If you are learning a language, and want to speak with native speakers (for free) over the internet using VoIP technology, definitely download skype. I think I am the only person on the planet who has not used it yet, but within only a week on the job - as to speak - I am amazed of its strength.
If you are on Ubuntu goto:
http://www.skype.com/intl/en-gb/get-skype/
Download the package and install away. Skype, once installed, has an option to make a test call. This is where things got slightly messy for me. With my call, my voice was recorded, but there was a lot of static and feedback included. To cut a long and tedious story short - here is what worked for me. As my 2nd machine, I run an Acer Aspire One.
1) Within a terminal type: alsamixer
This will take a fair amount messing about, but you want to slide the Mic Boost control down to zero. I also had to set my Input So to i-Mic.
Escape to leave alsamixer - retry skype after this.
After this - the job was a goodun. No evil feedback noises, just my sweet, sweet melodies coming through the headphones - shit, do I actually sound that bad!?
So far, I have spoken in a mix of Spanish and English to people from Spain, Colombia, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic. It is an excellent way to practice - or in my case - mangle the Spanish language.
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