Jet Talks: Language Learning with Friends pt. 1 👥

Learning a new language can be tough, so one of my favourite hacks is studying with friends! This marks the start of a new series where i want to go over how social language learning has made my language learning journey way easier and much more enjoyable 😆

Today i wanna talk about how to get friends to learn languages with in the first place, cause if you can't even find anyone to learn with you, then there's no point knowing abt the benefits 🤷🏻‍♂️

Here are some tips & tricks that have helped me:

1️⃣ Ask casually 💬

Be like Chapell Roan and make it casual, not a chore: Don’t come in too serious (i had to learn the hard way). If you have someone in mind to practice with/learn from, just mention it in passing like, “Hey, are you down if we practice/exchange [insert language] together sometime?”. Keep it light and low-pressure, so it feels more like a shared hobby than something they have to do 😗🤙🏻

2️⃣ Use apps 📱

Apps like Italki, Tandem, or even Discord are great places to find language learners! As long as you're a native in a language (which everybody is) there is definitely someone out there that wants to learn from you and is willing to teach you in return! Personally my favourite is Tandem (though the registration is a bit troublesome) but i made a couple nice language exchange friends on there 🦊

3️⃣ Be non-judgmental 💟

This tip is really super important. I think one of the worst feelings is when you are practicing a foreign language and you mess up (which is totally normal) just to be met with either ridicule or condescending uptalk. its one thing to correct someone, but to make fun of them or scold them for making mistakes in a foreign language is rly a confidence killer and will for sure make them less incline to continue learning/practicing with you 🥱

4️⃣ Classmate conversion 🔄

If you have the resources, the best way to make language learning friends is rly through a class setting! Right now im in NTU and they offer language classes, so i took the opportunity and used it to make new friends that i can practice & study with!! It really is a lot easier this way bc you will alr be familiar with each other (so you can access their vibes) + you guys are studying the same material so the level of proficiency will be mostly balanced 😽 If your school doesn't offer language classes, there will definitely be external ones that you can take!

So yeahhh those are my best tips & tricks to help you find friends to learn languages with! Honestly learning with friends is super good for the wallet bc you can really save a lot of money (especially in the case of mutual language exchange) 😏💲

In my next part of this series i will talk abt how to best utilise the time you have with your friends to get the most out of your study sessions so stay tuned to find out 🤩

#mindfulspending #MyFreeTime #languagelearning #dayinmylife #tipsandtricks