Learn a language through a conversation exchange!

Last updated on Monday, 06/09/2021

If you want to master a language, use it! Drop the old excuse that you have no-one to practise your Dutch or Portuguese with. Join a conversation exchange and you can improve your skills for free.

A conversation exchange or tandem is quite simple: if you speak French and want to brush up your Greek, for instance, you’ll need to find a Greek partner who is learning French. Assuming that you meet for an hour, you should split your time 50/50 — half an hour in French and half an hour in Greek.

This is a unique opportunity to broaden your horizons, and maybe to make new friends as well. It’s also worth remembering that a good command of one or more foreign languages can be a major asset in the labour market.

Often, the easier way to look for a local tandem mate is by using Facebook groups, you can type some keywords, for example: “Tandem” or “Language Exchange” and the name of the city you are living in, to find out about local initiatives usually hosted in a pub or in a cafe. 
Looking for an online platform may not be easy, you can find here a list of various platforms(some may have premium paid options): Italki, Open Language Exchange or Speaky are great to find a mother tongue partner or a teacher, Coeffee also allows you to play language games with other students, Tandem or Tandem Partners are other tandem options.

Here are a few tips for a successful tandem exchange 

1. Check if your timetables are compatible and establish how often you want to meet.
2. Remember your partner isn’t a teacher and may not be able to answer tricky grammar questions.
3. Take it seriously! Write down new vocabulary and review it before your next meeting.
4. Don’t be scared of making mistakes. Let your conversation partner know how much you want them to correct you. Usually, it’s best to take the middle way; don’t correct your partner down to the last detail, which is demoralising, but don’t ignore serious errors either (one way is to repeat what they have said using the correct way).
5. Be fair — don’t try to spend more than half your time together speaking the language you’re learning.
6. If you want to focus on a particular topic, let your tandem partner know. If you have nothing in common and the conversation won’t flow, it’s not a big deal; look for another partner instead.

 
Are you about to join an EU programme?

If your interest in learning a language comes from an upcoming experience abroad with Erasmus+ or with the European Solidarity Corps, you should consider some training with the Online Linguistic Support (OLS), a tool specifically designed by the European Commission. 
The goal is to make you feel more at ease with the language in which you’ll work, study, or volunteer in order to ensure a better learning mobility experience.You can enrol in thematic ‘Massive Open Online Courses’ (MOOCs) or have chats with native speakers and other OLS participants (also offline). This tool is available in the 24 official EU languages. It’s free, however, you have to be enrolled in an EU youth project to access it.
Participating in a study period abroad, a youth exchange or a volunteering experience abroad is also a great way to develop your linguistic skills. Discover the opportunities offered by Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps!