Krazer and I were dicussing in chat today the most important aspects of language learning. We both agreed that while chat/QA/learning characters is important, it's the ability to speak that will take you the furthest and make you most valuable.
The only way to get better at speaking is to practice speaking.
That being said, would it be possible to add in "voice chat" not only to Chinese, but to all language learning subsites on SE?
This would add a unique aspect to SE languages and become more attractive for those learning language.