Lang-8.com is the writing equivalent of finding a conversation partner. It is a wonderful website where you write in the language(s) you're learning, and then native speakers will correct it for you. Of course, you are expected to do the same. Here's how it works:
Once you join, you're encouraged to write a self-introduction in the language you're learning. Users see your essay when they search for pieces to correct, and they carefully edit, delete, and add to your sentences! You can then thank these lovely people for taking the time to help you, and even send them a friend request and a private message.
After this, you're totally welcome to keep writing essays, journal entries, opinion pieces, start conversations, or just write a few sentences. OR you could go correct other users' entries. I have very strong tendencies toward teaching, so this is usually easier for me than writing. I generally try to correct entries only from Japanese people because it helps me to connect to others, and it's also helpful to see what mistakes they make over and over. Believe it or not, it will help you to understand how your target language works.
Lang-8 gives you points for each entry you correct. I know you get more points if a person's piece has yet to be corrected, but otherwise, I'm not sure how they figure it. I think the site also looks at how good of an explanation you gave for you corrections. It's fun to see your ranking go up with the more entries you correct.
I will also say that the users are very active and corrections come quickly. I was working on a large project for work at one time, and it probably took 20 minutes for me to get a response on a pretty long document. Nice!
This site is FREE and completely invaluable. Written language is often completely different from spoken, so it's important to pay attention to and practice. Check out the site and check out my entries!
