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An Ode to Language Partners | ||
Tags: Study Group | Tandem/Language Exchange | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5381 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes  Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 1 of 17 22 April 2010 at 8:32pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Of all the things I've done to learn Japanese, nothing comes even remotely close to being as effective and pleasurable as my regular weekly meetings with my Japanese language partner.
If the Pareto principle applies to language acquisition, this is the 20% that accounts for 80% of my acquisition. Twice a week -- once, when our busy lives come in the way --, we meet in a café and make ourselves available to the other for a minimum of one hour each to answer any and all questions, to practice and to offer support and encouragement. Most times, 2 hours become 3, sometimes 4 hours. My partner is learning English actively, so this exchange is mutually beneficial and, of course, free. She is my fountain of knowledge in Japanese and I try to share my knowledge with her. Do you have a language partner too? If you don't, I can't stress enough how beneficial such a relationship can be and strongly urge you to find a partner for your language studies. If you do, please share your story! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| ManicGenius Senior Member United States Joined 5481 days ago 288 posts - 420 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Esperanto, French, Japanese | Message 2 of 17 22 April 2010 at 8:59pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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You are lucky, because in my situation:
A) There are no Japanese or French people close by. B) There are no Japanese/French LEARNERS close by. C) No people in the immediate area are interested in learning any language. D) I live in a very rural area. E) The only people who want to skype to learn languages are Chinese people, who only want to speak English. (and Refuse to speak Chinese) Edited by ManicGenius on 22 April 2010 at 9:00pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5381 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 3 of 17 22 April 2010 at 9:05pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Isn't there a large city close enough where you might drive to once a week for shopping or the like? It wasn't easy finding a Japanese partner in my city either (though it's not rural). I had to send a email to the staff of a language school where one of the students eventually got back to me. Skype is indeed a possibility and I'm sure you could find a Japanese person interested in such an exchange. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
 Fasulye Heptaglot Winner TAC 2012 Moderator Germany fasulyespolyglotblog Joined 5847 days ago 5460 posts - 6006 votes 1 sounds Speaks: German*, DutchC1, EnglishB2, French, Italian, Spanish, Esperanto Studies: Latin, Danish, Norwegian, Turkish Personal Language Map | Message 4 of 17 22 April 2010 at 9:09pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I know very weel how benificial it can be to study in a group together with a study partner. I did this for 1 1/2 years for Turkish and people could read about it in my TAC log. If the team matches well, it gives an advantage for studying and keeping the study discipline is easier than when you are studying on your own. What I can say about it is that studypartners cannot be found easily, so you need a bit of luck to create such a study group. In my case we both had the same native language (German) and the same target language (Turkish), so it wasn't a tandem.
Fasulye 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| ManicGenius Senior Member United States Joined 5481 days ago 288 posts - 420 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Esperanto, French, Japanese | Message 5 of 17 22 April 2010 at 9:34pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Edited by ManicGenius on 22 April 2010 at 9:34pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5381 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 6 of 17 22 April 2010 at 9:40pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
What did that person expect to get in return, then? It has to be an exchange for the process to be fair. My current partner is the 3rd (others have moved away) and everytime, we follow the same system: each is responsible for organizing their hour in the other language. I'm available to help her with English for an hour, but what we do during that hour is up to her and requires no work on my part. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| josht Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6446 days ago 635 posts - 857 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Spanish, Russian, Dutch | Message 7 of 17 22 April 2010 at 9:41pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I've done email / chat language exchanges many times, and the biggest problems I've had are:
1) I'm all for correcting their emails and providing alternate / better ways of phrasing things. They often are not very keen to do this, as it actually takes time and effort. 2) They tend to just stop writing altogether when they lose interest in bettering their English. I don't really have any problem with people not responding to me when it comes to non-language exchange folks, so I can only assume that they discover that the language exchange is more work than they really want to put in. :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| ManicGenius Senior Member United States Joined 5481 days ago 288 posts - 420 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Esperanto, French, Japanese | Message 8 of 17 22 April 2010 at 9:50pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
They expected a free English lesson. I didn't give them that. You want my time? Pay me. Otherwise do what we agreed and trade languages. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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