Japanese Penpals
Trying to study Japanese? May the gods of language have
mercy on your soul. No, haha! It’s not that bad. Until someone explains how
many kanji there are and how many readings they have. Then you decide to go for
Spanish, just like everyone said.
Hola desu.
No, no, wait! You can do it! And one of the major
cornerstones of language leaning is using
said language. Practice it. Sure, you can use a journal. But when it doesn’t
talk back, it’s just disappointing.
Better idea- getting a real life Japanese person to bounce your sad little
Kindergarten sentences off of. Even if you don’t want to practice Japanese, and
you just want a penpal from Japan, great- all the better for them to practice
English.
The key is to find Japanese sites, not English/American
ones. That way you stand out better and are more likely to get a million
replies to a penpal request.
My go-to penpal emporium, Japan Guide: http://www.japan-guide.com/local/?aCAT=2
On the other hand, there seems to be billions of office
workers who like travel and movies. Many of them have sketchy English. Many may
say they can teach you Japanese, but unless you’re an advanced Japanese
learner, you may want someone a little more English savvy to bounce your
questions off of. Some folks are seeking to Skype. Some just email. Some snail
mail. Remember snail mail?
Has anybody tried any of these below?
If you want to boost the number of replies you get, add some Japanese to your intro．おはようございます！ よろしく etc etc.
And on the topic of language sharing, I can’t forget to
mention Lang8. Review to come. It’s less personal, but very effective. Some
people post journal-like entries in their other language. Some post stories.
Some just toss out a direct question.
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