Japanese Language Exchanges You Can Use To Help You Learn

Language exchanges are websites/apps where you can meet other language learners who are native speakers of the language you are learning …and they want to learn your native language …so basically you do a language swap and just chat to each other and help each other out.

You can do this for any language, but today we will be looking at Japanese and the exchanges I have used to meet Japanese people.

(You can read more about – What Are Language Exchange Partners?)

Hellotalk

Hellotalk is probably the biggest language exchange; it certainly feels like the most “busiest” and has plenty of users, especially Japanese users, which is what we want.

However, it does seem like the vibe has slightly changed in the last couple of years. There seems to be a lot more fake accounts trying to scam people and I also believe Japanese people are using this as a sort of tinder.

Apparently using tinder seems to be too embarrassing, so they use hellotalk and they are totally ignoring the whole language exchange concept. You will notice in a lot of bios “no scam, no romance” which kind of says a lot about what this app has become.

I have also found this new dynamic makes people less likely to talk to you. When I first got hellotalk a few years ago, pretty much every time I logged on and was showing as online …I would get a new message. I went on recently and I didn’t get a single message from any one!

People use to reach out and try and talk to you, but they all seem a bit hesitant now. This could also partly be down to the fact that the average age is quite young, early 20s… and I’m sadly nearly doubling that …but it wasn’t an issue a few years ago and I feel the ‘tinder’ effect has ruined things.

You can still meet people on here, it’s just not as good as it once one. Although the “moments” section can be quite busy, so if you are active in this area, both posting and commenting on others posts, you will end up meeting more people and start having more conversations.

My overall opinion is …hellotalk is okay. It isn’t as good as it used to be …but it’s okay. I’d still suggest you download it and try it for yourself.         

Tandem

I had high hopes for tandem when I first joined, there seemed to be plenty of Japanese users …but, for some reason it was a ghost town.

No one messaged me, which is fine, the Japanese can be a bit shy …however, I messaged a lot of people and basically got no reply. I think I had one conversation with 1 guy, and it was 3 messages back and forth and then he never replied again.

This app has a nice set up, it looks the part, but the reality is that I did not meet any Japanese people on here.

If you want to give it a try to see if you have any better results, please do …just don’t get your hopes up.   

(You can read more about – How Many Language Exchange Partners Do You Need?)

Interpals

Interpals is a curious website. It looks so old and outdated, kind of like it is stuck in 2008 or something, but this is not important, the question is …can you meet Japanese people here for a language exchange.

The answer is yes, but be careful. You can click to see who is online and it will show a lot of accounts …most of which are very attractive young ladies.  

Sounds great, but they are all fake. They are not Japanese and they are not there for language exchanges. You only have to look at the pictures and read the bio and you will quickly see it doesn’t add up.

Japanese people are very reserved, and like their privacy …as well as being shy so these types of model like pictures are not how they do things, they will usually instead try and hide their faces in the picture or have a picture of a cat.    

Of course some real Japanese people will show their face and look beautiful, but don’t be fooled by the 100s of accounts acting this way, most of what you find on here are fake scam accounts 

I have absolutely met real Japanese people on here and built some real friendships. Although I have found some of these genuine people have been very chatty, then just one day they decide to never log back in …but I guess that’s the internet for you.

If you can dig through all the fake accounts and scammers, you can find some good Japanese people on interpals, is it worth the hassle? Maybe, I guess that is for you to decide.  

Italki

Italki is not a real exchange app, it is in fact a tutor app. I’ve added this because this is going to be the quickest and easiest way to find a Japanese person to talk to …but you have to pay.

Paying for a tutor is just going to make life easier, you can actually focus on learning and practicing, rather than spending hours messaging people and getting no replies.

Of course this makes it more of a business transaction, these tutors are not going to become your friend, but if you are just trying to actually get better at the language, it can be worth your time, and money.

I would suggest you use the actual language exchange apps first, see how much success you get and if you are getting nowhere …get a tutor.

(You can read more about – Should You Use A Language Tutor?)

Conclusion

So, maybe this post was not as encouraging as I wanted it to be, but the reality is that it is hard to find good Japanese exchange partners on these apps and of course I have not tried them all.

I will keep trying new apps and update this post with my findings and just because I find it hard, doesn’t mean you will, you might find plenty of people to talk to on the apps I have suggested, so give it a go and see what happens.

(You can read more about – Apps You Can Use To Learn Japanese)