Those Days of Language Exchange

🔹 Beginning:

🔹 How I found them:

There were many international students at NTNU, so I posted language exchange notes on the campus bulletin boards and left my phone number for people to contact me.

🔹 My experience:

Before each Japanese friend returned to Japan, they always felt a strong sense of responsibility to introduce the next Japanese friend to me, so that I could continue studying Japanese.

Because of this, over time, I did language exchange with seven Japanese friends in total, and this continued for about ten years.

🔹 Language exchange format:

Because our language levels were different, we kept it fair by studying one hour of Japanese and one hour of Chinese.

It was very similar to a one-on-one language class: conversation practice, asking questions, vocabulary checks, and so on.

🔹 Cultural exchange:

What made language exchange special was its flexibility and relaxed nature as a form of cultural exchange.

We also did many interesting activities together, such as:

① Cooking together — one Japanese friend taught me home-style Japanese dishes for almost a year.

② Sightseeing routes — I planned simple itineraries and took my Japanese friends to places they wanted to visit.

③ Artsy routes — visiting exhibitions, watching movies, appreciating architecture, having afternoon tea, and exploring unique shops.

④ Practical matters — going to the immigration office, looking for apartments, and similar tasks.

🔹 Costs:

After covering my own transportation, food, and activity expenses, language exchange itself was basically free.

🔹 Japanese outcomes (partly thanks to language exchange):

① I passed the JLPT N1.

② In fields I’m familiar with (personal color and personal style), I can do simple translation and interpretation.

p.s.

Is language exchange unsuitable for introverts?

Not at all. I’m actually an introvert myself.

Because my partners were Japanese, they weren’t as outwardly enthusiastic as many Taiwanese people, and that felt very comfortable for me.