Tandem – Language Exchange Application

How Does Language Exchange Work?

“Are you an English speaker who wants to learn Korean (or Japanese, Chinese, French, German, Spanish, etc.)? Then you’re in luck. There are thousands of native-speaking Koreans who really want to learn English! A Korean English learner can teach you Korean and, in return, you can teach him English. You can trade each other’s native tongues. This is called language exchange.

A language exchange is different from getting an online language tutor. In a tutoring relationship, it’s clear who’s the teacher and who’s the student. One teaches the other, and learning is pretty much one way. In a language exchange, both people teach and learn, in turn.

Language exchange websites like Conversation Exchange and My Language Exchange.com exist for the very purpose of pairing learners with the native speakers of their target language. On these websites, you indicate the language(s) that you know and the language(s) that you want to learn, and you’re presented with many potential language exchange partners. You can then reach out to whoever you’re interested in working with and agree to meet over chat, email, Skype, or any other method of communication that works for you both.

You and your buddy can tailor your sessions however you want. Language exchange sessions can consist of freewheeling discussions where you talk about whatever comes to mind, or they can be more structured interactions (for example, the first 15 minutes could be you teaching, and then you could switch roles).

You can talk about anything, and before long, you might have a real friend who’s also truly invested in your learning.

A language exchange works best when it’s paired with other learning methods. Since your language partner likely isn’t a teacher, they won’t be able to teach you the language, but rather will act as sounding posts to your learning.

For example, you can use the FluentU program to study a handful of new vocabulary words before a language exchange session, and then practice these new words with your partner. And since FluentU uses authentic videos to teach languages—like movie clips, news segments and music videos—you’ll also be arming yourself with some topics of conversation.

You can also use the program’s interactive subtitles feature to see contextual definitions for words and find other videos that use the word. After your language exchange session, you’ll be able to test yourself on how well you know each word in your custom lists through FluentU’s personalized quizzes.

This is just one example of how you might pair your language exchange program with a more thorough learning app, or course. Best of all, save for a potential nominal fee to the websites hosting your profile, language exchanges are nearly always free!” ⁽¹⁾

Go to https://www.tandem.net/en/ and start looking for your learning buddy!

⁽¹⁾ The 9 Best Language Exchange Apps in 2022 to Connect and Converse by Stevie D., August 30, 2022 - Found at: https://www.fluentu.com/blog/best-language-exchange-apps/