Mar
27
4 Signs that your language exchange is taking advantage of you
Try as you might, if you do enough intercambios (language exchanges), you’ll eventually encounter a few people who think that intercambios = free classes.
Don’t get me wrong, a language exchange is a marvelous way to practice a foreign language. The great thing about having an intercambio is the opportunity to learn Spanish straight directly with a native speaker. But it is a two-way street. If one person is a passive participant who only takes and takes and takes and doesn’t give anything back, that’s not an intercambio, that’s a free private lesson.
Here are 4 signs that your language exchange has become a bit lopsided, with you receiving the short end of the stick.
Sign 4: Your intercambio brings a stack of books to each session and spends more time taking notes than actually conversing with you.
Sign 3: Your intercambio starts referring his friends to you. And when they contact you, they say that they heard you teach English for free in exchange for Spanish conversation.
Sign 2: Your intercambio asks you to sign a form entitled “Tuition Reimbursement.” You’re not charging them but they want their company to reimburse them? Huh?
And the number 1 sign that your language exchange has become a class? Your intercambio only calls you “profe” (profesor), instead of by your first name, every time you meet.
Can you think of any others? What are the signs, in your opinion, that a language exchange has gotten lopsided? How do you handle it when that happens?
Photo: Teacher’s Survival Pack by Virago Bites. Used with permission.
In order to even prevent that from happening, I generally stick with an intercambio for just a couple of lessons…and no, I wouldn’t just “ditch” them; rather, you have to set some ground rules before even beginning. For example, I used to meet my intercambio at a nice cafe in Granada, Spain, talk for exactly 30 minutes in Spanish, and then continue the conversation in English for exactly 30 minutes. I always had my cell phone alarm go off at 30 minutes, to make sure that there is actually an “exchange” of language.
Also, one thing that I remembered for these one-hour sessions is that I didn’t want to be corrected (not for minor errors, at least). I know when my Spanish doesn’t come out correctly, and if I want to be corrected, I’ll opt for a longer session, so that my intercambio can explain the corrections to me, and vice versa.
Another side of when a language exchange is getting “lopsided” is if your intercambio brings their homework with them…the point of an intercambio session is CHARLAR y CONVERSAR, not HACER LA TAREA!
The 4 signs you list, though, are really good ones. Before it got to that point, as I said, you need to establish ground rules with your intercambio.
Man, because of you Eleena, I’m beginning to feel myself less and less a student of Spanish. The intercambios I had (were only 2 I used for Spanish) actually preferred to speak Spanish. because their English sucked at that time. When I was studying Russian I met a guy who was studying Russian aswell but was already at a high level. So we would exchange ideas and speak Russian. He actually became a good friend of mine, and still is one.
At school I also have a bunch of people who prefer to speak Spanish, so I end up speaking a lot of Spanish in my free time and only doing necessary stuff in Dutch.
My question to you: have you ever encountered the things you mentioned?
@Rmss, Sorry if this post came across as negative, that wasn’t the intention. I’ve personally experienced 4,3 and 1, and with the last point, I think it was because the person couldn’t remember my name. We didn’t meet more than three times. Number 2, happened to an English-teaching friend of mine. At one point, when I had more free time, I had five different intercambios that I was meeting with on pretty regular basis. Whew. That lasted for like six weeks and then things thinned out.
@Jeffrey, sounds like you are very firm and disciplined about it. Requesting no corrections is an interesting choice but I can kind of understand that. Some people give too lengthy of an explanation that interrupts the flow of the conversation. Other people don’t know how to explain the grammar, so it’s just as well that they say nothing because if they did they may just confuse you.
I am actually new to learning Spanish and just found your website. I have never even heard of an intercambios. Can you explain.
Yeah, sure, Denise. An intercambio is a language exchange. Basically what this is is when native speakers of two different languages get together (either in person or online) to help one another with their respective native languages. In exchange, they get assistance with the foreign language they are learning.
For example, Miguel is a Spaniard who wants to improve his English. Once a week he meets online with Nigel, a British guy, who wants to improve his Spanish. During the course of a 60-minute conversation, they spend 30 minutes speaking Spanish and then 30 minutes speaking English.
Doing intercambios is a great way to expand your vocabulary, increase your confidence and make new Spanish-speaking friends.
Here are some past entries I’ve written on the subject that go into more detail:
http://spanish-podcast.com/2008/01/30/find-an-intercambio/
http://spanish-podcast.com/2008/01/31/5-questions-to-ask-your-intercambio/
There are more articles about this on this blog. You can find them by putting the word “intercambio” in the search box at the top of the page.
Thanks for writing!
Gracias Eleena.