An online community to correct your target language writing
I just registered for Lang-8 a few days ago, and I’m impressed with this website/social platform. It is a genius idea and ripe for our interconnected world: connect a bunch of people from different first languages and let them help each other with their writing.
Give and take
After registering, which took 2 minutes, I posted a short introduction and an email draft, both in Turkish. These were corrected within hours, clearly and kindly. The Lang-8 platform is pretty well-designed, so with a little navigation, I could easily find the corrections and even thank the correctors.
I also corrected a couple of entries by English learners–one biography of an artist by a Spanish speaker, and one sad account by a Japanese guy in Ireland about losing his wallet. The correcting was fun and easy to do, and took little time.
It is not a strict exchange (e.g. give one correction to receive one correction) but there is some point system involved. Maybe the more you correct, the more your own writing gets displayed on the waiting list.
Free free free
What a great time to learn a language this is. We are interconnected and the tools are cheap or, as in this case, free. You can upgrade to a ‘Premium’ account for $7/month, but the standard account seems to be all the average person would need.
Get writing!
One nice thing about Lang-8 is that your activity level is totally up to you. You can post every hour or every month. You can make a hundred ‘friends’ within the community, or just post writing to the general community. There is a handy calendar that shows how often you write, and which gives you some gentle encouragement. So go on, and write!
Do you think even I could do this? 🙂 Mom