Dear John,
I was wondering if you knew of any way we could connect with people
(preferably college students like myself) via Skype of e-mail to learn more from one another.
They could perfect their English and we could perfect our French.
Thanks in advance!
Ah the million dollar question. While I’ve always been an advocate of just going to France, I know that’s not possible for everybody. So the second best solution is to find a native speaker to practice with online. Well, I’ve found a few solutions.
iTalki:
This site’s main focus is to connect you with tutors or teachers for a price. Although, you can also find language partners from the community and chat!
Francais Facile:
Francais Facile has tons of free French courses and activities. They also have a partner site, Anglais Facile, which does the same for French speakers learning English.
Using the correspondent’s page, you can search for a French speaker by age, gender, and location. A very useful tool despite the site looking dating.
/r/French:
Reddit is a large forum-based community, with each sub-reddit being dedicated to certain topics.
You can create a free account and make a post describing yourself and your intentions to find a native to talk with.
Duolingo Forums:
Duolingo is a free site which aims to help you learn many languages! Just like Reddit, there are forums associated with the program and it’s not uncommon to find requests for a French-speaking partner there.
Those were just a few free resources off the top of my head. I’m sure there are many more out there.
One day, I hope that FrenchCrazy can serve as a HUB to pair French-English speakers.
Do you agree with John’s expert analysis?
Every Friday the founder of FrenchCrazy, John Elkhoury, will answer on of your questions related to learning French and living in France.
Check out the entire ASK JOHN series or submit your own question.
Merci!! I can’t wait to get connected!!