Maintaining conversation exchange

[Severine]

I thought I could still add a bit of my own experiences here. I have tried a few language exchanges, but basically just stuck with one person (for almost 6 years now) and otherwise language cafés.

You're not the first person on this site I've heard mention language cafés. Please forgive a probably foolish question, but are you talking about a café/restaurant with a language learning theme as part of its business model, or about a language meetup organized periodically that happens to take place at a café?

I've been to plenty of the latter, whereas I have only wished (fruitlessly, thus far) for the former to exist. I would love a local café where all the patrons were there to practice different languages. Does this exist where you live? Does it exist anywhere?

[tiia]

I thought I could still add a bit of my own experiences here. I have tried a few language exchanges, but basically just stuck with one person (for almost 6 years now) and otherwise language cafés.

You're not the first person on this site I've heard mention language cafés. Please forgive a probably foolish question, but are you talking about a café/restaurant with a language learning theme as part of its business model, or about a language meetup organized periodically that happens to take place at a café?

I've been to plenty of the latter, whereas I have only wished (fruitlessly, thus far) for the former to exist. I would love a local café where all the patrons were there to practice different languages. Does this exist where you live? Does it exist anywhere?

The language cafés I've been to, or that I know of, are usually organised once a week, some once a month. I prefer the ones in a bar, but there are also some in the libraries or other places. Some are for specific languages, others for all the languages and you just talk whatever language you find another speaker for.
The details how it's organised always depends on the language café. So there will be differences.

As an example the current one I go to is in a bar on a monday evening (because then there would be less "normal" customers). There are tables for different languages, usually marked with a sign. Anyone can take a sign or make a new one. One can even take a sign and sit at another table to signal that they would like to speak a certain language, so no one has to sit alone, if there's no one else who speaks that language. You can change tables as much as you want.
For Finnish we even have a tutor that is paid through some funding as far as I know. Otherwise there will be learners and natives. There is no guarantee a certain language will be spoken, because it always depends who's coming. A lot of the people are regulars, so you can get to know them better over time. Otherwise I have never experienced groups that are so welcoming to newcomers as those language cafés.
Most of the tables at that bar are actually used by the language café. On holidays there may be fewer people (easter monday only 7 through the whole evening), but the group is big enough that people just show up as long as the bar is open on that day.

If you have questions, feel free to ask.

[Severine]

I thought I could still add a bit of my own experiences here. I have tried a few language exchanges, but basically just stuck with one person (for almost 6 years now) and otherwise language cafés.

You're not the first person on this site I've heard mention language cafés. Please forgive a probably foolish question, but are you talking about a café/restaurant with a language learning theme as part of its business model, or about a language meetup organized periodically that happens to take place at a café?

I've been to plenty of the latter, whereas I have only wished (fruitlessly, thus far) for the former to exist. I would love a local café where all the patrons were there to practice different languages. Does this exist where you live? Does it exist anywhere?

The language cafés I've been to, or that I know of, are usually organised once a week, some once a month. I prefer the ones in a bar, but there are also some in the libraries or other places. Some are for specific languages, others for all the languages and you just talk whatever language you find another speaker for.
The details how it's organised always depends on the language café. So there will be differences.

As an example the current one I go to is in a bar on a monday evening (because then there would be less "normal" customers). There are tables for different languages, usually marked with a sign. Anyone can take a sign or make a new one. One can even take a sign and sit at another table to signal that they would like to speak a certain language, so no one has to sit alone, if there's no one else who speaks that language. You can change tables as much as you want.
For Finnish we even have a tutor that is paid through some funding as far as I know. Otherwise there will be learners and natives. There is no guarantee a certain language will be spoken, because it always depends who's coming. A lot of the people are regulars, so you can get to know them better over time. Otherwise I have never experienced groups that are so welcoming to newcomers as those language cafés.
Most of the tables at that bar are actually used by the language café. On holidays there may be fewer people (easter monday only 7 through the whole evening), but the group is big enough that people just show up as long as the bar is open on that day.

If you have questions, feel free to ask.

Okay, thanks so much for the clarification. I've been to several such gatherings, but I have never heard them called a language café before, so I am pleased to have learned another term for them. I have always heard them referred to as language meetups or gatherings. The ones you attend sound particularly vibrant - sadly, I am not in the neighbourhood, or I would drop by.

My dream is a permanent language-themed café: a bar or coffee shop or tea house where people can come at all times, every day of the week, to meet up with people and practice languages. Perhaps even with some paid tutors employed on-staff. But perhaps there wouldn't be a sufficient number of language enthusiasts to support such a business.