This is something that I have wanted to do for some time now, and I think that I may have run across a small jackpot of resources to do it. Primarily, I am interested in Germanic languages and want to learn German to fluency. However, due to my geographical location, this has proven to be quite challenging. I have been slowly searching the web for some good sites that might encourage online penpals for the specific purpose of learning languages.
Here are the ones I find have the most appealing features:
FriendsAbroad.com * I think that I like this one the most right now. Lots of features.
Polyglot
LingoZone
MyLanguageExchange *This one has limits on free members. For instance, free members cannot initiate contact with others – but there are a lot of extras on this site that make it definitely interesting.
All of them have different features, but the nice thing is that most of them offer a built in search so that you can look for people who are native speakers in the language you want to learn, and are also interested in learning the language that is your native language. Makes it nice and tidy to match up with exactly the right people to teach/learn together.
If anyone runs across other good ones – feel free to mention them.
~Nicole