What do you think of language sharing?

[pesic87]

Language sharing is just the sort of thing I have personally experienced in the past, and am still experiencing  now. I used to have a friend from a Canary Islands, a Spanish guy, whom I practiced my English with, while at the same time learning Spanish. Plus, among these two languages, I have also taught him my mother tongue, Serbian. When we exchanged languages, I would speak in English and he would speak in Spanish, and I would learn Spanish that way. It was fun and very educative.

[宇崎ちゃん]

It works sometimes, but I did a language exchange with a specific person once and it didn't work.
This is because the bloke on the other side wanted to learn Dutch and I wanted to learn Japanese, but we were both able to speak English, so we ended up talking in English for about 70% of the time.
So in other words, we wasted a lot of time and decided to not schedule a second session.

However, I did the same kind of exchange over LINE multiple times and that worked fine enough.
That has some flows too, like the time the guy in Japan started telling me that 'he wants to lick a dick of a foreigner' in Japanese; blocked him since then.

[OmniHead]

I have never been into language exchange, but certainly it might be a nice experience, particularly for those exchanges made at a college level, in which students go abroad to live with a native family to learn from them.

Exchanges in which host families are also benefit from the experience.

[takibari]

When I was working for a Korean company I had a chance to do language sharing. There was a friend of the company's boss who only know 'action English'. Meaning, his English was very limited and he would just act things out in order for me to understand. At first it was too difficult for me to do, but eventually I learned how things worked. So each day during lunch I would meet up with him and I try to teach him a bit of English. In return, he gives me the equivalent Korean words. However, this only lasted for a month or so since the Korean moved his place of business and we no longer had the chance to meet after that. Anyway, I learned a few things from him and he did the same for me.

[rz3300]

Well it certainly sounds like a great idea and one that can benefit both parties.  It might actually make the lesson a little easier too, and if nothing else it would really add a level of comfort that you might not get with the more traditional methods of learning a language.  It is always nice to go on a journey with someone and experience it together, and learning a language should be no different.

[VinayaSpeaks]

I think this is a good idea. However, I have never done language sharing. People have tried to learn my language from me and I have also tried to learn the language of other people, However, there was nothing sort of language exchange. I hope to find someone who is interested in learning my mother tongue Nepal for his/her English

[Topically Different]

It seems like a great idea in theory but I don't think I'd be able to find any really interesting language pair, and I've always felt like I was a pretty horrible teacher. It just doesn't seem like there'd be many Japanese-Italian pairs I think, and I'm not sure I'm qualified enough to teach English to anyone, since I'm not native.

[LeesaJohnson]

It's a good method as I concern. You can learn with comfort and it will also help you to develop a positive confidence for communicating with others. 

[sillylucy]

I think that language sharing is a great service because it helps people practice and figure out what they need help with without the pressures of being there face to face. 

[Trellum]

On 7/24/2015 at 1:01 PM, lingose said:

I think it's a great way to expand your knowledge of a language, but I personally wouldn't rely on it alone. I would definitely take formal classes as well, simply because that's the way I learn best, by having a structured approach and the ability to ask even the most complex questions concerning grammar that most native speakers simply don't know becuase it's natural to them. Of course, there are people who find this approach terrible for them because of how formal it is, and I think language sharing is a great alternative, as well as a great supplement to formal teaching where a student is able to practice in a real world situation what they've learned.

 

Yes, of course.  Language exchange is supposed to be used as a mere aid    Not something to use instead of following a language course,  but sadly most of the people I've found online (to be my language exchange buddies) thought  I'd be responsible for their learning.  And that is one of the things I've disliked most about language exchange so far.  I have only found one person serious enough to practice dutch with me   Only one... but there were a lot who didn't  even reply, and those who did wanted me to play the role of their teacher.