Learn Spanish Travel Spanish Blog

So you need someone to talk with in order to practice your Spanish?   Okay.  That’s a reasonable request.  But how do you find the time, place and person when you already have such a busy life?   Well, there are several avenues you could explore.  How successful you’ll be depends partly on how much Spanish you already know.  The better your Spanish, the more opportunities that will be available to you.  I’m going to assume that you have a conversational level and that you want to practice your existing skills so that you don’t lose them.

If you want face to face exchange, try these:

Local churches sometimes have language exchange nights.   My wife goes to a Catholic church (we’re not Catholic) one night a week for a language exchange.  The number of English/Spanish speakers varies from week to week, but on average there are about 5 or 6 of each.  A topic will asssigned, a partner found and then, normally, the pair will speak in English for half an hour and then in Spanish for half an hour.  Sometimes, though, a small group of, say, 3 to 5 will gather.  When that happens, the Spanish speakers will speak only in English and the English speakers will speak only in Spanish.  They correct each other as they go.  Gently.  Sometimes there won’t be enough native  Spanish speakers for everyone, but since everyone there speaks Spanish (native or otherwise), there is still the opportunity to practice, though maybe not with a native speaker.

Another avenue for practice is volunteering, and there are many many places to volunteer (depending on your skill level, of course).   My wife volunteers at a free clinic downtown one afternoon a week.  The clinic has a large, but by no means exclusive, Spanish speaking clientele.  She helps them fill out the paperwork to qualify for the free help.  Almost everyone there is a volunteer, including the medical staff, so there is a camaraderie among the staff.

Volunteers are also needed at the hospital, the library and local charities.  Schools need Spanish speaking volunteers as well.

If you don’t need face to face conversation, or are too unsure of yourself to volunteer, then there are opportunities online as well.  Here is a short list.  The sites are similar but not totally alike, so I’ll just let them speak for themselves rather than try to explain them here.  Good luck.  Let us know if you have experiences to share.

The Polyglot Club,  The Mixxer,  Shared Talk, Conversation Exchange, My Language Exchange, and iTalki.

Tags:   cambio · conversation · language exchange partnerNo Comments