Languge exchange community

[raku]

I find it useful to practice with native Japanese speakers and its really fun to do so.
I recommend http://www.xlingo.com website. You can connect with native speakers and talk through Skype.
http://www.xlingo.com

[Liz21]

Hi!
Here is another language exchange program. I have some wonderful language partners in Japan from this site. I had so many, I had to remove my name from the site. I have all I can handle.

http://www.language-exchanges.org/

[raku]

In xLingo.com, you can hide your profile in case you are to popular!!

[TheNationalPool]

Very cool! Thanks. I've been looking for something like this.

Makes me wonder how people got by years ago without podcasting, Skype, etc...

I don't think I'd be studying Japanese were it not for the wealth of information out there. Makes things much easier.

[maxiewawa]

So what's your secret, Liz? I haven't had anyone call me!

[Liz21]

Maxiewawa,
So sorry to hear that! Anyone wanting to learn English with you would be so lucky! It took several weeks for me to have anyone contact me. Did you try both of the sites mentioned in this forum thread? Good luck!

[Ulver_684]

Mina-san!

Here are more Language Exchange websites for you to practice so signup now:

http://www.italki.com/
http://www.Livemocha.com
http://www.mylanguageexchange.com/
http://www.mylanguageexchange.com

[Ulver_684]

In xLingo.com, you can hide your profile in case you are to popular!!

Raku-san!

Hidden yourself to world means afraid, fear, covardy and some JP101 listeners hide their online status too!

[untmdsprt]

I've tried some of these sites and I keep getting people wanting to learn English, but their languages are of no interest to me. How do you weed out these people? I hate to sound mean, but I don't have the time to spend with these people when I'm trying to learn Japanese.

[chinz]

have anyone tried www.sharedtalk.com

I find that site very good... you can perform a member search based on their native language and their practising language.... that ensures you get the right exchange partners....

[Psy]

I've tried some of these sites and I keep getting people wanting to learn English, but their languages are of no interest to me. How do you weed out these people? I hate to sound mean, but I don't have the time to spend with these people when I'm trying to learn Japanese.

I know what you mean, and being the tolerant type I had put up with it for awhile as well-- but one has to realize that language exchange is a two-way street. If someone doesn't have anything to offer me, it becomes quite disrespectful to contact and take the attitude of, "Hi. U b friend with me? u can help my english." I don't have all the time in the world, and tutoring is the job of close friends or a paid professional. As such, I simply ignore their requests or otherwise find a way to end the conversation. Remember: Your time doesn't belong to them. Sometimes this means being assertive.

I am a member on SharedTalk. Their Japanese chat rooms are almost constantly active, and while the chat is generally in English, there are usually Japanese natives around too. I've met more than a few who have been very helpful with some issues that have arisen in my studies, so I highly recommend giving the place a look!

[Javizy]

I've tried some of these sites and I keep getting people wanting to learn English, but their languages are of no interest to me. How do you weed out these people? I hate to sound mean, but I don't have the time to spend with these people when I'm trying to learn Japanese.

I want to speak Japanese all the time with my Skype friends, but I met them through a language exchange site, and they put up with my questions and simplistic language, so it'd pretty much be arrogant not to do the same. If you're not willing to do this at all, you should probably try looking for some Japanese websites or chatrooms that don't focus around language learning.

If it's purely chatting for fun, though, you also have to appreciate that (most) people don't actually enjoy dumbing themselves down to intermediate foreigner level conversation, answering questions about their language, repeating themselves, and generally enduring the frustration of such interchanges. So, unless you're fairly fluent, you're going to lose the advantages that language exchange offers for a little bit of give and take.

[untmdsprt]

I want to speak Japanese all the time with my Skype friends, but I met them through a language exchange site, and they put up with my questions and simplistic language, so it'd pretty much be arrogant not to do the same. If you're not willing to do this at all, you should probably try looking for some Japanese websites or chatrooms that don't focus around language learning.

You misunderstood, I get people whose native language is like Spanish or Arabic. I have no interest in these languages. So it doesn't seem fair for me to waste my time doing a language exchange with these people. If I did have an interest in it, then yes sure I'd be more than happy to help them.

As for the shared talk site, I hate the interface when typing Japanese. More than once I make a mistake and the d*** thing decides to go ahead and enter it into the chat.

I'm finding this LiveMocha site to be much better though. They have courses you can work through, people will evaluate you, and you can evaluate others.

[Javizy]

I want to speak Japanese all the time with my Skype friends, but I met them through a language exchange site, and they put up with my questions and simplistic language, so it'd pretty much be arrogant not to do the same. If you're not willing to do this at all, you should probably try looking for some Japanese websites or chatrooms that don't focus around language learning.

You misunderstood, I get people whose native language is like Spanish or Arabic. I have no interest in these languages. So it doesn't seem fair for me to waste my time doing a language exchange with these people. If I did have an interest in it, then yes sure I'd be more than happy to help them.

As for the shared talk site, I hate the interface when typing Japanese. More than once I make a mistake and the d*** thing decides to go ahead and enter it into the chat.

I'm finding this LiveMocha site to be much better though. They have courses you can work through, people will evaluate you, and you can evaluate others.

Ah, I see. Luckily I've only been contacted by Japanese people. I used the advanced search to contact a couple myself, since you can select an age range and what languages they speak/learn. You might have more luck ignoring your messages and contacting people yourself who have a decent looking profile. I'll have to check out LiveMocha, though.

[untmdsprt]

Ah, I see. Luckily I've only been contacted by Japanese people. I used the advanced search to contact a couple myself, since you can select an age range and what languages they speak/learn. You might have more luck ignoring your messages and contacting people yourself who have a decent looking profile. I'll have to check out LiveMocha, though.

How do you have your profile? Is it all in Japanese? Did you set the language to be Japanese? I have just a basic profile, but since it says "female", I get every weirdo online contacting me.