A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to meet up with Benny the Irish Polyglot here in Taipei and talk about his current mission: learning Mandarin Chinese in three months (see the original article here). As a learner of Chinese I was certainly interested in what he was doing here, and how his mission was going. However, it was impossible for me to ignore some of Benny’s other language accomplishments, like the fact that he speaks eight languages with an incredibly high level of fluency, and has been learning loads more for nearly a decade.
For many language learners, traveling to (or living in) the country where people speak your target language isn’t nearly as easy as packing your bags and booking a flight. Work, school, and all the little (and big) things in life always seem to get in the way. The busier we get, it seems, the less opportunity we have to actually use the language we’re studying to interact with others. Since speaking, and social interaction are such a crucial part of Benny’s own language mission, I was curious what tricks or tips he had for those language learners who, for one reason or another, can’t immerse themselves in the language and culture, but still want to practice speaking with native speakers.
Of course, the Internet, in all its glory, has given rise to a loads of opportunities to speak with people all over the world. Services like italki and LiveMocha instantly come to mind, but for many, these services fail to live up to those real “in the flesh” interactions that we as humans desire. So, what can we do to practice our language of choice? Below are four ways that Benny has maintained, or honed his language chops with native speakers.
- CouchSurfing:
Even if you’re not going to be traveling soon, CouchSurfing can be a great way to meet people from all over the world. What better way to practice your Chinese, than hosting a native speaker and showing them around your city, or at least swapping travel stories while they crash at your place for a few days? And who knows, your guest might be willing to return the hosting favor when you head to their neck of the woods.
- MeetUp.com:
MeetUp’s tagline “Do something. Learn something. Share something. Change something,” says just about everything that needs to be said about this site. If you have a passion for learning a language, share it with others. If there isn’t already a local language meetup in your area, you could always be the founder. Even if you aren’t meeting with native speakers at first, there is no harm in swapping study tips and spending some time practicing with other language students like you.
- Tourist Destinations:
This tip is not for the faint of heart, or for someone who lives in the middle of nowhere, but with a little bit of guts and some free time, this can be a great place to way to meet native speakers who are visiting your city. Meeting them could be as easy as eavesdropping on some foreign conversations, or taking that foreign novel you’ve been dying to read from off the shelf. Once you’ve made contact it is all up to you to charm them into carrying on a conversation. It if doesn’t work the first time, don’t give up hope, as Benny reminded me during the interview–Mandarin Chinese does have the largest native speaking population. Just wait for another group of tourists and try again!
- Cultural Hobby:
Ever wanted to learn the Chinese Zither, Tai Chi or Calligraphy? These hobbies can be a great way to get connected to the local Chinese community and meet native speakers at the same time. Even going to a local Chinese restaurant can be a great way to practice both your reading a speaking skills, while filling your stomach with deliciousness.
I’m sure there are many more ways to practice speaking with natives, no matter where you are. The most important thing is to just realize that there is always an opportunity to speak the language you are studying. All you have to do is go out and find it.
If you have any other ideas or suggestions be sure to leave them in the comments below.