
So, who’s right? Is it really possible to at least develop decent communication skills totally online?
What’s Possible Online
If you want to learn to communicate comfortably and maybe pass an intermediate level exam in a language, I think it’s safe to say you can reach those goals learning purely online. After all, every major language skill can be practiced over the Internet.
The standard language class focuses on four communications skills:
- Reading
- Writing
- Listening
- Speaking
The passive skills—reading and listening—are easy enough to manage online. Even in less common languages, you can still find newspapers, blogs, music videos and other interesting stuff to practice with. Writing isn’t too much harder to practice online with a keypal or email-based lessons. That leaves speaking as the main challenge.
Building Speaking Skills Online
The most efficient way improve your speaking skills online is with a tutor or a language exchange partner use a VoIP program like Skype of Yahoo! Chat. The idea behind a language exchange is to swap language knowledge. In most cases, this is great for free, casual conversation practice. It can also help build your confidence if you’re a little shy about talking to native speakers.
If you’re really serious about improving your skills and you don’t mind paying, though, a qualified professional tutor is a better option. Working with a tutor, you won’t have to worry about planning lessons or figuring out how to teach your mother tongue (a challenge in itself).
A paid tutor is also much less likely to show up unprepared or blow off lessons altogether because they had better things to do. Another benefit is that tutor can tell you exactly why certain things are said the way they are, whereas a native speaker may only be able to tell you what “sounds right.” That helps you grasp the logic of the language faster.
The Mindset for Learning Online
The Internet gives you access to almost everything you need to get conversational in a language, but there are a few reasons online-only learning may not be the best option for you.
Even if you’re enrolled in a well planned and carefully managed course, when you’re learning online, you still have more responsibility for your learning than you do in a classroom-based course. When you’re sitting behind your computer, no one is there to get your attention when your eyes glaze over during a listening exercise or ask you why you’re leaving class early. If you’re not really the self-motivated type (no shame in that), you’ll probably do better taking classes in person.
Learning a language online also isn’t ideal if you learn better in a social environment. If you just like to have people around to chat with and mutually encourage, at the very least you’ll probably want to join a local study group and pair up with a motivational partner.
Online language learning resources provide and they’re worth using even if you’re enrolled in a classroom-based course. If you decide you want to go for self-guided online language learning, check out the Faster Foreign Language Learning book for more tips on learning more efficiently.
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