Stephanie O'dea Last updated: How to Find French Language Exchange Partners and Make French Friends Online
Thanks to online resources, you can make friends with native French speakers and get conversation practice—without having to move abroad.
Here, I’ll share my favorite websites and apps for finding French language partners, along with helpful organizations. I’ll fill you in too on tips for getting the most out of the language exchange experience and avoiding potential pitfalls.
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
Contents
- Where to Find French Conversation Partners Online
- Resources for In-Person French Language Exchanges
- Tips for Stress-Free Language Exchange
- And one more thing...
Where to Find French Conversation Partners Online
There are a ton of incredible online resources for language learners, so it’s easier than ever to connect with French speakers:
HelloTalk
This is one of the most popular apps for language exchange. You can find hundreds of native French speakers here and chat with them or even do phone or video calls—all while getting corrections on your French.
Tandem
Tandem is another free language exchange app that’s great for one-on-one conversations, complete with safety checks and features similar to social media.
My Language Exchange
A user-friendly website complete with games, chat rooms, forums and lesson plans. It’s a great conversation starter if you’re struggling for things to say.
Conversation Exchange
This website’s simple interface allows city-specific searches to find a local conversation partner.
InterPals
A long-standing platform with a much broader scope, including cultural exchanges and socializing. City-specific searches are not available, but you do have a “keyword” function which can help you find local Exchangers!
VRChat
One unconventional (but effective platform) is VRChat, where you can interact with people from all over the world in 3D worlds—and sometimes it feels very lifelike! You can search for French worlds there and easily start talking to people.
Tip: When doing language exchange online with these platforms, you can create a profile with your language levels and goals, conduct a simple search et voilà! Hundreds of potential French language partners are just a few keystrokes and mouse clicks away.
One word of advice on your language exchange profile: be specific. How often do you want to meet? What are you hoping to achieve? What level of language partner are you looking for? All of this will help users gauge whether or not they are a suitable candidate for you.
Resources for In-Person French Language Exchanges
At Your Local Area
Even if you’re not in a French-speaking area, such as France or Montreal, you can still find French language exchange partners to practice with in person. Check out these resources:
- Alliance Française — They’re an official organization that holds French classes and workshops all over the world, and they have schools in nearly every major city.
- Institut Français — This government organization also has branches in different countries, including Asia, Europe and Africa, with more of a focus on cultural activities.
- Facebook groups — You can find French enthusiasts in your area through Facebook groups or even connect with French expats.
- French Embassy Cultural Services — Start following the page of your local French embassy because they likely hold language exchanges sometimes and can help you meet more French speakers.
In France
If you’re already in France, then finding language exchange partners or friends won’t be hard at all! Here are some resources to get you started:
- Social Paris on Reddit — If you live in Paris, this Reddit forum has several meetup posts each day, from concerts and writing clubs to language exchanges.
- Meetup — There are several France-based meetup groups that are focused on language exchange or learning French, but you can also find people to hang out with based on interests like running and drawing.
- Where Internationals Connect in English — This nonprofit association holds French-English conversation groups for free twice a week in Paris.
- BlaBla Language Exchange — As a language exchange organizer, it holds regular events all over France (and beyond), at more than 20 cities. Some of them even run twice a week.
You can also look into other language schools, which may hold language exchanges and other activities that you can attend even if you’re not taking classes.
Tips for Stress-Free Language Exchange
1. Set Ground Rules
Set a stopwatch on your phone and agree on an interval for each language, e.g. twenty minutes in French, followed by twenty in English.
Stick to it ruthlessly to avoid favoring one language over another and to ensure you’re both using your time to improve.
2. Don’t Panic
Language exchange can be very daunting at first, especially when your French skills are still at a basic level. Don’t give up.
While en route to your meeting place, or before your online chat, think of some simple questions you’d like to ask. Work on these questions and various answers with your partner.
If you want a practice run before your first conversation with a person, try chatting with a French chatbot—they won’t judge you, for sure!
3. Brainstorm Topics in Advance
If you’re nervous about maintaining the conversation, jot down some topics that will help kick-start a debate. The latest French news articles are a great (and fairly natural) resource. Choose news stories that interest you and simply start with “Did you hear about…..”
You can get more discussion ideas with the videos on FluentU, which also cover French news and pop culture.
FluentU takes authentic videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.
You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Check out the website or download the iOS app or Android app.
P.S. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)
4. Learn about Regional French Variations
While French has relatively few strong accents, it is worth remembering that regional differences in speech do still exist, and Canadian French in particular is very different to that spoken in Paris.
This in itself can be a great topic for discussion: ask your language partner to explain the differences you might come across in slang, accent or vocabulary. Do they struggle with accents in English?
Reciprocate by teaching them all about the regional variations of the English language.
5. Do Your Homework
Between conversation exchanges, note key vocabulary, phrases or exchanges that you don’t quite understand to make up some great starting points for your next conversation session.
Take advantage of your language exchange time to ask questions about challenging language obstacles – but ask your questions and listen to the answers in French, not English!
6. Beware of the Blind Date in Disguise
Some free websites are fantastic resources for finding a conversation partner, but when you post a short profile, you might be inundated with keen language partners of the opposite sex.
Be sensible. Search for a partner and initiate contact yourself, or exchange a few messages beforehand. Most language exchange websites have a built-in messaging tool, so there’s no need to give out any personal contact information.
And, of course, with whoever you choose to meet….
7. Be Safe
Conversation exchanges are excellent language learning opportunities, but don’t be foolish about talking to strangers.
If you’re meeting in person for language exchange, let a friend, roommate or family member know where you are meeting them and at what time. Meet in a café or other bustling public place. If at any point you feel uncomfortable, don’t think twice about making your excuses and taking your leave.
If you’re not sure about real-life exchanges, online chats are a great tool for international conversations.
Feeling inspired? That’s what I like to hear! Everyone loves a little free learning, and you’ll be amazed at how quickly you can improve once you find your ideal language exchange partner, so what are you waiting for?
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
And one more thing...
If you like learning French on your own time and from the comfort of your smart device, then I'd be remiss to not tell you about FluentU.
FluentU has a wide variety of great content, like interviews, documentary excerpts and web series, as you can see here:
FluentU brings native French videos with reach. With interactive captions, you can tap on any word to see an image, definition and useful examples.
For example, if you tap on the word "crois," you'll see this:
Practice and reinforce all the vocabulary you've learned in a given video with learn mode. Swipe left or right to see more examples for the word you’re learning, and play the mini-games found in our dynamic flashcards, like "fill in the blank."
All throughout, FluentU tracks the vocabulary that you’re learning and uses this information to give you a totally personalized experience. It gives you extra practice with difficult words—and reminds you when it’s time to review what you’ve learned.
Start using the FluentU website on your computer or tablet or, better yet, download the FluentU app from the iTunes or Google Play store. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)
