Language Exchange Sites In Tokyo

The first obstacle you may encounter when starting life abroad, is the language barrier.
From shopping to renting houses, any occasion that calls for communication using a foreign language can come as a troublesome experience.

Most of those who plan to move abroad have probably studied a few simple conversations and words in advance. However, when opportunity finally arrives to actually use that knowledge, many have difficulty finding the right words.
To be well acquainted with a language, you would need to practice them by using them repetitively in a conversation.

Study Methods For Foreign Language

There are many methods for studying a foreign language.

Language schools or textbooks for self-study are a few examples, but these inevitably come with a cost.

For school education in particular, not only would you have to make time in between your work or regular school schedules, the inscription and tuition fees are nothing to sneeze at.

As for self-study with textbooks, although you can progress at your own pace, it won’t be the same as actually speaking with someone. Despite the increasing knowledge of grammar and words, you’d be left short on listening and speaking capabilities.

So, as an effective way to solve these problems, I’d recommend participating in a language exchange.
Let me explain more about this below.

Brief Introduction To Language Exchange

To put it brief: language exchange is a method for language learners, where each student is taught by a native speaker of the target language, while also teaching their own native language in return.

In this way, both sides are able to enhance knowledge of their target language.

The advantage of this method is that it doesn’t incur any costs; since you and your partner are seeking to achieve the same things, a mutually beneficial relationship can be created. By teaching each other in an actual conversation, there is also no need of textbooks.

In these days of modern technology, you can always use a smartphone to look up new words.

Furthermore, most people won’t have many friends around them when they first visit a foreign country.

Taking part in language exchanges may be a start on finding new friends, and expanding your network through the introduction of your language partners.

Of course, not every person is outgoing, and some may feel anxious about meeting people of different gender. In this case, try to start off with finding someone of the same gender, who is also close in age.

How To Do a Language Exchange

Now, let’s move on to how to search for language partners to begin a language exchange.

Common ways to start a language exchange are as follows:
①Interact and study with partners by texting and calling via applications/online services on your computer or smartphone.
②Meet up on a regular basis with partners you met via applications/online.
③Search for parties and offline events, and take part in them to make new partners to study with.

These are just some of the various ways to start a language exchange.

Since we are on the topic, let me introduce some of the applications and website services you can use in the first two ways mentioned above:
・italki
・HiNative
・Hello Talk
・My Language exchange
・Tandem

Depending on the website or application, the supported languages and service contents may slightly differ, so use each one to find out which fits your purpose.

[Writer’s Comment]

Today, I have explained in brief about language exchange.

There are various purposes for language learning: just to learn a new language, to make friends abroad, etc.
No matter the purpose, meeting people from all around the world, learning their culture, and enhancing your language abilities will surely lead to a broader future!