They have a mission to help you communicate with people around the world. Isn’t it great that we are in an age where language barriers are no longer the issue they used to be? In our blog, we will introduce the best apps for language exchange and help you find hidden gems out there. So let’s go!
Table of Contents
Best Apps For Language Exchange
- HelloTalk
Best for innovative tools
In 2020, HelloTalk is the king of the language exchange apps. Or at least, a member of the royal family. It has over 18 million users — that’s over twice the population of New York City! If you don’t want to read this whole list, just download HelloTalk and go from there.
New users fill in a profile and the app suggests similar profiles of people you might enjoy connecting with. The chat feature is very developed: you can send photos, emojis and doodles to your new language partners. Once you’ve gained each other’s trust, it’s even possible to send voice messages and make phone calls for free! The free version of HelloTalk will be sufficient for most learners, but you can only set one target language. Consider a subscription if you’re trying to master a few languages at once.
One of the age-old problems of language exchanges is that learners find it hard to know when to switch languages. HelloTalk has a handy feature to prevent the awkwardness of trying to be strict with a relative stranger. If you turn on “Language Exchange mode,” you’ll get a notification when it’s time to switch languages. With so many users passing through, it’s slightly more suited to those who want to casually chat than to have a more developed language exchange. However, HelloTalk deserves its great reputation.
Love the convenience of learning English on your phone? Check out our article on the 15 Best Apps to Learn English: Speaking, Writing & More (2021).
- Tandem
Best for a quick start
Tandem language exchange 2020
Like HelloTalk, Tandem is a very up-to-date language exchange app with millions of users. As the name suggests, it is a Tandem language app, which has been called the Tinder of language exchange apps. But don’t let that put you off: the majority of people are here to learn. Once you’ve filled in a quick profile, your inbox will quickly receive lots of messages.
With so many users, it can be hard to focus on one conversation at a time or to move beyond superficial topics, but the app is very slick to look at and easy to navigate. You can leave reviews of other users, which makes the relationships between students feel more professional and less akin to a dating app. You can send voice notes or video chat, but there isn’t much of a culture of doing either, since most interactions are spur-of-the-moment. There’s a handy “correct this message” feature to help your partner out without derailing the conversation.
If you want to enjoy language exchanges through a slick, up-to-date messaging app, Tandem is a great option.
- Bilingua
Best for personalized matching
Bilingua app
Some language exchange apps allow you to (digitally) meet a seemingly endless list of learners. You might end up sending “hello, how are you?” to dozens of strangers, but rarely developing a deep enough connection with one person to try out an in-depth conversation.
Bilingua’s big selling point is that it combines a modern interface with help to find “the one.” Which in this case, means a compatible fellow student to swap skills with for the medium term. This free language exchange app uses a matching algorithm to pair learners based on their personalities, language level and what they want to talk about.
Yes, it does sound like a dating app, but fans say it has saved them time in narrowing down hundreds of potential study buddies. Some users find the app too glitchy, especially if trying to type in Mandarin. But it’s worth a try to see if it works for you.
- MyLanguageExchange
Best for long-term connections
The MyLanguageExchange website looks older than the concept of language itself, but don’t be put off. Although no-one has updated the website itself since the mid-2000s, MyLanguageExchange is a thriving network of learners, with new members joining every day.
It is a straightforward database of people looking for language exchanges, with columns for a short bio and details of what they’re looking for. If flashy apps like Tandem and HelloTalk are suited to short-term chatting with many strangers, MyLanguageExchange is the opposite. Once you have connected with someone, it is typical to switch to an alternative form of messaging, like email, Skype or WhatsApp. Study buddies blur into the realm of “new friend” very quickly.
This is language exchange for those who loved doing language exchanges in high school. You could meet someone on this site who will become a part of your life long term. A person you might Skype with for years and eventually fly halfway across the world to meet. Students who are used to the anonymous and instant feel of modern apps might find this a bit creepy or even potentially dangerous. It depends on what you are looking for, and how much of yourself you want to share.
- The Mixxer
Best for speaking via Skype
The big benefit of language exchange apps, in theory, is that they get you speaking to a native user of your target language. However, in practice, most language apps are based around messenger services. So really, you’re getting writing practice, rather than that all-important speaking practice.
The Mixxer is a website designed to combat this problem. Users have to connect to their accounts to Skype straight away. You can message other students before video chatting with them, of course, but it’s for people who are looking for live speaking practice rather than someone to text.
It was created by a teacher of Japanese from a college in Pennsylvania, USA. On the one hand, this means that the website is a run without a budget. This means it can’t attract millions of members, or moderate users to behave professionally. On the other hand, it was created purely for the needs of language students, with no business goals to prioritize. There are even free conversation starters to help users structure their sessions productively.
Are you uncomfortable jumping into video chat without screening your language exchange partner first? If so, that’s understandable and this site might not be for you. If you’re willing to take a slight risk, however, then this site might be a surprise winner.
- Speaky
Best for instant language exchanges
If you want to message a native speaker in the next five minutes, you can make that happen with Speaky. After setting your interests, you are shown a tiled screen of users online learning your language. You can message anyone, and anyone can message you. There is the option to hide your profile from people of the opposite gender. If you are a woman, this is probably worth doing, just in case!
At the moment, users can’t video chat or call each other, so if you are looking for speaking practice, you should look elsewhere. Some students also find the app buggy, claiming that it has deleted their messages for no reason. However, it does have tons of members, so there will always be someone available to message in real-time right now, whenever “right now” happens to be.
- Meetup
Best for in-person language exchanges
Meetup
Texting new friends is great practice, but actually meeting fluent speakers is the real deal! If you are able to travel to big towns and cities, it’s worth going to an in-person language exchange, even if you’re nervous. Meetup is a website for planning gatherings of strangers around a common interest. It has a big presence in Europe and the Americas, and language exchange is one of its most popular event categories.
You can search by city and by language. Meetups are usually free or cheap, and often take place in a bar, cafe or park. Sometimes exchanges involve fun activities like dance classes or bowling, to give students something to talk about. Of course, your opportunities will depend on where you are in the world, but if you’re learning the language of a country which you’ve just relocated to, then what are you waiting for? Don’t let fear hold you back — everyone else will be in just the same situation as you are!
- Reddit
Best for language exchange communities
If you like the idea of finding one long-term study buddy for language exchanges, but don’t like old-fashioned websites, then “the front page of the internet” might be a surprisingly good choice. Reddit has some very weird corners, but there’s a thriving forum for almost any topic, and language learning is no exception. Reddit itself isn’t very suited to hosting language exchanges, but you can easily find another student to pair up with, then organize an exchange with them using video chat on another platform.
Since people use Reddit to discuss all kinds of niche interests, you’ll be able to check out what else your language partner is interested in thoroughly before accepting their request to learn more. It’s another option to consider!
- Facebook
Best for private groups
If Reddit isn’t your thing, but you like the idea of finding a language exchange through your existing digital networks, then Facebook might be just the solution. There are private groups on Facebook for just about anything, so try entering “[your native language] to [your target language] language exchange” into the search bar. The chances are, you’ll find people in the same situation as you.
The great thing about finding a study buddy through Facebook is that you can usually view their likes, opinions and holiday photos before deciding to connect. After you’ve added someone as a friend, as we all know, Facebook allows you to chat, phone and video call them. It’s almost like it was designed for language exchanges!
These groups also provide something you didn’t know you needed — a team of fellow language learners to draw support from. Dumb as it sounds, seeing memes appear in your feed on topics such as “Things you only know if you’re an English speaker trying to learn Arabic,” can really be very reassuring! And motivating, if you often procrastinate your studies by scrolling through Facebook….
- Preply
Best to practice with language experts
Okay, you caught us…this isn’t a language exchange website. Preply is a platform for finding an online tutor for 1-on-1 classes in almost any language.
Hear us out: without a doubt, language exchanges are a fantastic way to improve your speaking skills in a second language. But they can also be incredibly frustrating.
In the best-case scenario, you are only learning half the time during any language exchange. It’s better than nothing, but it’s inefficient. There’s also no guarantee of finding an exchange partner who is a good teacher, and this is a very rare skill to stumble across. Finding a great language partner can be a disheartening process of trial and error. A story of putting yourself out there, trying to make meaningful connections, but being left disappointed time and time again (this is the final analogy with online dating in the article, we promise!)
Best free language exchange apps
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Conversation Exchange
Screenshot of the Conversation Exchange website.
What We Like
Straightforward approach and procedures.
Large pool of users.
Email addresses stay private.
What We Don’t Like
Search function has no specific format for city, so users have to try a few different ways (e.g., “New York, NY,” “New York City,” and “New York” might return different results).
No integrated chat function.
Conversation Exchange makes it really easy to find someone to help you learn a language. You can look specifically for a penpal that you can practice reading and writing with, a partner that is willing to talk with you over voice or video chat, and/or for someone you can physically meet up with.
An advanced search tool lets you describe your perfect language partner. You can choose what language they speak, what language they’re learning (what you’re proficient in), their skill level, country, town, time zone, type of exchange, age, gender, and name.
You can sort the search results by last login date to find a language partner that’s actively using the website. Details about the type of exchange each user is willing to participate in are shown in each profile.
Once you’ve found someone on Conversation Exchange that fits your requirements, you can add them as a contact and send them a private message to get all the details sorted out about how you’ll communicate.
Visit Conversation Exchange
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The Mixxer
Screenshot of The Mixxer website for learning languages.
What We Like
Users can post content written in the language they want to learn for others to correct.
Live chat with other users.
Strong community.
What We Don’t Like
Requires Skype account.
The Mixxer works by having you build a simple user account defining the languages you speak and the ones you want to learn. You can also specify if you have a Skype account that you want to share with the public.
Once logged on to the website, you can search for users who can help you learn the language you’re interested in, message or call them on Skype, and send them private messages through The Mixxer.
You can even see when a user was last logged in to The Mixxer, which helps you sift through inactive accounts, as well as view a list of all the currently logged in users, with a link to each profile.
In addition to contacting individual users, you can post publicly accessible writings that any user from The Mixxer can correct you on so as to improve your writing skills.
Visit their FAQ page for some tips on how to get the most out of Mixxer.
Visit The Mixxer
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Easy Language Exchange
Screenshot of the Easy Language Exchange.
What We Like
More than 100,000 users around the world.
Instant chat capability.
Free lessons and tests.
What We Don’t Like
Very basic search doesn’t include location.
Support and FAQ are hard to find on site before signing up.
Start using Easy Language Exchange by picking the language you want help with, and then choosing what language you’re fluent in. The search tool will find all the users that match that criteria.
There are currently tens of thousands of users at Easy Language Exchange. You can quickly browse through all the matching users to see what languages they speak and which ones they’re learning.
A list of online users are shown on the bottom right of the website, where you can instantly chat with any of them.
You can also add other users as friends as well as send any of them a private or public message to decide how you want to proceed with the language exchange.
Visit Easy Language Exchange
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Speaky
Screenshot of the Speaky website.
What We Like
Built-in tools include chat, audio/video calling, and automated translator.
Can block anyone who doesn’t speak your primary language.
What We Don’t Like
Must provide birthdate and gender upon signup.
Speaky is remarkably easy to use.
A fully integrated, clean, and very intuitive chat program is available, which you can use to chat with people you add as friends. You can also speak over audio and video with the built-in calling feature.
Speaky has a translator that’s always accessible at the bottom of the page that you can use to translate any text to your primary language, or vice versa, for quick help when chatting with someone using a different language.
One option in the settings of your profile will block all the people who don’t speak your primary language from contacting you. This means you can rest assured that the people who try to help you are knowledgeable of the language and won’t be wasting your time.
You can also use this website through the Speaky Android app.
Visit Speaky
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Papora
Screenshot of the Papora website.
What We Like
Language partner search has options for country, age, and gender.
Includes private messaging function.
What We Don’t Like
Not much info available about the site without signup.
“Terms of service” link on signup page is dead, so there’s no quick way to check.
It’s easy to navigate around and search for uses, plus you can do more than just message people.
There’s a writing section where you can post text and have other users comment on how accurate it is. They can be single sentences or multiple paragraphs, and someone who knows the language can explain where you went wrong.
The Groups section of the website is simply a forum where you can post a question or request and have other users publicly answer you. It may be easier to find a language exchange partner through the forum than simply waiting on someone to message you through the search tool.
In addition to the above, Papora lets you add users as friends, private message them, and send a smile. Your profile can include multiple languages (and your skill level) that you know and/or would like to learn, plus there’s a text area where you can write anything else you’d like people to know about you.
Conclusion
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