Intercambio de idiomas / Language Exchange

[TheMetetron]

Does anyone have any experience with these?

From what I understand, it is basically two ordinary people getting together for some coffee and spending half of the time speaking one language and the other half speaking another.

For example, in Barcelona I'd get together with someone who is a native Spanish/Catalan speaker and half the time we would talk in Spanish or Catalan and the other half we would speak in English. The idea is my Spanish improves and so does his English. It also seems like a great way to get to know people as well and maybe make some friends.

I am thinking of doing this a few hours a week while in Barcelona instead of continuing with a tutor. Thoughts? It seems like both people need to have at least an intermediate understanding of the other persons language or it will simply be too hard, but that's the only downside I see.

An example of some ads for them in Barcelona:

http://www.loquo.com/cs/comunidad/in...de-idiomas/103