There are so many new tools for communication.
I’ve see there are Discord servers for language exchanges, as well as other language focused groups. However, I’ve often found that Discord is chaotic. I am under the impression that most moderators are interested in growing their community more than curating the quality of the community.
I was just curious if other people have had different experienes on Discord. It looks like it should be a place that could easily organize language exchanges / practices (given the built-in chat rooms), as well as be a great place to just hang out (you can see when other people are online). Just curious to hear your experiences!
I use Discord for some of my other hobbies, but I have yet to find a language server (for Japanese, anyway) that isn’t overpopulated and under moderated. Maybe it’s different for less “popular” languages?
It’s a pity, since as you say, it’s a format that would lend itself well to language learning - it supports text, voice chat and video, all in one app/program. Maybe invite only servers are the way to go?
I think @Alesia (sorry if I marked the wrong person) set up a Discord server last year for languages, I’m not sure if it’s still active, though… I never got the hang of Discord and haven’t spent much time there lately.
Yep, that was me. Discord is perfect for language learning cuz you can jump on VC anytime and whoever else’s around can join you. I planned some group classes with actual teachers on there and we can chat with the teacher right there in the server in between classes. But unfortunately, even with ~200 members, it’s not really active beyond the languages I’m working with myself cuz it really needs someone dedicated to keeping each language active, so the more people willing to join in, the better it’ll be!
I joined Discord last year, hoping for a good language community. But actually I rather used it with some of my students during the pandemic. Some of the students had problems with it, I couldn’t hear them. So I’m not yet convinced of Discord …
I have used Discord twice (albeit for casual chat that has nothing to do with language learning) and didn’t bother creating an account - simply too chaotic in my opinion (as well). In fact, there are separate social networks aimed at language learners out there which I think do that job way better than Discord. Isn’t it that every project has its own specialty, just like with people?
Oh, I’ve never heard about social networks aimed at language learners. Would you please tell me which ones? Or did you just mean groups on Facebook and people to follow in Instagram?
Nope, I mean true social networks - the most well-known for language learning are Tandem and HelloTalk. I personally use Tandem and did stick there ever since I’ve got recommended to use it. As far as I know, Tandem might be better for one-on-one chats and finding individual partners, while HelloTalk gives more opportunities to practice with (a part of the) community. But there are more of them, and the website All Language Resources gives a pretty comprehensive overview of what’s available: https://www.alllanguageresources.com/language-exchange-showdown/
That’s apparently the usual disadvantage of such sites, where gender also has a serious influence on whether or not you get contacted by strange people.
The fortunate thing in my experience is that moderators took any reports I made quite seriously: within 12 hours, often less, the respective user got banned or at least warned. And even when they got warned, the bad behaviour stopped straight away and I could continue looking further to suitable partners.
Yeah, back then I was wondering if it’s just me and I’m maybe overreacting, but it does seem to be a general problem. They even mention it on the page you posted above… But they do have one link, where there are apparently very strict rules in place. I think I’ll give that one a try.
I’ve used Discord a lot, and there is a really good server I found for practicing languages. I made an account just to share it because it’s that good. Here it is if anyone wants to check it out - you won’t be disappointed. discord.gg/TNDfCcB5Ke
Thanks for the advice. I wanted to ask you if there are any very cool and high-quality programs, applications that will help me track the presence of plagiarism in my research? I use grammar and plagiarism checker https://fixgerald.com/ to correct my grammatical errors and check for plagiarism in my texts.
