If you know me (and most of you don’t, so I don’t know why I started my post like this), you’d know that I am a big fan of languages. In fact, I speak about 5 of them. I speak English, Mandarin and Malay fluently, and I’m pretty okay with Japanese. By that, I mean that I’d be able to live in Japan with very little problems, but would struggle with detailed descriptions, talking about politics and philosophical nonsense… I also have strange holes in my vocabulary (For instance, I don’t know what “eyelashes” are in Japanese). In addition, I have a limited grasp of Korean and Cantonese, for I had to stop my Korean studies for various reasons and my dad never really bothered to teach me Cantonese. Boo. Languages and language-learning are a big part of my life for some reason I can’t comprehend, and it has come in handy in the most unlikely situations, such as eavesdropping on inane conversations on the bus, overhearing people saying nasty things about you, or using it as a party trick to impress people (“WHOA YOU SPEAK SO MANY LANGUAGES U R SO KOOL!”), but I digress.

ANYWAY. The reason I’m rambling this time is to bring your attention to a resource that you might not have heard about. Maybe you have, I don’t know. But if you are seeking to improve your skills in a particular language, you might want to check out UBC Tandem. UBC Tandem is basically a student-run program that pairs you up with a native speaker of the language you are learning. Let’s say I want to improve my Korean, and my first language is English; I’d get paired up with a native Korean speaker looking to improve their English skills. Pairs normally meet up during regular hours in the Global Lounge, but if your schedule is a little less forgiving, you can always choose to meet independently.

I actually decided to give this program a test drive this past semester. After all, I had nothing to lose. I was very, very shy and hesitant at first, but I made my fingers fill out the application form and send it off before I could overthink it. Really. My heart was racing when I sent off my application. I was afraid of being paired up with a rando and having to MAKE CONVERSATION, OF ALL THINGS, but I can honestly say that I have no regrets. I got paired up with a young Japanese girl from Osaka, who was in UBC studying in the English Language Institute, and my weekly meetings with her were some of the highlights of my second year. I didn’t suddenly become really good, but I certainly gained a lot more confidence and became a lot better at expressing myself, whereas before I used to stutter and spend lots of time conjugating verbs in my head. It’s not just about the language either; you really get to know someone from another culture (one that you might be studying/really curious about too!). If you’re really worried about making conversation with someone you don’t really know/might not have anything in common with, Tandem creates lesson plans every week so that you have a general idea of what to discuss. In my case, we just talked about whatever we wanted.

Of course, I’ve heard stories from other people who didn’t have such great experiences as well. A friend of mine had a particularly flaky partner who would never show up for meetings…. so there’s that. But honestly, what’s the worst that could happen?

So er, if you speak a second language and you’re hoping to IMPROVE YO SKILLZ AND LEVEL UP, this might be something worth checking out! /end endorsement

*Update: So apparently, eyelashes are まつ毛*