Need help editing a sign to find a language exchange partner.

[abcdefg]

Is "语言交换" appropriate for "language exchange", though?

Always see and use 语言交流 here (Kunming.)

[Elizabeth_rb]

语言交换 is perfectly OK, although there seem to be plenty of equally good alternatives.   I just did a Google search in both simplified and traditional characters and plenty of sites came up in the context of language exchange using 语言交换。

[新墨西哥人]

So, sounds like I wan tto adk if they speak chinese, which does sound a lot better than Are you CHinese?

 

About Taiwan. I have met a few Taiwanese people here, so I imagine there are some more. But of course many mainland Chinese, too. But perhaps it's best just to say I've been to Shanghai, or maybe that I've been to China?

 

I could just leave off the personal part - it seemed awkward to me the way I wrote it.  I guess I like the idea of saying I'm female, and I have a daughter, in case anyone else has a kiddo, and means we have something in common from the start. And I like the idea of practicing Chinese in the park while the kids play (not sure if that would work well in reality, though).

 

Also I figured out the local UNM extension has ESL classes, so I'll definitely post a sign there.

I'll work on editing some more today with your suggestions. thanks again!

Rachel

[tom6740]

Hmm, 语言交换 is quite weird, although I have no trouble understand what it means, and I bet people will understand.

语言交流 is fine, but also not quite native. But of course, using either 语言交换 or 语言交流 will not bring problem to the person you are speaking with, I personally think that the later is more linguistically correct.

[tom6740]

新墨西哥人, don't feel awkward -- you are doing a good job there. I am learning Spanish these days and my roommate (who spoke Spanish natively) always find it amusing when I practice phrases like "el perro come una manzana" (the dog eats an apple) or "el pato bebe leche" (the duck drinks milk), but these are important first steps to learn a language. I am still far from being able to write a short essay like yours in Spanish!

 

Regarding the Taiwan issue, don't be scared by me -- in most occasions you will have no trouble, and people understand you are westerner. Either saying I have been to Shanghai or I have been to China is okay. (by-law Shanghai is still included in the ROC territory, so I guess this is still fine for real geeks...)

[abcdefg]

#24 -- @tom6740
 

Hmm, 语言交换 is quite weird, although I have no trouble understand what it means, and I bet people will understand.

语言交流 is fine, but also not quite native.

 

So, what would a more native way to say this, Tom?

 

And, may I ask, what part of China are you native to? In other words, where are you from and where do you live? Isn't it possible there is more than one "native" expression for something this common in different parts of China?

 

By the way, I realize this goes beyond the needs of the original poster. I'm just asking out of personal curiosity.

[Elizabeth_rb]

Yes, I'm curious too as I got 语言交换 from a native speaker and lots of Chinese websites seem to use it.

[Elizabeth_rb]

OK, I've been using Lang-8 to do some native speaker survey on the use of 语言交换. Seven have replied so far.  One wasn't certain what was meant and suggested 语言交流 instead, another said 交流 was more common where she is (Taiwan), but that 交换 is also perfectly understandable.  One said that 交换 required the actual exchange of something, i.e. written work, and the other four, including a Taiwanese, all said there was no problem with it at all.  One added that there were many ways of saying the same thing and one put forward 语言互助 as being the closest in meaning to the original or 'language exchange', no doubt short for 语言互相帮助，which seemed to be the expression used when my uni classmates were assigned partners in China back in the late 90s.  I remember them talking about their 'huxi's!!

 

I've now had about 10 native speaker comments and only that one wasn't sure of the meaning.  The rest all say, 'no problem'.  So, I would say that it's OK.

[lakers4sho]

事情过后，我们在一起交换看法。

 

大家可以交流学习中文的经验，取长补短。

 

 

lakers4sho

[tom6740]

Re abcdefg, I was raised in Guangzhou (south part of China). Usually literral writings won't differ too much from area to area (even between Mainland and Taiwan). IMHO as Elizabeth noted, 语言互助 may be more native. But if you are saying "language exchange partner" then I personally incline to "口语搭档", it is a phrase commonly seen in the forums for preparing toefl and ielts tests (at least at the time I was preparing those tests -- that's 5 years ago) where people try to get partners to practice speaking.

 

Re Elizabeth, thanks for the great follow-up! Yes, 语言交换 is perfectably understandable, I did mean it doesn't seen so native. Also 互助 is a phrase itself.

[Demonic_Duck]

Usually literral writings won't differ too much from area to area (even between Mainland and Taiwan).

 

I'm not sure what you mean by "literal writings", do you mean words and phrases with concrete meanings, or do you mean literary language, or something else? Either way, I think you're underestimating the extent of variations within Mandarin Chinese as spoken in different regions. Often I'll ask the same question to two speakers (both of whom have what I would class as fairly standard Chinese, albeit from different places), and yet get completely different answers. To be fair, I'm also gradually discovering more and more discrepancies within English as well (mainly between British and American usage), so I think it's the kind of thing that you don't really realise the extent of until you're in daily contact with people who speak a different dialect to the one you're used to. I mean, every English person knows that Americans say "sidewalk" instead of "pavement"; but I'd bet very few English people realise that many Americans wouldn't understand the phrase "win someone round".

[roddy]

So, after all that - have you found any partners?