By Rosie Cao/ Edited by College of Management

The best authentic way to learn a language is having conversation with native speakers. As a learner, the more conversation practice you get, the better you will eventually be.

The question is how to get that conversation into practice? Language Partner event, held by the Student Association of International Programs (SA), is one of the answers.

On the 1st October 2021 through Google Meet, SA hosted the Language Partner event to connect the IBMBA and GHRM MBA international students and local Taiwanese students. The aim of the event is not only to provide conversation practice but also to introduce one’s culture to the other student.

The Language Partner’s procedure is simple: an international student and a Taiwanese student who is the partner need to meet up from time to time to practice speaking in each other's language at least one time per week.

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>There were 37 students to join the event and the majority of the participants were the first-year students. It was an event including participants from IBMBA & GHRM MBA and other institutes or departments under the College of Management. The event also had 3 students from another college at NSYSU. Half of the applicants were Taiwanese and the other half came from various countries including France, Singapore, Vietnam, India, Germany, and so on. It was absolutely a multi-nation activity in which participants can experience cross-cultural concepts.

Incredibly, besides English and Mandarin, the participants wish to exchange other languages including French, Japanese, Korean, and German. French and Japanese are highly preferred as exchange languages for Taiwanese students. On the other hand, International students show a big interest in learning Taiwanese Mandarin (國語). Based on the application and special request, the SA team successfully matched 17 pairs of language partners.

At the beginning of the event, the students listened to the story of Rosie, a Vietnamese second-year GHRM MBA student, and her partner 徐立宇, a student from the College of Management. She had not only one language exchange friend but another 5 partners who were mutual friends. “More than languages, it’s a true and genuine friendship” – Rosie said.

Lima, a senior GHRM MBA student from India, also shared his experience of his 1st time doing a language exchange with Henry, a student from the Department of Finance, “Classes are short and we only learn what the teachers teach us, but in language exchange, we can learn what we want to - it's more flexible”

Lima and his Language Partner (Henry)

After listening to the story of 2 senior students, participants had been told how Language Partner works during the semester. The exchange will be at least 2 hours a week no matter if it runs online or offline. Students were encouraged to set the topic before meeting each other to enhance the quality of Language Exchange. One meet-up can be divided into 3 sections: 40 minutes of English, 40 minutes of Chinese and the rest of the time is for languages they both have passion for.

The Kahoot game was the last activity at this event. The participants answer 12 questions related to languages and the top 10 winners were awarded a Family Mart voucher under IBMBA, GHRM MBA, and College of Management’s support.

The event is successful and meaningful, bringing benefits and effects to not only Taiwanese students but international students. Following the success of the former Language Partner event, SA keeps the traditions to run language exchanges events and supports newcomers to adapt to the new environment. The SA team wishes to match more and more students in the future events and encourage the students to have more cross-cultural experiences and interactions.