How can you find English speakers to talk with?

How can you find English speakers to talk with?

 

One complaint I often hear from English learners is that it's hard to find people to practice with.
I agree that it can be hard. You have to change your habits to put yourself in new situations where you get more English practice. It takes a little bit of bravery. You have to be willing to speak with strangers, even though it may be a little uncomfortable.
But where do you actually find English speakers? Here are a few of my ideas — some simple and some a little crazy.

• Go to the site Meetup.com and search for an English-based group in your city that matches one of your interests.
• Try a language exchange site like Verbling.com.
• If you're living or studying abroad in an English-speaking country, take a class on something other than English: an exercise class, cooking class, accounting, computer programming, etc.
• Hire a tutor.
• Advertise some service, like babysitting, guiding tours, doing translations, etc. to English speakers in your area.
• Print a T-shirt that says "I speak English" and wear it around everywhere. Maybe another English speaker will comment on it and you can strike up a conversation with them.
• Go to a classified ads site like Craigslist.com and look for people who are advertising things. Call them up and ask them questions about whatever they're advertising.
• Go to a bar or club that you've heard a lot of English-speaking foreigners go to.

But this list is way too short and not nearly creative enough. I need your help! How have you found English-speaking friends or language exchange partners in the past? What else could you do to create opportunities for yourself to practice? The more creative the idea, the better!

Long Distance Relationships

“I've personally found that long-distance relationships are really hard to make work.”

A friend has met a girl that he really likes, but she lives far away. He asks what you think. You've had relationships with people who lived far away, but they didn't last long.

I've personally found that long-distance relationships are really hard to make work.

I personally (think/feel/believe/etc.)

When you're expressing an opinion that other people might disagree with, you can introduce the opinion with "personally". For example:

I personally feel that eating meat is unnecessary and cruel to animals.

I've personally never liked going out to bars and things like that.

I've found that (sentence)

Use this phrase to introduce a conclusion that you've come to based on your experience. For example:

I've found that slicing it in half first makes it a lot easier to dice.

I've found that buying high-quality clothes to begin with saves me money in the long run because it lasts longer.

a long-distance relationship

A "long-distance relationship" is when you're dating someone who lives far away from you. When you're in a long-distance relationship, you don't get to see your sweetheart very often, so it's difficult.

make (something) work

Imagine that you have a slightly difficult situation in life. For example, imagine that you and your spouse both work long hours and also have to take care of your children. If you try hard to live with the problem, you are "making it work".