If you've been watching my Facebook status at all over the last month or so, you've seen that I have taken an interest in learning Russian. I don't know why, but it's this strong burning desire.

I have been dabbling with various resources, including Rosetta Stone, and just haven't been able to feel good about learning the language. Nothing really seemed to provide any feedback on how I was doing, any explanation of the phrases I was reading or speaking, or any pronunciation keys. It was all very frustrating.

Last night as I was taking Emily home after having dinner with her parents, I mentioned that I was going to work on my Russian a bit today. She said she had to show me something before I left her place, and I'm glad she did.

She had me look at the Houston Public Library website with her, and they have a section on learning other languages. In their list of resources was a link to Livemocha, an e-learning site with a focus on languages. Here's an excerpt from their "about us" page:

Livemocha is an exciting e-learning Web 2.0 startup founded by a group of experienced and successful entrepreneurs based in the Seattle area. Livemocha addresses a $20 billion worldwide language learning market fueled by rapid globalization, immigration and travel. Livemocha is a first of its kind web based language learning solution integrating online instructional content with a global community of language learners. Livemocha is a venture funded company backed by Maveron, a leading Seattle based venture firm with tremendous consumer and e-learning expertise.

In the last 14 hours, I've been able to complete lessons 1 and 2 of Russian 101, and I'm feeling good about it now.

If you're looking to learn a new language, I highly recommend Livemocha. It's free for learning one language.