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Classes/Conversation

Chinese Meetups Around New York City

Mandarin, Classes/Conversation, Social

To find a Chinese Meetup group in your area, type in your zip code on the far right of this page. If the results are overwhelming (Chinese includes a lot of dialects, after all!), then try starting at the page…

China Institute: Isn't This Pretty?

4 Mandarin, Museums/Cultural, Organizations, Classes/Conversation, Kids

China Institute was founded in 1926 by a group of American and Chinese educators, John Dewey among them. It resides in an Upper East Side brownstone from which it offers an array of lectures, symposia, films, exhibits, educational programs, corporate programs,…

Start 'Em Young!

Arabic, Mandarin, Spanish, Classes/Conversation, Kids

This project was founded by Angela Jackson, a business executive whose experiences living and working abroad highlighted for her the advantages multilingualism conferred on children overseas, in terms of both educational and professional opportunities. Bringing together language instructors, researchers, school…

ConversationExchange.com: Barter Your Language Skills

5 Arabic, Dutch, English, French, General, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Yiddish, Websites, Classes/Conversation

Even if you live in a remote area, you can use sites such as ConversationExchange.com to find a Skype partner overseas and start speaking, say, Finnish or Xhosa. The web is a fabulous thing. Through this language-exchange community, you…

Livemocha: Seeking to Provide Casual Café Culture

Arabic, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Websites, Classes/Conversation

“As the world’s largest online language learning community,” reads the Livemocha site, “Livemocha fuses traditional learning methods with online practice and interaction with native language speakers from around the world. Livemocha delivers an unparalleled learning experience that promises…

Mingle on Myngle

Arabic, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Websites, Classes/Conversation

Founded in 2007 and based in Amsterdam, Myngle bills itself as “the No. 1 multi-language online school.” I haven’t tried Myngle out, but some of my readers have. One described it as “a great way of getting some cheap lessons to…

Visit the Middlebury Language Schools Website for Answers to Application FAQs

5 Arabic, French, General, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Classes/Conversation

I don’t normally include language schools here, but Middlebury is famous for its summer programs. While I have not experienced one myself, I have heard great things about them over many years from people I trust.  The typical…