Conversation Exchange

Do you really want to learn a language? Start using it!

By Federico Martínez

Last class we talked about some acronyms like lol, lmao, and others and Lucila suggested that I should talk about it. I thought that better than that would be talking about how it is that I’m learning them. So, I’m going to talk about something I consider could be interesting for all of us, as we are all here trying to learn English. I’m going to talk about conversation exchange.

Six months ago, more or less, I was thinking about how my English was going and I was worried because I hadn't improved as much as I expected. I didn't have problems with grammar in general or reading, but my oral and listening skills were just disappointing for me. I realized the main problem was that I was only practicing at class. And not only that, I was practicing with people that spoke like me, with the same kind of mistakes. While thinking about that , I thought it would be great if there were a chance to talk with English people that are learning Spanish. Quickly I went to the computer, because if there wasn't a site like it, developing one could be a gold mine.

A Canadian postcard

Sadly my idea was not so original and there were actually lots of sites for what I wanted to do. On the other hand, although I wouldn't become rich, I could at least use them and practice English. I've been doing it since that moment I have gotten very neat results not only because of my English but also by meeting a bunch of interesting people. And you learn a lot, not only useful phrases and slang but also that sometimes what is grammatically correct is not the usual way and what's most important, you become more comfortable with your English.

As I said, there are many sites for this. I chose one called conversationExchange.com, basically because it is very simple and focused on the subjects. Other sites are more complex and are more like social network and I was not interested in those features.

In this site you have to sign up and create your profile: your name, age, which languages you speak, which ones you want to learn, where you live, and a brief description of yourself and your interests. Once your profile is approved, you can start your search for conversation partners and begin sending messages to them. The site allows you to search for people who are in your country for face to face conversation or just people to chat or exchange email.

A gift from the UK

I started with email, because I wasn't comfortable with my English and email lets you think and check what you write. After a while I decided to move to chat, it is more dynamic and gives you less time to think. Lastly I started with Skype and I even met up with some people. In my opinion all of this has been helping me a lot as it allows me to use English in my daily life. For instance, it is thanks to this site that I read my first “real world” novel in English as an exchange with an American girl (That was you Taneal!): She recommended me a novel that she had read and I chose one in Spanish for her and then we discussed the plot, characters and so on.

Sweets a friend from France sent me. Yummy!

You have to take account of some advice when you are on this: There are spammers and scammers lurking over there. They do not disguise themselves very well and you can easily detect them because they ask for your email in their very first message and write very short and generic messages. Besides that you also have to pay attention to the other person’s English level, for example people from Africa (and I’m not being racist, it is just a fact that I've faced) tend to write very bad in English and even people from the French part of Canada do the same. So you’d better watch out.

Another interesting thing about these sites is that they allow you to “travel” without moving from your city. Meeting foreign people is a wonderful way to discover how people live in other cultures and countries. It’s amazing how you can realize that the world is huge and not only your everyday places, how things that are usual for you are very exotic abroad and vice versa. You can even discover yourself looking at your city with tourist eyes: I’m exchanging pictures from my area with other people who send me from theirs and by doing that, I have noticed that many of the corners I pass through every day are actually very interesting and picturesque.

I don’t want to extend myself rambling, my advice is that if you are really interested in improving your English skills this kind of site together with these lessons are a good way to achieve that. For further information you can check conversationexchange.com, duolingo.com/, interpals.net, or just mail me.

If any of you have questions I’d be glad to answer them.