What is a language exchange?
According to Wikipedia, a language exchange is a method of language learning involving the mutual practice of languages with partners who are speakers of different languages. Language exchange is often a way for language learners to practice communicating in a language they are learning via other methods such as a textbook, lesson, course of various methods of self-study. Language exchange is not usually not viewed as a holistic approach to learning a language but is considered a vital part of bringing a language to life and reaching an advanced level of fluency in a language in a cost-efficient way.
When considering embarking on language exchange there are several factors you need to take into consideration:
1. online or in-person language exchange?
You may think of the classic language exchange as two people sitting side by side chatting, but in the digital age, there are so many online options for language exchange! Texting, exchanging voice messages, phone calls, and facetime or video chats are all great ways of connecting with other people and practicing languages.
2. one-on-one or group language exchange?
You may think that a one-on-one language exchange is the most effective, just like a private lesson is more effective than a class, but many people actually find a group language exchange to be less stressful. In a group language exchange, the spotlight is not always on you to be talking and you are exposed to more accents and a variety of phrases. In addition, many people feel safer in a group environment than meeting or calling strangers one-on-one.
3. What style of language exchange? or What are the roles of the participants in the language exchange?
The time split
This is the most well-known form of language exchange, but not necessarily in the best. In a time-split exchange, the entire length of the meeting is split evenly between the two languages of the exchange. During a certain language's turn, the participants interact only in that language. The advantages of a time-split language exchange are that it is "fair", equal time is dedicated to practicing each language, and that it forces learners to speak only in their target language during half of the exchange, avoiding the urge to revert to your native language. The disadvantage of the time split is that it may be too challenging for beginners and not consider the specific goals of individual learners. The time-split language exchange also requires the most commitment and trust to ensure that all sides get to practice equally.
Ambassador or Teacher Style
In this style of language exchange, there are one or more persons of authority (i.e native speakers) and the learners. The exchange focuses on one language and the native speaker helps the learners who practice speaking and is usually compensated in some other way. They may get a chance to practice the language of their choice later on, receive a small payment or tip, or derive some other social benefit such as making friends or meeting potential students. The advantage of an ambassador-style language exchange is that the learners usually spend the entire time just practicing and not "wasting time" helping others. The disadvantages are that you may be a large ratio of learners to native speakers (in a group exchange) and that you often have to pay a small fee to join the event (or buy your friend dinner ;)).
Langroops Style
In a Langroops style language exchange, participants are encouraged to speak their target language the entire time helping and correcting each other when mistakes are made. The advantage of the Langroops style exchange is that it maximizes speaking time and takes advantage of the diversity in levels of speakers. Each person can speak as much as they can in their target language but revert to their native language if they get stuck (which is a great chance for other participants to practice listening). The disadvantage is that some people find it confusing to be interacting in two languages at the same time. The Langroops style language exchange creates a more communal and less transactional atmosphere which many people enjoy.
The Advanced-Beginner split
In this style of language exchange, the group or pair dynamic intentionally includes one or more advanced learners and beginners of the other language. In this case, the advanced learner can teach about his or her own native language in their target language. That way the advanced learner benefits from mostly speaking and listening to their target language while the beginners benefit from being taught their target language by a native speaker who can speak their language.
So how do we get to 36 kinds of language exchange?
Well, we have in-person and three kinds of online exchanges (text, phone call, and video call) times that by four styles of language exchange which leads us to 16 options each of which could be either in a group or one-on-one! 4x4x2 = 36 different kinds of language exchange!
Where can I try each kind of language exchange?
For in-person language exchange, you can try searching Meetup or Facebook for local events or one of the many online platforms for finding language exchange partners locally such as mylanguageexchange.com or Interpals. There are also apps for online language exchange, such as Tandem or HelloTalk that also offer a chat option to exchange text or voice messages. You can also find many audio-only channels on Clubhouse or Discord dedicated to language exchange. For online video chat-based language exchange you can try Langroops.