Lang-8

So lately  I have been thinking about how to practice my Japanese using my blog.  I had considered two ideas: adding bilingual entries to my journal or making  two different journals (one entirely in Japanese and one entirely in English).  Probaly, in the beginning I will use the first option because it will be way too hard to always have a Japanese translation or vice versa.   I figure I will be busy with school and such so depending on the day and how confident I feel in my language skills I can do a bilingual version of entries.  Even if it’s not a very detailed translation it will give me practice in trying to express my feelings and thoughts in both languages.

Anyway, I was looking online for maybe online communities where I could get feedback on how good my entries were in Japanese and came across one interesting blog post by a blog user I sometimes check out.  The site is www.tofugu.com.  Actually there are two versions of the site. The blog site www.tofugu.com is in English and gives advice to English speakers on all topics of Japanese culture including the language, latesttrends, etc.  Alternatively, www.koichiben.com is designed for Japanese speakers to learn more about the American culture, latest trends, etc.   It is authored by a team of people.  I highly recommend checking it out as it very informative and entertaining.

Back to the point, in one of the blog entries (http://www.tofugu.com/2008/05/14/the-best-way-to-practice-japanese-writing/) the authors mention a language service called lang-8 which is a language learning community in which you provide your native language and the language you are wanting to learn (I believe there are fifteen right now).  Then, you can blog in the language you are learning and have native speakers correct your entries.  In return, you could also blog in your native language so that they can learn how to properly express it in your language and/or help correct their entries or well. 

I think this is a great way to maybe make new friends and most importantly improve your language skills.  I haven’t signed up yet because I don’t think my language skills are developed enough to really get much out of it which is probaly more due to a lack of confidence, but I think one I get started in school and get more feedback I will start using the service. 

Check it out and let me know what you think for whatever language you are studying.  I will defintely write a review of it once I start using it and start doing my entries in both English and Japanese.