"It is giving me more courage and confidence to speak out loud... I have learnt a lot about the Indonesian language and culture through her and hope maybe to even meet her if I take a cultural exchange program in later years."
(Level 4 Indonesian Studies student)
"I really enjoy the program as I would not know, meet or make any Japanese acquaintances without this program pairing us together. Thank you."
(Level 6 Japanese Studies student)
"Not only you get to learn more about the language you also make a new friend for life."
(Level 6 Mandarin Studies student)
Your partner will be an international student whose first language matches the one you are learning.
Where possible we match your interests, faculty, availability, gender and age.
You don't need to be fluent in the second language. The program aims to improve your skills.
Mandarin, Japanese, Korean and Indonesian are most popular.
European languages usually have a long waiting list for partners.
Some languages are in high demand, such as Chinese students wanting help with English. Others have less demand. While we do our best, we are sometimes not able to match applicants. Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee a suitable partner.
Once we match you with a partner:
"My language partner is easy-going, friendly and an interesting person."
(Level 6 Japanese Studies student)
The most popular conversation topics are shopping, travel, culture, study, careers, hobbies, interests, family, music, books, media, news, informal language and local expressions.
"We discuss everything, from the work that we are doing in classes to our family and personal relationships. I really enjoy talking about our impressions of people and the differences in personalities and social interactions between Japanese and Australian people."
(Level 10 Japanese Studies student)
Try to spend 50% of the time speaking each language during your weekly meeting. Beginners often spend more time speaking their first language. Conversational skills and confidence will improve with time. Eventually you will reach the 50% mark.
"Try and speak the foreign language as much as possible-don't worry about making mistakes, just keep practising and soon you will learn to see the mistakes yourself."
(Level 8 Japanese Studies student)
To make the most of your language exchange meeting, you can:
If you have to postpone or cancel a meeting, you should let your partner know and make alternative arrangements. Some students use MSN to contact their partner when they cannot meet in person.
We have social events every month during semester. Past events include Asian cooking days, free lunches, BBQs and trips to cultural festivals.
Check your email for our monthly e-newsletter.
There are many community-based language exchange programs available on the internet.
For example, the Monash Hispanic Community meet to share their interest in Spanish language and culture.
The program is open only to Monash students and staff.
Perhaps your partner is too busy to meet or doesn't return your calls.
If it is just not working, we will help find other options.
Email us at hub.clayton@monash.edu or hub.caulfield@monash.edu