how to make foreign friends on the internet

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Article about how to make foreign friends on the internet:
Communicate with them via snail mail, chat messengers, email and more, by visiting these 9 sites! 9 Penpal Websites for Starting Foreign Language Exchanges Online and via Snail Mail. With the Internet, you quite literally have the world at your fingertips!

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Because of this, the foreign language penpal community is booming. Let’s find out what the benefits of having a foreign language penpal are and how to get one of your own. Contents. Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download) Why Should You Find a Foreign Language Penpal? If you’re learning a new language, or if you just want to perfect the one—or many—that you’ve been practicing for a while, you should be jumping all over this. Because, maybe, other than the small issue of time zones, which can easily be overcome, there’s absolutely no downside to having a foreign penpal. Having regular communication with a native speaker of your target language will do wonders for your progress. Even if you end up corresponding with another learner who’s more advanced or fluent, there’s a lot to be gained from this interaction. With this sort of interaction, you’ll get more out of learning programs and authentic media like the kind on FluentU . FluentU takes authentic videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language learning lessons. You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Click here to check out the website or download the iOS app or Android app. Try FluentU for FREE! Learning language in context provided by authentic media is extremely beneficial, and you’ll only learn faster if you actually talk to someone about the subjects and topics you’re currently studying. You’ll have someone to correct your mistakes . Ask your penpal to casually make note of any significant errors, or ask them to really go crazy and do a deep edit, leaving little markings and notes all over your writing. You’ll be able to pick up and retain all of those little nuanced, colloquial phrases that throw us for a loop when we’re learning on our own, and especially when we’re learning with a formal method of instruction like a classroom or textbook. Those often leave out more informal language, which is necessary for communicating with natives. It’s as close to full-on immersion as you’ll get without having to pick up and move to a foreign country. In some ways, it can even be better than immersion. Don’t get me wrong. Obviously, living among the speakers of your target language is going to shoot you light-years forward in your progress, but it’s not necessarily going to be a personalized experience all the time. Strangers could certainly become good friends or language exchange partners of yours someday, but the people you bump into on the street don’t always have the time or desire to really listen to you and teach you—not like a penpal would. So, rather than dealing with people in the streets who just want you to get to the point, you can have a penpal who’s there to support you as you learn and help you back up when you stumble and fall through the language learning process. And if you’re at all worried about the thought of speaking with someone, don’t be! You can ease into communications and start short and simple chats, before lengthening your conversations. Be frank about your current skill level and be receptive to feedback. The other fringe benefit to having a penpal is right there in the name. The “pal.” Some would argue that it’s the best benefit of them all. In the process of learning, you’ll form a bond with someone who’s a million miles away, yet, it may feel like they’re right next door. There’s no need to explain the benefits of friendship, since we all know what it’s like… hopefully. However, international friendship is a bit of an upgrade for learners. Just talking about your dear friend from, let’s say, Copenhagen, will make you sound cooler in conversation. Plus, the two of you will share so many stories and so much cultural information, that you’ll be able to talk about Copenhagen (or, you know, wherever) like a native. That will instantly make you sound smarter, more cultured and just all-around more interesting. Then there’s travel . You’ve now got a friend in Copenhagen. You’ve always wanted to go to Copenhagen. Guess what? Now you can go, and you may not have to pay for a hotel. That’s not always the case, but then you’ve still got yourself a free tour guide, and you’ll get to go to all the cool local places that are free of Hawaiian shirts and selfie sticks. With a foreign penpal, you’re basically opening up a whole new world for yourself and you’re doing the same for another person. It can be one of the best relationships you’ve ever had. You’ll be expanding your mind, and yeah, making the world a little smaller one conversation at a time. Can’t wait to get started? Let’s steer you in the right direction. 9 of the Best Websites to Find a Foreign Language Penpal. 1. InterPals. InterPals is arguably the most popular website where language learners go to meet potential penpals. You’ll have a wide variety of options as you search for the person or people who you match well with. You’re definitely going to want to find someone you like so that you’ll be able to carry on a long-term relationship. Luckily, InterPals makes that easy for you. The first way to narrow down your InterPals search is by letting people know how you’d like to correspond . When you register, you have the option of indicating whether you want to communicate through email or snail mail. This is definitely good to know up front, especially for those of you who want to keep it old-school. You can also indicate the kind of relationship that you’re looking to build. You have the option of selecting whether you’re looking for friendship, a relationship or if you simply want to flirt. So, if you want to keep things PG, make sure you look for others who are in the same state of mind. As for all you saucier language learners, well, you might just get more bang for your buck here (no pun intended… ish). Another cool feature of InterPals is the search filter . Once you’re all set up and seeking partners, you can narrow down the database of potential penpals to exactly the type of person you’d like to speak to, down to the age and gender of the person. Also, to safeguard against time-wasting—we need to save up all the energy we can for language practice—you’re able to set your filters so that you’re only seeing the newest members, the most recently modified profiles and those with the most recent last logins. This is great, because you can direct your messages to those who are most active on the site and who are most likely to respond. There’s also a live feed so that you can connect with people right away if you feel they’re a great match. InterPals has many other cool features to explore. If you’re interested, go sign up and check them out! 2. Conversation Exchange. Conversation Exchange is one of the simplest, if not fanciest, of the language exchange platforms. Here, all of your online communication occurs through what’s essentially an email messaging system. Of course, you’re welcome to communicate by any means with which you feel comfortable. The website gives you the option to indicate whether you’re looking to communicate through snail mail, email or face-to-face. If you decide that you want to communicate exclusively through the Internet, you may select from a long list of chat software (i.e. Skype, WhatsApp, Hangouts) that you might use so that people can match themselves with you appropriately. One of the better features here, however, is the profile deactivation. Don’t mistake this with account deletion, as the two are mutually exclusive. On a platform like Conversation Exchange, where language learning enthusiasts like you are brimming with excitement for a language buddy, you may find your inbox flooded with introductions and requests for friendship. At first, it may be fun to sift through all of these new people’s messages, but after some time it can become overwhelming.













how to make foreign friends on the internet