Are you studying a foreign language? Have you always wanted to become pen-pals with someone else who speaks the language, but don’t know very many people? And/or are you a native English speaker who wants to help an ESL individual by becoming their pen-pal? If your answer to any of these questions is “yes,” then you may be interested in becoming a member of Rosetta Stone’s SharedTalk website.
The best part? It’s FREE.
According to their front page, “SharedTalk is a Community of People from all around the World and is dedicated to Language Exchange and Language Learning.” Having used this site myself a few times, I can tell you that it helps you connect to others based on language, medium of interaction desired (email, instant message, post), and experience.
In each member’s profile you can see what languages they speak, their age and gender, their country of residence, and what sort of practice they’re looking for.
As the site will tell you, this is NOT meant to be a social networking site, but it does give a unique opportunity to make friends based on a love for language study and exchange. For language learners of all levels, there is the opportunity to learn to write casually, formally, or even in business lingo.
And as lovers of writing, your participation in helping ESL learners on SharedTalk is a unique one that could be extremely enriching for them as well as you.