An Audio-Powered Language Community for Learners and Helpers
Fluentli has a fresh, straightforward take on social language learning: Provide an interface for learners to ask and answer specific language questions with text and audio.
It seems simple because it is! With enough complex tasks to tackle when learning a foreign language, a dash of something easy and quick into the mélange is most welcome. The results are not simple though - they are precise. You ask a question and get an answer, often including an audio recording of what you ask about so there is no ambiguity about pronunciation. If several users answer your question you may end up with several regional versions with proper pronunciation.
In addition this is function, Fluentli lets you create lists of your favorite responses to language questions, called Language Packs.
Free eBook: The Science of Language Hacking
At the time of publishing this article, the site seems to be getting up and going. There are already quite a few members and one benefit to joining (free) is an instantly downloadable ebook called "The Science of Language Hacking".
I don't want to spoil the fun, but this 24-page ebook has some real nuggets of language learning treasure, one of which involves the use of multimedia web searches to learn new words and concepts, rather than looking them up in a dictionary and then, promptly, forgetting them. I recommend signing up and downloading this free ebook, it is a quick read and packed with sound language learning advice from successful polyglots like Idahosa Ness of MimicMethod.com, Benny Lewis of Fluentin3Months.com and Gabriel Wyner of TowerofBabelfish.com.
At the end of the ebook you are provided with an example schedule using their "Scientific Method of Language Hacking" so you can immediately make it real in your learning endeavors.
Quite a value for a free signup!
Supported Languages
This list is subject to change as Fluentli grows: Arabic, English, Esperanto, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Persian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.
The site is also localized in Japanese.