Language exchange research thesis

[DannyV5]

Dear language enthusiasts! I'm currently writing my bachelor thesis about language exchanges and its impact on the language learning industry. I would therefore be very grateful for all the language exchanger's willing to take 2-3 minutes of their day to fill out a survey and enhance the quality of my research. Thank you in advance!

http://www.thesistools.com/web/?id=536315

The answers will be confidential and solely be used for the research project.

Kind regards,

Danny

[Cavesa]

Hi Danny,

I've just filled out your survey. I think it is quite well thought out, except for one thing. Perhaps that is the purpose, but you disregard the same stuff most langauge exchange platforms. We, natives of "worthless for exchange" languages have a very hard time finding exchange partners. Extremely hard time. So much I am getting allergic to the answer "just speak and speak to improve, finding exchange partners is easy". Of course I could be useful to people learning French or English too, but why would they choose me over tons of natives? And I totally understand them.

So, there is one option you didn't list in the "important features" question: huge userbase. That is the only way to find at least someone.

Of course, it may be irrelevant to your study, as you are probably interested just in the priviledged natives of big languages. But just in case it was mildly interesting, this is an extremely common problem for natives of smaller languages. Few people are learning them. And majority doesn't tend to be the natives of our common target languages. Sometimes, it is almost surprising how big languages are in just as bad position as the small ones.

For example, many czechs are learning German. Extremely few German natives are learning Czech, while lots and lots of Russian natives do (but that is really not as a popular langauge as German for Czech natives by far.). A huge userbase is the only way to face this problem at least a bit and give people a better chance of finding an exchange partner. Or another example: millions of people worldwide are learning English, while anglophones are commonly learning learning just a few languages and just exceptions venture outside of this bubble. Including English natives people living in countries where those langauges are spoken. And there could surely be tons of other examples from all the regions of the world.

[tommus]

Sometimes, it is almost surprising how big languages are in just as bad position as the small ones.

One manifestation of this is imbalance. For example, although an English native may be able to find a Dutch language partner, it is virtually impossible to find one who isn't a whole lot better in English than you are in Dutch. In other words, between major and minor languages, it is very difficult to find a balanced language exchange. And a balanced exchange is important for several reasons, but probably most importantly, so that the weaker partner does not feel that s/he is imposing on the stronger partner. So in this example, the English chatting tends to be more free-flowing, interesting, stimulating, etc. than the more "language-lesson" nature of the Dutch exchange. So in a way, the native minority language learners may have an advantage in having interesting conversation in the major language, but have to endure the more elementary conversation in their own language. And minor language learners have a big advantage if their target language is another minor language, where the opportunity to have a balanced exchange is much better.

[arthaey]

You might want to add a place for people to add what their "other" country is; we're a very multi-national forum here.