The language distance between the learners' native language and target language is also an important factor affecting the learners' choice of communication strategies.
In international adoption, a buffer of distance, language, culture, and class exists between the adoptive parents and the birth parents, and, to be honest, that was one of the things I liked about it.
The universality and flexibility of the Web's linking architecture has a unique capacity to break down boundaries of distance, language, and domains of knowledge.