Do You Need Penpals/Friends to Learn a Foreign Language?

Share this page on social networks such as Digg or Stumbleupon if you like it! The social media icons are below "Share this page" on the right-hand side of the blog. It only takes a couple of minutes!

Subscribe to my blog (RSS feed): http://feeds.feedburner.com/FluentLanguageLearnANewLanguageToday If you like this website, recommend it to your friends!

I started voice-chatting in Italian after studying the language for only a few hours. I was very shy at the time but I did learn a lot from this first experience. I ended up finding an Italian friend that I called on a regular basis. I was still a beginner at the time.
Talking with my new friend helped me improve my Italian language skills, and it was a lot of fun too!


However, if your penpal speaks your native language very well, you might be in trouble. I picked a penpal who didn't speak a word of French or English. That's why I had such a great time talking to her.

If your friend speaks great English, they will quickly get tired of correcting your mistakes and trying to understand you. They may even switch to English.


Make sure you know some basic phrases before looking for a language-exchange partner/friend.

As long as you're polite (and apologetic if you make mistakes), you're good to go!

Subscribe to this blog in a reader

The Importance of Listening to Material in Your Foreign Language

Share this page on social networks such as Digg or Stumbleupon if you like it! The social media icons are below "Share this page" on the right-hand side of the blog. It only takes a couple of minutes!

Subscribe to my blog (RSS feed): http://feeds.feedburner.com/FluentLanguageLearnANewLanguageToday If you like this website, recommend it to your friends!

Listening to material in the language you're studying is very important. However, I'm not an advocate of passive listening for the sake of passive listening. Such artificial "immersion" isn't beneficial in the long run.

For example, listening to hours of K-pop won't teach you a word of Korean unless you look up the lyrics of the songs and use a dictionary.

There are some songs which actually teach you vocabulary, but they were made for little kids--think "Sesame Street" or "Dora the Explorer".

If you're visiting this blog, surely it's because you want to become fluent in a new language.
How about turning this goal into a reality?
Take a piece of paper and write your daily "listening goal". Be reasonable: if you're a busy adult who is working full-time, you probably have little time to set aside for language learning.
That being said, I'm sure you can play a CD when you're commuting.

Unless you're currently studying for a very difficult exam or in the middle of a big project at work, devote at least 30 minutes to active listening every day.

I think beginners should start by studying a few songs that they like. Watching TV is less rewarding than understanding a short song in its entirety when you're just starting out.

Good luck with your language-learning endeavors!

Subscribe to this blog in a reader