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? 

Most of my "teaching" consisted of correcting written essays. I hope the writers found value in that.

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?

I've never taken formal classes and didn't have any desire to learn Mandarin until I met my wife. She teaches me some but confuses me more. First she'll teach me how to say something in standard Mandarin, then colloquial Mandarin, then in Taiwanese. Before I know, I'm completely confused.

8. How would you describe an ideal learning community for your study of Mandarin Chinese?

The ideal would follow a rigid curriculum including speaking, reading and writing (I find pinyin only marginally useful), and continuously build on what has already been learned.

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?

I'm not convinced that social media can be more than a supplement to formal study. Learning a new language isn't a casual endeavor. It takes real diligence.

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:

I used to visit Livemocha a lot, but since it changed, nothing works. I just see a brown screen. I met some nice people there and the language lessons were helpful.

1. How have you used online language exchange communities in your language study and for any other purposes?
I found many friends online with various degrees of seriousness about studying. Most were content to make friends and practice what they already know, but were appreciative when corrections were offered.

2. How have you built your network in the language exchange community?

Yes, but people tend to drift away after a while.

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?)

Only a few were genuinely interested in helping with my Chinese, but that may reflect on my own level of diligence (and the challenges of different time zones), not their willingness to teach and help.

4. Tell me about your online interactions with other Chinese language learners, and particularly any incidents where you remember picking up more Chinese?

Every single one was friendly, and most taught me a little bit more - a word or a phrase here and there.

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.

Many people are looking more for friends (or more) than for tutors.

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?