What Are The Benefits Of Having A Language Exchange Partner?

Language exchanges are a great way to practice your language skills and also meet new people.

The benefits you get from using language exchanges may be obvious at times, but I will go through these, along with some benefits you may not have realised you can get.

If you haven’t started using language exchange apps, you really should start, they are certainly worth your time and while they shouldn’t be your own way to study, they can still play their role.

Language Exchanges Expose You To The Language

In its simplest form, a language exchange is a form of immersion. You are able to expose yourself to the language and see it working.

It is actually quite a unique form of immersion as it is not just input, as you will be expected to do some output too.

It’s also unique in the fact that a lot of the immersion is personal to you. You will be speaking with someone who will be replying to you and answering your questions as well as asking you things, so you can almost get tailor made immersion material, which you are not going to be able to find in any movies or books.

(You can read more about – Are Language Exchange Partners An Effective Way To Learn A Language?)

You Will Get To See The Language In Its True Form

You also have the benefit of talking to real people. You are going to be seeing the language used in its true form. There is nothing more natural than just speaking with a native.

There will be no well drafted cleaned up scripts or dialogues, it will all just be pure natural language flowing out of a native, which means it will include all the mistakes and slang that the normal people use on a daily bases.

(You can read more about – Why Do Natives Speakers Seem Different To The Text Books?)

You Will Get To Use The Language In An Exchange

As I already touched on, you will be expected to do some output when you have a language exchange. This means you need to write and speak and you will actually be able to test and develop your language skills.

As you are interacting with a native speaker they are going to be replying to your output and you are going to be getting immediate feedback about how successful you are. If they look at you confused, you know have more work to do …if they give you a response, you can assume you are actually communicating in the language properly, which is pretty cool.

You Can Ask Direct Questions To A language Exchange Partner

An interesting benefit of language exchanges is that you are talking to an “expert” in the language you are learning. You need to remember they are not teachers, but they will still know a lot about the language and you can ask them direct questions.

I am asked all the time to explain what random slang words mean from my non-English speaking friends and I know I do the same if I ever stumble upon something that I just don’t understand and can’t easily find an answer for elsewhere online.

You Will Learn About Culture In A Language Exchange

When you talk to natives you will start to find out about life in the country they are from and just their general way of seeing the world, which really can be described as culture.

Language and culture are really closely linked and intertwined and you really can’t learn one without the other and just talking to someone from that culture is really going to teach you a lot. You will see all sorts of little differences and similarities across many things and I really enjoy this part of language exchanges. It’s just a lovely bonus that can bring you closer to the language and the people who speak it.  

You Get To Help Someone Else In A Language Exchange

While we mostly think about how language exchanges can benefit us, I think we need to remember that we will usually be helping someone else at the same time.

While this doesn’t benefit our language skills, it does feel nice. It just feels good to talk to someone and know you have helped them get one step closer to their language goals, and you know they will return the favour, so be kind and make sure you are helping the people you are interacting with.

There Is A Helpful Barrier When You Do A Language Exchange

When it comes to language exchanges, there is a bit of a barrier and this is actually a good thing. You are both in different countries and are having to communicate through the internet. In most situations this is never the preferred method of communication. It is always much nicer to be face to face …but not for a language exchange.

I think we should be seeing this barrier as a huge help. When you message someone, you can’t see them. You can’t see their reaction and they can’t see you struggling! Going up to someone you don’t know and trying to speak their language to them is extremely uncomfortable and will give a lot of people some serious anxiety …but online language exchanges take that away, you can almost act like you are not speaking with another human to help you get over your anxiety

Of course there is still a little bit of this stress, especially when you send you first audio, or have a phone call, but I still think this is at a much lower level compared to being in the same room as them.

Language Partners Can Become Your friend

You will usually find that you end up making friends on language exchanges, and I mean real genuine friends that you will have for years and meet in real life. 

Of course not everyone you talk to will end up being your friend, but it is common to find one or two after talking to a lot of people.

While this is another benefit that doesn’t directly increase your language skills, it is still a wonderful benefit to have.

You may also find that this can help with your motivation and your drive to learn as you want to impress your friend, or at least be a good enough level where you can go to their country and visit them and speak with them.

There Is No Formal Structure To A Language Exchange

Having some sort of structure to your language learning is usually a good idea, but this is lacking in language exchanges, and while you may think is a negative, I think it’s actually a very good thing.

There is no right or wrong way to do a language exchanges. There are no formal rules. You just need to decide between you both what you want to do and go for it. It is just all very chilled out and casual and that does make it more authentic.

You are just talking to some people, it just happens to be in a different language. It often doesn’t feel like learning and is more just of a fun way to socialise and meet new people similar interests as you.

Conclusion

As you can now see, there are a lot of benefits from using language exchange apps.

Once you start getting the basics down in your new language, an exchange can be a great addition to your study regime. I have honestly met some great people through language exchanges and just for that alone they have been worth it to me.

I think if you start using them you will start to experience all of these benefits for yourself.

(You can read more about – Frequently Asked Questions About – Language Exchange Partners)