Finding chat partners?

[deathtrap]

Hi,

What would be the best way for one to go about finding a chat partner? I know of lang-8.com but that seems more geared towards written essays/stories and less so about impromptu conversation. Should I just randomly message people on Skype or is there a better way to go about this?

[mirgcire]

Try www.sharedtalk.com I found that it is a good site for finding chat partners, because people are genuinely interested in doing language exchange.

[Yezze]

What lang?

[c_redman]

I haven't been on their site in a while, but it was very easy to find partners on italki. You can get a sense of the site by browsing even without an account (unlike LiveMocha, which is a registration wall). There are many native Chinese listed, most with pictures, and mostly not the erotic or joke kind, so you can tell they are serious about learning and not just looking for a hookup. As you can see by browsing (http://www.italki.com/partners/chinese), you can search by age, gender, and location. This, plus the stated skill level everyone sets in the profile, makes it quite easy to find someone who may be a good match.

The usual practice a few years ago was to get the initial contact information for the partner's IM account, and stay in touch that way. But I left just before they implemented their teacher accounts, open questions, and the other new features, so there may be more reason to stay in the actual site now. I don't have any negative reason for ceasing to go there, just my studying is sporadic enough that it's not compatible with chat partners at the moment.

[sebhk]

http://languageexchange.org/

[aristotle1990]

I have successfully used My Happy Planet to find (many) language partners.

[xianhua]

How about building up a friend-base on Lang-8 then asking them if you can add them to your QQ/Skype account? Most users appear to have these accounts anyway, and I'm sure they would be happy to chat. You could alternate between Chinese and English for you both to benefit.

[c_redman]

Whatever the site, just focus on the users who have logged in recently. There's no point in trying to contact someone who probably won't even see your message, or who is too busy to actually chat.

[Shi Tong]

While I find this very interesting, why is it posted in the read/ write section of the forum.. surely this should be moved to the speaking/ listening section??

[deathtrap]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

I posted this in the Reading and Writing forum because I was mainly looking for written chat partners ;)

[889]

Suggest you adopt a different handle when looking for chat partners.

[Yezze]

I was mainly looking for written chat partners

I would be willing to "written chat" with you (through skype), but i am a native English speaker, learning Chinese. Also, more often than not, I voice or type with one of my friends (both whom live in Beijing, aka native Chinese speakers) every day.

[deathtrap]

@889 , I use a different handle or my real name when chatting

@Yezze , sure, PM me your info so I can add you on Skype

[Shi Tong]

I posted this in the Reading and Writing forum because I was mainly looking for written chat partners

A-HA!!!! ;)

[gougou]

You could always sign up to QQ and add people at random - last time I checked (which, granted, was four or five years ago) of all the people on there were bored to the point that they'd chat with anyone...

[噴嚏疋]

Skype does have a status option "SkypeMe." I'm not sure, but doesn't that lead to the users being able to be found in the Search User list, meaning that they're willing to chat? I think you can search users by countries/languages. I never tried that though. Results may vary. ;-)

It's not talking, but Zhongwen.com's "Liaotian" Chatroom usually has a couple of souls there, never crowded, often "tranquill" (i.e., quiet). It's a good place to practice Pinyin.

[Ayane]

Well, I think a good site would be: http://www.interpals.net/ There are lots of people you can talk to in Chinese there, from China, Taiwan, Singapore, etc. I've been using it for awhile and it's been quite helpful to me. ^_^ Also, if you happen to be learning another language(Korean, Japanese, Spanish, Russian...), there are people from all over the world you can talk to on that site. :]