So, we all know the discussion area is littered with language partner requests and italki has no incentive to do much about it.
How about the following:
1) Create a special forum just for language requests.
2) Only paying students can post in this special forum.
3) Each request must clearly state (perhaps by using drop down lists when creating the post) what level you are, what levels you are willing to work with, how often you want to exchange, time slots of general availability (i.e. 1600-20:00 EST Sat/Sun), etc. In other words, each request will have to have at least some basic info to even post.
The advantages to students:
- You will be working with students who have already had experience with language learning over skype, etc.
- Expectations will be clear as they are forced to be entered when making the request.
- Presumably if people have paid to take lessons, they are somewhat dedicated to the learning process and will take the language exchange seriously.
- A would be nice feature: After having a successful exchange, you can increment the number of successful exchanges on the other persons profile. There would be no negative feedback, just number of successes. Good language partners will have a high number of successes and should have an easier time finding other partners. There are obvious pitfalls here, not sure how to make this work nicely without becoming a useless feature.
The advantage to italki:
- Incentive to take at least 1 lesson so that you can ask for a language partner on the 'special' forum.
This is just a rough idea. What do you think?
Hi all,
I've decided to start trying to learn a third language and I'm fascinated by the "comprehensible input" methodology. This is where all input is in the target language (German in this case) and the person speaking uses visual and audible context to relay the meaning. I would like to start my journey into learning German by using this method and see how if fares to the traditional methods I've used in the past (and present) for French.
My issues with some of the other methods involve the use of translation to my native language and I want to avoid that as much as possible. I want to go straight from concept to target language and I want to use this right from square one.
In case you would like an example of what I'm talking about, search for Alice Ayel on youtube and watch some of her stories in French.
If anyone has any resources (preferably youtube videos and the like) that would be greatly appreciated.
NOTE: When I created this discussion it would only let me choose English or French for the "This discussion is for learning" entry, so apologies that this didn't end up in the German section
One day while sitting at home you decide to clean out your chesterfield. You find a shriveled timbit, a loonie, a toonie, and one dirty sock. Elated, you eat the timbit, put on the sock, toss the loot into your empty pockets, throw on your coat, toque and boots, and head out to your favorite place. When you get there you order a double double ($1.99) and a donut ($0.99).
How many coins do you walk home with?
As a language learner it can be difficult at times to understand what a native is saying to you. However, natives themselves are not immune to fancy sounding words. Sometimes we like to try and pull a prank on another native speaker using words they are not familiar with or words that sound right, but don't really mean what is implied.
For example, I'm a pilot. When there are student pilots around, sometimes the experienced pilots will try and 'pull a fast one' (a joke) on one or more of the students. Here are some the things that I've seen:
"Can you please go grab me a can of prop wash?"
"I need about 5 feet of flight line, can you please go get me some?"
"This wheel is not tracking straight, can you go get me some relative bearing grease?"
I'm sure just about every hobby/endeavor has these types of jokes. Please let us know some of your favorites (in English or any other language)!
