Not sure where you can volunteer for this?  Here are some ideas:

• Local language learning schools. Get a list of the local language classes in your area.  Contact each one and ask if there’s any opportunity to volunteer in any capacity.   Whether as a teaching assistant or a practice group facilitator, you could really hone your language skills doing this type of work.
• Form a practice group.  If you don’t have an existing practice group, you could form one and recruit fellow learners.  Welcome even absolute newbies in if you’re serious about tutoring.  Got an existing group?  Ask other members for permission to recruit newer learners.
• Teach online.  You can join an online forum for language learning and teach by helping out other posters there with their questions.  You can also teach others by starting your own blog and writing for many online outlets.  Granted, you’ll need to refine your writing skills a little if you want to be effective, but it’s another excellent way to internalize what you’ve learned.

Native speakers can be the worst persons to ask.  Since they know you’re a second-language speaker, they tend to simply assume you’re going to suck.  As such, when you speak and you only suck a little, they’ll actually tell you that you’re doing amazingly well.

Here are some ways to get useful honest feedback if you’re looking for them:

1. Ask for just one thing.  Asking people to give you “any feedback” may sound like you’re giving them space to tell you everything.  What usually happens, though, is it leaves them uncertain about what to tell you.  When you ask them something specific, they can focus their mind on exactly one thing, increasing the likelihood that you’ll actually get a useful answer.
2. Ask people who know you.   It’s hard for someone to make a decent assessment of your skills if they’ve only known you for an entire 30 minutes.  As much as possible, seek feedback from people who can actually take your background into account in their assessment, such as a teacher, a friend or a learning partner.
3. Ask groups of people.  If you want to get lots of feedback, don’t ask people one by one.  Instead, ask them as a group.  All you need is for one person to start the critiques and the rest of the crew will start cracking your head with their own.

The idea behind the technique, called Shadow Reading, is that you can use those reading skills to fill in the gaps in your listening ability by engaging in both activities at the same time.  Doing so will help build the connections in your brain between the written elements of a language and their spoken counterparts.

How do you do this?  You need two thing: a spoken recording  in the target language and its accompanying transcript.   There are CD sets and online downloads available that offer this type of combination (audio monologue and a transcript) as a learning tool for, as far as I’ve seen, the more popular languages out there.

If you can’t find material like this available for what you’re studying, you can go to YouTube to find a video in your target language, record the audio (there are plenty of software for that) and transcribe the audio (again, there are plenty of speech-to-text software for that, although you might need to do some searching to chance upon one that supports your target language).

Once you have the materials, you can then set aside practice time to do them.   Just remember to focus your attention on the audio, all while using the transcripts as a reference tool for when you can’t figure out what the recording is saying.

If you’re looking at online practice as an option, here are some things to consider:

1. If you’re living in a country that speaks the target language, online practice might not be your best path of action.   I mean, all you have to do is leave the house to get conversation practice, so sitting in front of a computer just isn’t that good of an idea.
2. Using online tools is a great way to learn reading and writing in the language.  Most online language tools are text-based and will have you conducting your conversations using typed messages.
3. Voice and video chat are excellent ways to get speaking practice.   While they’re not as good as real-life conversations, these mediums are excellent approximations for how real life interactions can go as you’re forced to process what the other person is saying and come up with responses on the fly.
4. Consider an online tutor.  If you’re willing to spend extra, an online tutor can be just as helpful as a live, in-person private tutor, all while charging rates that are just a tad lower.

So, how do you keep your language skills in tip-top shape?  By regularly sharpening it, just like a tool.

According to some scientists, the brain regularly goes through processes that can best be described as “pruning.”  That means, some pathways that have been made are kept, while others are eliminated.  The older and less used a pathway is, the higher the likelihood it will be among those permanently banished.

So, how do you keep your language abilities adequately utilized?

1. Speak it.  Obviously, this is easy when you’re regularly around people who speak the language, such as a foreign country or a workplace with plenty of employees from the target language’s country.
2. Practice on your own.  When active use of the language in your regular day isn’t easily available, there’s nothing stopping you from practicing at home.  You can pretend to have a conversation with yourself, watch a movie and mimic the actors, or compose an entire speech in the target language.
3. Keep  a close relationship with the language.  Subscribe to blogs and RSS feeds, listen to songs and watch web videos in the target language.  Don’t let your software lessons be the end of your relationship when you’re not using it in your immediate surroundings — there are many more ways to keep up.

1. Your vocabulary’s just too weak.  It’s possible that you just don’t have enough stock of a language to be able to comprehend what people are saying.  The solution is straightforward: beef up your vocabulary.
2. They speak in an accent different than your own.  Even if you can identify words and phrases, accent can complicate the language heavily.    This is why we recommend teaching be done using the target language’s accent – doing so helps familiarize you with their speaking patterns, so you can easily recognize them in real-world situations.
3. They bring their own cultural biases into the language.  The way native speakers use the language often bring idioms and cultural elements into play that sound perfectly natural in their local environment.   Learning more about the local culture should help you on this end.
4. They use slang that isn’t taught in formal classes.  Slang, especially plays on words, are near impossible for non-natives to make out.   Unless you befriend locals and spend time  in their company, chances are, they’ll remain a mysterious parlance.
5. They talk too fast.  Since they’re perfectly familiar with the language, most native speakers will plow through their speech and pronunciations patterns quickly.  Your limited time with the vernacular isn’t likely to help you much with regards to keeping up.  The solution?  Spend more time listening to native speakers, either through actual conversation, watching movies or listening to speeches.

Language consists of four main skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing.  While each area does help you develop the others, proficiency in one won’t ever guarantee the same level of ability on the rest.

If you want to communicate in a language, you’ll have to learn to speak and write in it.  Those two abilities are widely different.  In fact, while most second-language learners eventually develop proficiency in the former, many of them never develop skills in the latter.  Now, why is that?

Speaking is natural. If you spend time among a group of native speakers of a language, you will eventually pick up bits and pieces of its speech.  However, the same isn’t likely to hold true for writing.  Putting words to paper, quite simply, is a learned skill – one you should spend considerable time building up.

There are differences in structure and style. When we speak, we rarely bother with formal grammar.  In writing, we almost always make sure we write in an organized and structurally-correct manner.  Obviously, the former is much less intimidating, making it easier to just dive in and embrace.

Writing is permanent. When you write, there’s a feeling of durability to the form, as the words you commit to paper can literally last a lifetime (and then some).  Speaking, on the other hand, is more immediate, allowing you to express your thoughts to people right on the spot.

Understanding these differences helps you gain an appreciation for the learning you’re going to be doing, whether you’re taking language lessons or using a language training software.

When immersed in an environment where a particular language is used, especially as a child, we pick up the speaking aspect naturally.  It’s as good as automatic, provided we have people interacting with us to allow the experience to happen.  Writing, on the other, hand has to be taught.  Without directed instruction, even in an immersive environment, it’s unlikely you will learn how to put language to paper.

For language learners, this is a very important distinction to draw.  If you think you can write in a language without being able to speak a decent amount of it first, you’re kidding yourself.  You can’t put your thoughts down to paper simply because you can’t formulate them without having the ability to express yourself in speech.

As such, you have to at least speak at the most basic level, before moving on to reading and writing.  Remember that when designing your own language learning lesson plan, so that you don’t end up wasting more time than is necessary.

Most language acquisition software do take this into account.  That’s why they integrate different mediums such as audio and video, apart from text.  Doing so, you can learn in an immersive manner without being forced to read (or write) materials that you can’t comprehend.

Can’t you learn a language from a language learning software?  Of course, you can.  Using it, you can
memorize vocabulary, study grammar and learn how to construct sentences, among other things.  However, having a store of words and grammatical constructs you can draw from is hardly the most important aspect of learning.  Acquiring a language has more to do with developing abilities in communication and interaction, being a part of a community that speaks the vernacular.  As such, you can’t ever truly learn a language on your own.

Unlike a skill like riding a bicycle that involve no outside component, other people are imperative to language learning.  Language serves as a bridge for understanding.  If you don’t use it to communicate, then your feedback mechanism is completely inadequate – about a 1 in 100, if you need a number to gauge just how lacking it is.

A more fitting comparison to the skill of language learning is the art of public speaking.  You can practice giving out a speech for days on end in your bedroom, but your biggest progress will always happen once you leave the house and stand on a podium.

Don’t think you can work at language learning the same way you work on Math and History.  Language has many nuances that you simply can’t pick up on your own.  Read your phrasebooks and finish your language software lessons, but remember to go out and apply it as much you can.

Learning The Sound System. You’ll need to learn how syllables are pronounced, how intonations are made and how accents are used in the new language.  You achieve this by repeating words to yourself, reading aloud to yourself, singing to songs in the vernacular and other  similar activities.

Learning Vocabulary. Of course, you’ll need to know the words before you can use them.  That’s why you’ll arm yourself with phrasebooks, dictionaries and all sorts of memory exercises to commit the vocabulary to your recollection.

Learning The Grammar. Just like you internalized the early grammar constructs of English using nursery rhymes and simple stories, you will need to undergo something similar in your acquisition of a new language.  From parroting simple phrases to guessing the right sentences to use, you will eventually achieve a native (though, largely, non-academic) facility with the target languages of rules of language.

Learning To Comprehend. One important aspect of language acquisition is the ability to understand others who speak the language.  You practice this by guessing at the start, exposing yourself to a multitude of inputs, such as records, music and speeches, as well as by focusing your attention on the new language, thinking in it and similar activities.

Learning To Talk. All of the above skills come together as you learn to speak the language.  More than mere parroting of phrases from a language software, learning to talk involves being able to formulate ideas and expressing them concisely, in a manner that other people can understand.