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BRAVE Blog

Language learning and online platforms: new options, new questions

Creative Commons License(photo credit) Jesse757 via Compfight

Three bits of news inspired this blog post. And if I’m lucky enough, once you’re done reading you’ll have a lot more than just three questions. Why is this one important? One word: connections.

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BRAVE Blog

1000 True Fans: Why You Need Tribes to Learn Languages

The inspiration for this post was a brilliant thing that happened to me – right here on the bravelearning project! I’m sharing this with you, along with a few ideas and tips for making the most of an invaluable learning resource: other people (especially friendly people).

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BRAVE Blog

Tell ’em.

The most amazing, frightening, beautiful, shocking, stressful and productive moment of your language learning…

It’s when you commit, go out, speak up, make yourself heard. It’s when you take the risk.

Today, I started a Facebook page and a Google+ page for this blog. Until now, I was reluctant to do it. The reason, I think, is exactly the same as an excuse people make for not speaking foreign languages: fear of embarrassment.

Benny Lewis, from “Fluent in 3 Months,” will deal with that excuse in no time:

[youtube id=”_yhnWnR1g7M” width=”600″ height=”350″]

I will only add two things:

1. The meaning of every communication is the response you get. And the only way to get meaningful results is to take the risk.

2. Thank you for reading this. If you want to join a small, but growing group of people who share your love for languages, you’ve got Facebook and Google+ to choose from.

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BRAVE Blog

Hidden Gems of Social Networks: 3 Language Learning Tools You’re Not Using

Learning Italian online requires several webcams to capture the hand-flailing.

If I told you to “go and learn a language online, socially” – you would probably end up joining several groups on Facebook. That’s the obvious choice, and the go-to solution for many: after all, it’s the biggest social network in the world, and if movies are made about it, then it’s got to be worth something, right?

As it turns out, this doesn’t have to work all the time. If you read on, you’ll find why big, catch-all solutions in social media may actually impede your progress – and how to use three simple (and free) tools to set up a successful, socially-powered language learning system.