Where can I find a good skype mandarin conversation partner?

November 3, 2015 7:10 PM

I have heard of people doing this, but I don't know how to find a good one -- if you do a google search, there are a ton of hits but a lot of them look sketchy. I am looking for a person that I can have say weekly, paid conversation with, ideally where they would point out pronunciation or grammatical errors, but perhaps more informally than it would be in a classroom setting. My chinese is good enough that I can hold a basic conversation, but bad enough that I have to pay someone to practice with me :P I have a teacher I meet with twice a week, but I think it would be good to augment that with a different person, more conversation, etc. Any advice?
posted by wooh to Writing & Language (7 answers total)

Try The Mixxer. It's a community site run by the language folks at Dickinson College; you can sign up and find language partners around the world for conversation exchanges (~15 mins in Mandarin, for example, followed by ~15 mins in English) on topics of common interest.
posted by zebra at 7:33 PM on November 3, 2015

(To be clear -- you're paying for practice that happens via The Mixxer, you're just doing it with your time and English skills instead of money.)
posted by zebra at 7:37 PM on November 3, 2015

italki. I have used it several times for French lessons. Works great.
posted by imalaowai at 7:40 PM on November 3, 2015

Also, conversation exchange.
posted by yonglin at 8:14 PM on November 3, 2015 [1 favorite]

I live in Taiwan. forumosa.com is one of the popular online hangouts. One suggestion is to create an account there and post your request on any of the relevant forums.
posted by rmmcclay at 2:06 AM on November 4, 2015

Italki works great for me, I can pay with PayPal, and if the teacher doesn't show up for a class due to technical problems or whatever, it's never been an issue getting a refund. Is safer for both you and the teacher using that infrastructure to deal with the payment issue. I find informal time with tutors has given me a lot more confidence to speak in Spanish, although I have been a bit lazy studying grammar in between. A mix of an in-person class with Skype practice sounds ideal.
posted by AuroraSky at 7:39 AM on November 4, 2015

Hamilton College has a distance learning program that offers tutoring at very reasonable rates. It starts at $6 a session (30 minutes), but I think there are discounts if you buy sessions in bulk. The people you talk with are trained language instructors, and I found it less stressful than trawling the various language exchange websites and fora.
posted by mustard seeds at 5:48 PM on November 4, 2015 [1 favorite]