14 February 2011

Language Exchange

This time, I'll follow my good friend Bruno recommendation and try to write something in English. Also, I'll write about another recommendation made by him: looking for a language exchange partner to practice my German.

For this purpose, Bruno suggested me (more than once) the following site: http://www.mylanguageexchange.com/. But instead of using that site, two weeks ago, I just happened to find someone looking for a Spanish speaking partner in a bulletin board in the university lunch building.

So I reached this person and we met last Saturday in a café relatively close-by the university neighborhood. At first we talked mostly in Spanish but then we started to talk in a mix of German and Spanish. 

It was very strange to meet up with a stranger and try to find something to talk about just for the sake of talking and practicing languages. At some points there were some awkward silences, but overall, I think it went smoothly in particular taking into account how I am.

We'll try to meet up again this week, so I would say it worked =)

Post Scriptum: It is very interesting that many people have told me that my German is good, in the sense of a good accent and pronunciation. Clearly I still have to remember, relearn and learn words.

3 comments:

B. said...

Yeah, I guess it's a bit easier for me to keep the flow of the conversation going, being a journalist and all. Despite that, though, I have gotten silent, awkward moments in the past, so it's nothing to be surprised about. It just happens. It's more or less easy to find conversation at first: Mainly why are both persons learning the language. Is it a girl or a dude? Cheers, and good luck with the German. Yo have the hardest part down already (pronunciation).

Unknown said...

Yeah, I fear next time ti'll be a bit harder to find relatively simple subjects to talk about.

It's girl, she was in Madrid for 10 months... and it surprises me how much she can speak!

B. said...

Dann, You should take a few topics to talk about. What do you want to learn to say in German? Do you want to learn names of furniture, or do yo want to be excellent at ordering food at a restaurant? You could even ask her how to talk to girls in German; it doesn't mean you're going to sweet talk her into doing anything, but you can admit that you tend to be shy and that you would appreciate her help in building your confidence. And vice versa: you can take a small list of topics into which she could be interested, or directly ask her (in English, German or Spanish) what she would like to learn. If she says 'everything is fine by me', then simply pick the awkwardest, somehow complicated topic you can think of (say, martial arts: full of weird names, etc) just to prove your point. XD The only limits are the sky and you.