How to Practice a Foreign Language with Your Pen Pals: Letter-Writing Tips
To start, you need to find a pen pal (or pen pals) from the section above - a native
speaker of the language you are practicing who also wants to practice through an email
exchange.
In your emails, we strongly recommend that you write in both languages. If you only write in your practicing language, the ideas
you express may be limited. The exchange will be more interesting if you can
express yourself naturally, even if only for some of the time. Other advantages
include both parties improving their reading skills. This helps your vocabulary,
idioms, natural syntax, etc., and you will also get some practice writing in
your practicing language, but not so much that it becomes overwhelming. More reasons to use both languages, especially during live practice.
You should give each other a little feedback on
your writing. If you have a particular area that you want to work on, such
as verb tenses, gender, sentence structure, expressions, spelling,
etc., you can ask your partner to pay closer attention to
that area when giving corrections.
You can also translate part of your message, or ask your partner to do it. When you
are translating your message, remember that translating means expressing the
same idea in a different language. Try to translate the whole sentence rather
than individual words. Otherwise, you'll get a choppy sentence that is not the
way a native speaker would express the idea. When your partner translates your
message, you can see how a native speaker expresses those ideas. Finally, when
you are translating your partner's message into your native language, don't be
afraid to use an expression or slang. Remember, an advantage of a
language exchange is the opportunity to learn and exchange all aspects of a language and
culture.
As for content, you can let yourselves be guided by your natural
curiosity, but we recommend that you also use the games, activities and
conversation questions in the Chat Companion. They are meant to help make your
practice more fun and effective. Here again, we aim to help you learn how to
learn, and how to help each other learn :-) Don't hesitate to contact us if you
have any questions. Happy practicing!
- November 19, 2001
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