Do you find online translations helpful when you text chat?

Hi, 

I'm a language teacher in college, and I would like to learn from you to improve my teaching. Would you please share your experience of using online translators/ditionaries when you text chat with native Chinese speakers?

1) What online translators/ dictionaries do you use? How do they help you in your learning of Mandarin Chinese?

2)  If you don't use online translators/dictionaries, what do you do when you don't understand Chiense native speakers?

 

How do I text-chat with language partners in italki?

Hi,  I'm new here. Some questions about how to use  italk to text-chat.

It looks like they expect users to chat on Skype. If I see an italk friend online, is there no way for me to send him an instant message in italki? 

希望你与我分享网上学外语的经验 以前有个网站叫LiveMocha,有人用过吗？后来它被Rosetta Stone买下来，就不让人在上头和学外语的伙伴们交朋友了。很高兴找到ｉｔａｌｋｉ这个网站，看来挺有经营头脑，希望它能帮助更多学外语的朋友。 我现在在康州念书，正做一个和社群网站学外语有关的研究。如果你能分享你的经验，我将非常感激。如果你可以帮我用“评论”回答以下任何一个问题，对我都是莫大的帮助。中英皆可！谢谢 1. How have you used online language exchange communities in your language study and for any other purposes? 2. How have you built your network in the language exchange community? 3. How would you describe the experiences of your online interactions with native speakers? (How do you find them? How often do you chat or exchange messages with native speakers? How did the interactions improve your Chinese/English? How did the interactions increase your learning interest?) 4. Tell me about your online interactions with other language learners, and particularly any incidents where you remember picking up more English/Chinese? 5. Besides practicing language, many people also appreciate the opportunities to make friends in online language communities. Please tell me if there are cases that you focused more on developing a friendship than practicing the language when you engaged in language exchange activities? Please also tell me if there are any cases where you helped online language exchange community members learn a language primarily to build friendship. 6. How would you describe your role in the online language exchange community? Do you feel you are important to other learners? Why or why not? 7. Please tell me about your English/Chinese studies experience before you join the online exchange community. How do you see the difference of learning in the online exchange community and learning in school? 8. How would you describe an ideal learning community for your study of English/Chinese? 9. Is there anything else you would like to tell me about your experience with learning Chinese/English through social media, anything I didn’t ask you about?

learning Chinese using social software Have any of you used LiveMocha to learn Chinese before? It was a great social website for language learners. Unfortunately, many of the "social" features were disconnected after Rosetta Stone acquired it. I'm so glad to find this new site. It looks like italki has better business ideas without sacrificing free social learning resources. I would very much appreciate If you would kindly share your experience of using language exchange or online social resources to learn Chinese. I'm a PhD student at Uconn, this is one of my research interest. Answers to any of the following questions would be appreciated: 1. How have you used online language exchange communities in your language study and for any other purposes? 2. How have you built your network in the language exchange community? 3. How would you describe the experiences of your online interactions with native speakers? (How do you find them? How often do you chat or exchange messages with native speakers? How did the interactions improve your Chinese? How did the interactions increase your learning interest?) 4. Tell me about your online interactions with other Chinese language learners, and particularly any incidents where you remember picking up more Chinese? 5. Besides practicing language, many people also appreciate the opportunities to make friends in online language communities. Please tell me if there are cases that you focused more on developing a friendship than practicing the language when you engaged in language exchange activities? Please also tell me if there are any cases where you helped online language exchange community members learn a language primarily to build friendship. 6. How would you describe your role in the online language exchange community? Do you feel you are important to other learners? Why or why not? 7. Please tell me about your Chinese studies experience before you join the online exchange community. How do you see the difference of learning in the online exchange community and learning in school? 8. How would you describe an ideal learning community for your study of Mandarin Chinese? 9. Is there anything else you would like to tell me about your experience with learning Chinese through social media, anything I didn’t ask you about?