Free Sites to Learn a Language Online

There are many reasons to learn a language, including employment, travel or just for fun. Online language learning sites make it easy to learn while connecting with people from around the world who speak the language you are trying to learn.

Livemocha is an online language learning community with 12 million users from all over the world learning 38 languages. The format of Livemocha would be similar to Rosetta Stone but with social tools. After each lesson you can take a quiz and have it graded by a person who is a native or fluent speaker in the language you are learning. You can use their chat program to talk to people in your target language that are learning your language. The best part is that it’s free to sign up.

Busuu is another social language learning site similar to Livemocha. It offers courses is 12 different languages. Although Busuu does not offer as many languages as Livemocha, it has many of the same features. However, Busuu has a mobile app so you can access the course, games, vocabulary words and more from your mobile device. Busuu is free to join with a paid version for extra features

Mango Languages offers courses for 16 different languages. Unlike the other two online learning programs, Mango Languages is not a social app. But it does have a great interface and is easy to use. Mango Languages has a free demo but does not offer a free version of their courses on their website. However, if you have a library card your library may offer it free of charge. Just use their Find Mango tool to find a library close to you that offers Mango Languages free.

Check to see what your library offers. If they do not offer Mango Languages, they may offer a different online language course for free.

There are probably more online courses that I don't know about yet. If you know of one that you like better let me know.