Studied abroad twice in college, and have done a pretty good job of keeping my language ability on life support via weekly face to face language exchanges with native speakers. So I think this idea makes a lot of sense. I wouldn't say they helped me learn anything, but it has helped me to keep from forgetting.

It seems like this kind of system has a couple of markets. I think the reason a lot of Spanish speakers are using it, is because they may already have book learned the basics of English, but lack the day to day interaction. So that's one segment. It seems like this site is a sweet spot for them.

But another segment probably not as well served would be people who are completely new to a language. Most language partners won't have the skill to introduce someone who has no background in it. So I think the uptake for these kinds of language learners would be low.

One thing that would be really awesome is to consider integrating some kind of learning curriculum. But the trick is if you had to supply curriculum for every language, that won't scale well at all. Instead, consider the barefoot language learning school of thought:

http://www.amazon.com/Language-Acquisition-Made-Practical-Le...

This book is out of print, but it's an amazing guide to learning any language without a textbook provided you have a language partner.

Graphical dictionaries for language learners would also be super helpful:

http://www.lexicarry.com/

Also, for more advance learners who are already able to carry out basic conversations, topic suggestions would be super helpful to keep the chat flowing. You can only talk about your family for so long...

I looked to sign up but none of my languages are supported yet, otherwise looks promising.

Let me tell you about the best book in the world for learning language:

http://www.amazon.com/Language-Acquisition-Made-Practical-Le...

Language Acquisition Made Practical by Brewster & Brewster

It's from the 70s and way out of print. It's written by these two Christian missionaries who went to many countries where no one could speak their language, and they developed a framework for 'barefoot language learning'. It's excellent way to design your own course. It boils down to find a language partner, and then follow the methods in this book.

I became frustrated with the way a lot of language courses are structured. They are so damn boring and suck the fun of discovery out of the language learning process. From the reading I have done on language acquisition, language classes should more closely mimic how children learn a language naturally. LAMP gets you closer to this model.

Also, this book is an excellent tool: http://www.lexicarry.com/

There's nothing but a bunch of pictures in the book, describing different nouns, verbs, and adjectives...all with NO English. You can use this with a conversation partner to learn many many useful words in a more organic way than memorizing a list of vocabulary with their english translation counterparts.

Also, basically what everyone has said thus far. You need to live in the culture, and more than anything, make friends who will speak the language with you.