I'd really appreciate a Japanese pen pal and am not sure where to look. Are there any legit websites out there? Most are dating websites covering as something different. I just want a free site to help connect with someone in Japan. When I took German my teacher recommended me one but I'm not sure of it (it's been 2-3 years).

Thank you.

lang 8 might not be bad.....

Lang8 will hit you with so many penpals you won't have enough time to respond to them all. Seriously, I know this one chick who spent a lot of time just responding to all the messages she got.

sounds like my kind of girl...(sniker sniker)

You really don't need a penpal. Just do journals on language 8. Eventually you will get friend requests. Then read their entrys and correct and they will most likely do the same for you. So much better than a penpal.

Here are some options:

http://www.sharedtalk.com - I'm not going to say it's better than lang-8, but this website is something everyone should try at least once, I think. You get to see a list of people (learners and natives of many different languages) who are online and ready to do either type-chat or voice talk, and you can invite them to talk, and vice versa. It's a really multi-faceted website; lots of features. The best thing is that if you want to practice speaking, you can just go straight to this website and there are other people who want to practice too. (I'm kinda too shy and not confident enough to do voice chat though... I've come close to it a few times but X-ed out >>)

http://www.mylanguageexchange.com/ - basic language exchange site
http://www.language-exchanges.org/ - this one is linked with Skype
http://languageexchange.org/ - Never tried this one before, doesn't look as great as the others but perhaps worth a shot

Looks like the one I used to find my penpal was shut down or somethin...

you can meet people on http://www.smart.fm too

I'm seconding Nuriko and http://www.sharedtalk.com

I've had a lot of fun there chatting. People will often meet there, then move to msn or skype. I have 4 J pen pals, all very different, who I stay in touch with via semi regular emails, who I met there. And recently I started a weekly skype exchange with someone who read my profile, and requested the exchange. I never had the balls to skype, because I am still a bigginer (and yes, it went pretty bad when I tried to speak), but I am glad I'm doing the exchange (very motivational, and I can learn a lot I think). There is a good variety of folks there, but it is not too crowded, though if you are chatting with someone live, you may get requests from people from all over the world, as English is the hotness. But that can be fun and interesting too. I've chatted with people in the Middle east, and learned a lot!

I can't speak for the others, but check that one out for sure.

TaylorSan Wrote:I'm seconding Nuriko and http://www.sharedtalk.com

I've had a lot of fun there chatting. People will often meet there, then move to msn or skype. I have 4 J pen pals, all very different, who I stay in touch with via semi regular emails, who I met there. And recently I started a weekly skype exchange with someone who read my profile, and requested the exchange. I never had the balls to skype, because I am still a bigginer (and yes, it went pretty bad when I tried to speak), but I am glad I'm doing the exchange (very motivational, and I can learn a lot I think). There is a good variety of folks there, but it is not too crowded, though if you are chatting with someone live, you may get requests from people from all over the world, as English is the hotness. But that can be fun and interesting too. I've chatted with people in the Middle east, and learned a lot!

I can't speak for the others, but check that one out for sure.

I've once voice-chatted with a Brazilian transvestite on that website (not joking)

Nuriko Wrote:Here are some options:

http://www.language-exchanges.org/ - this one is linked with Skype

This one is good. It's also known as the Mixxer. Like Nuriko said, just make sure you have skype installed. I've met a heap of Japanese people, both living in Japan and in Australia through it. I mainly use it to type with them, cause I feel embarassed by my speaking ability (although it's not that bad) and there is sometimes that awkwardness of speaking to a stranger, which is made worse by the language barrier :O

I used to have a conversation partner through http://www.language-exchanges.org/ (mixxer) for about 8 months, through Skype. Eventually the time difference got to be too much. (PST - JST is a real pain)

Now that I'm in Japan, I have 3 (count 'em) conversation partners I met through http://www.mylanguageexchange.com/. You have to pay to replay to stuff, but it's worth it. I've only ever had one reply to something I posted out their myself, but initiated contacts go pretty well.

I used sharedTalk.com a bit, a long time ago. Got into a long talk with a korean guy (in japanese / english) who I was pretty sure was in the mob. He had a lot of ... sinks. Seriously. I have no idea why.

If you're just looking pen pal then any of these should be okay. Just write to a lot of people until you find someone consistent.

I have a few email / msn friends from sharedtalk.

I suggest you don't answer the messages of people who don't speak your target language, otherwise you will be bombarded by people wanting to practice their English on you.

Also be aware that with most penpals, after you introduce yourself and a few messages later, a lot flake on you. You'll probably never hear from them again. So be prepared to have a few just incase some don't work out.

OsakaDan Wrote:

Nuriko Wrote:Here are some options:

http://www.language-exchanges.org/ - this one is linked with Skype

This one is good. It's also known as the Mixxer. Like Nuriko said, just make sure you have skype installed. I've met a heap of Japanese people, both living in Japan and in Australia through it. I mainly use it to type with them, cause I feel embarassed by my speaking ability (although it's not that bad) and there is sometimes that awkwardness of speaking to a stranger, which is made worse by the language barrier :O

I've met a lot of good conversation partners from this site... just add as many as you can. With some people you won't make good conversations, or some people are shy about voice or video chat. The more people you talk to, the more interesting friends you'll make. You'll eventually find someone you have some stuff in common with.

The most challenging part may be the time difference. I have to log in early in the morning to talk to people.

Ok, Good luck finding a good pen pal.

Thanks for all the replies so far. Haven't had a chance to check them out, but will probably do so today.

I'd like to say thanks a lot for the website SharedTalk.com. Met and talked with a woman living in Kyoto and we plan to practice Japanese again. (She's a housewife so she is on when I'm on.) Thanks again and I recommend the website very much.

I've received a few responses from http://www.penpal-net.info/ , but I think I might be getting a little bit of spam too. It's a bit of a childish looking site, so I'm guessing the target audience is teenagers. (which is fine for me, since that's where my language ability is for Japanese)