I've finally found a language practice partner! I'm all psyched, because I've been looking forever, but then I realized I don't actually know how to go about it. I mean, I could go with my assumptions (I speak Japanese, she replies and/or corrects me. She speaks English, I reply and/or correct her. Rinse and repeat.) But is there a better format? Do you time it, i.e., 5 minutes J, 5 minutes E, etc? Or all J at one meeting, all E the next? Do you limit corrections to major errors, or just grammar or something? To get started do you pick topics beforehand? I'm pretty sure I'll be so nervous and tongue-tied in the beginning that I'll need to have practiced something in advance in order to begin speaking at all.

Any input from experienced language exchangers will be appreciated.

I don´t know if it´s of any use to you, but I chat with my real life friend on msn and add all the new sentences to anki, and try to keep the balance between talking with her and learning new sentences.

It would be bad if I would talk much but wouldn´t have time to prepare sentences, and vice versa.

This way I don´t tire her, because we talk about the places we want to go next or about previous experiences.

This thread should be pretty helpful.

http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=5428

You speak Japanese while being corrected and your partner speaks English. Don't put any rules on talk time though or it will become work. Go to a bar, have a few drinks so you can relax and not think too much, and just have a fun spontaneous conversation. Though it could help to keep a notepad for repeated mistakes.

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Remember to reply back to emails.... I constantly forget this.

Thanks for the advice and especially the link to the other thread. I'm afraid I was so excited I forgot to search for a previous discussion.

When I'm in Japan I'm constantly having casual conversations with Japanese people. It's easy and natural because everyone else is speaking Japanese, and many people enjoy taking to foreigners. But here at home, most Japanese people living in Hawaii already speak English quite well, and with everyone else speaking English in the social settings where I see them (surfing, parties) it's just lame and inappropriate to start spouting 外人日本語 to 日本人 I barely know.

That's why I was so pleased to connect with my new partner. Our husbands are friends, we've met at a couple of parties, and we were all hanging out at a surf contest this weekend, where I broached the subject, and she was very enthused. I like the idea of meeting for a meal, or at the beach, so it's not for the sole purpose of Having A Conversation. I'm going to think about the format some more, now that I have the benefit of other people's experience.

It might help to buy the "Point and Speak" books as they cover a lot of subjects. If anything, it'll give each of you a quick reference to talk about something interesting from each respective culture. That'll take care of the problem of thinking what to talk about.

Well I have been doing a bit of language exchange recently. I try not to make it too serious or too strict about time limits etc. My language exchange partner is already OK with english, but is a college student and sometimes has problems with grammar etc. Normally we meet in a cafe for about an hour or so. First half hour we just chat in English and I answer any questions etc. The second half we concentrate on Japanese. Normally we have a simple conversation about stuff. I normally bring some material I want to review and have them do some dialogues with me, check my pronunciation etc. They might ask me some questions as well based on the material we reviewed.

The trick is to not make it to formal and tedious for them otherwise they will quickly lose interest. Don't rely on them to "teach you Japanese" unless they are an experienced teacher. You need to take the initiative and impose some structure and bring some materials to cover in your time period. Also in my experience they will have no idea about Japanese grammar, so don't ask any questions in that area. The best thing is to make use of their pronunciation expertise and fluency in the spoken language. If you are working on written japanese, of course have them review stuff you have written.