How To Find Language Exchange Partner

All,

Could somebody please point me to the appropriate section of Forumosa ?

I carefully checked all the forum sub-categories and nothing seems to match at all.

In the learning Chinese section, it specifically says not to ask for a language partner.

:eh:

Please Advise. Thank-you

-Delonge182

Man give up while you are ahead. I learned that “language partner” is a loose term for “dating”. Every person I contacted for language exchange wanted to know all these crazy details and where I would take them on our language exchange “date”. Just go to school or a coffee shop, look for somebody studying English, and talk to them. Much less hassle.

Thanks for the advice…LOL ! They’re can’t only be weirdos looking for exchange partners right ?

I would feel uncomfortable coming up to some stranger in Starbucks and saying… “do you want to be my language partner” :pray: ?

That’s even weirder imo. Although the school route is probably a good idea. If I attend some classes at tli I could meet folks.

So I assume there’s no formal forum section or service for this then… hum.

I can hardly believe no one has pointed you to www.tealit.com yet! There are about 100 requests for language exhcanges at any given time on there, and really is quite easy to connect with someone for this.

As per the ‘feeling akward approaching someone in starbucks’ comment, just try rewording it a bit. Perhaps an opening line something along the lines of “Hey, I noticed you were reading that English article, and was hoping I could sit down and help you out. Maybe you could help me clear up some questions I have with Chinese while we’re at it!”. Bonus points if you say all that to them in Chinese too :sunglasses:

OK… I’m in Starbucks a lot anyways, so I’ll try out this technique next time.

Have you put an ad in Taiwanted? I don’t know if it gets much traffic for LE ads, but you only need one person to see it, eh? Worth a try.

Thanks Buttercup, for the idea.

I was just browsing through the LE ads on tealit, and marital status is a field in the descriptions… lol.

It’s simple courtesy, really. ‘Language exchange partner’ is more polite than ‘bodily fluids exchange partner’.

[quote=“Delonge182”]In the learning Chinese section, it specifically says not to ask for a language partner.

:eh: [/quote]

Hi Delonge182,

Yeah, the short blurb under Learning Chinese in the index does say that; in the little-read sticky within LC entitled [url=http://tw.forumosa.com/t/please-read-before-posting-in-learning-chinese/15361/1 READ BEFORE POSTING IN ‘LEARNING CHINESE’[/url], there’s a bit more info:

[quote]Welcome to the Learning Chinese forum.

This forum is intended to help “FOREIGNERS” (more precisely, non-native speakers of Chinese languages) learn to speak, read, write, and understand CHINESE. It is for discussion about how to learn Chinese, or for questions about Chinese. It is NOT for posting job ads to find students, teachers or language exchange partners, NOR is it a free translation service. If you have any of these needs, please post ads to the “Taiwanted” section, rather than in Learning Chinese. [/quote]

So, yeah, basically what Buttercup said – try the Taiwanted section, specifically here.

Don’t worry about the aspersions cast by some on language exchange. Sure, there are a few out there using it to check out possible dates, but if you approach it as a serious LE, you’ll quickly find partners who are interested in the language aspect. I learned a tremendous amount of Cantonese, Mandarin and Thai through many language exchanges in Taibei over the last 15.5 years.

Full disclosure – okay, yeah, I did er, um, marry one of them. (But neither of us were using LE to look for a date; it just worked out that way.)

Yeah it’s not really a special technique, it is just meeting people. You don’t approach them with the idea that “I need a language partner” you approach them with the intent of making a friend in a new country. If you see somebody doing something you like, politely introduce yourself. If they are weirded out, who cares? You don’t have to deal with them again. But the times where the other person is happy to talk to you will be extremely valuable.

When I moved to Germany I spoke essentially no German. I knew pronouns, conjunctions, and basic wants. I lived in a suburb of Munich called Unterschleissheim that is home to a lot of family oriented laborers. On my second night I went to the beergarden next to the train station, found the most local looking group of people playing cards, and in German simply said “Hello, I like Beer, Can I play?”. They spoke no English but were so surprised a foreigner would want to drink beer and play cards with a bunch of greasy laborers they were happy to be patient with me. The result? Free language lessons every night and a year later I passed level B1 German without setting foot in a classroom.

Thanks All.

except, after calculating the cost of beer, the lessons would have been less :wink:

Great Story @ DJLowballer. I’m happy hearing that linking up with locals near Munich worked so well for you.

Don’t forget that the money on beer was not additional money - probably he would have drunk and paid that much beer anyway :wink:

Yeah…I mean you don’t survive in Germany without aquiring a taste for beer. At BMW we had big beer/sausage breakfast a few times per week. Lunch was always a Mass, dinner was coffee and beer. You end up drinking a lot anyways.

But the technique does work here. I bought a handle of Jack for the propane guys near my house and now they always give me bin-lang, Ask me to touch their wive’s breasts, give me motorcycle rides if they see me out and about, and take me on strange adventures. Chinese is a lot harder to pick up as I have no base, but god damn it is hilarious rolling with propane dudes.

I also gave my umbrella to a parking lot attendant who didn’t pack his rain coat, and nearly every day I get some sort of offering from him. Beer, bags of chips, night market food.

Meeting locals is crazy fun.

[quote=“djlowballer”]

But the technique does work here. I bought a handle of Jack for the propane guys near my house and now they always give me bin-lang, Ask me to touch their wive’s breasts[/quote]

???

[quote=“Tony the Tiger”][quote=“djlowballer”]

But the technique does work here. I bought a handle of Jack for the propane guys near my house and now they always give me bin-lang, Ask me to touch their wive’s breasts[/quote]

???[/quote]
Yeah, I was also wondering about that… :roflmao:

I have no other way to explain it. Sometimes when I come home from work they are all sitting in lawnchairs shooting the breeze. I walk up and the “leader” offers to shake hands, but then puts my hand on this woman’s tits and says “Grab, Ok, My Wife” and the “wife” says “Yes Ok Enjoy”.

:roflmao: be carefull though… too much binlang and whisbi and you might got touched somewhere “not ok, not enjoy” :laughing:

Are their jobs to sell “Bin Lang”? And his wife wears little when working?
I’ve heard that some buyers will pay extra money for touching their breast besides the bad stuff, betel nut. Maybe that’s the reason he doesn’t mind you touch his wife.