Language Exchange Ireland: Ditch the Phones and Whiteboards and Learn a Language Through Community

Language Exchange Ireland is an organisation that has been running for over thirteen years, bringing the seemingly obvious but often forgotten solution to language learning for Dublin’s international community: chatting. Taking place at River Bar every Monday and Thursday, and Burlington Hotel every Wednesday from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. every time, for seven quid (six with a student card) you can attend a friendly, structured meetup to practice and improve target languages with native speakers in Dublin. 

Language Exchange Ireland creates an atmosphere which capitalises on the sociable nature of this city where all levels are welcome and where in each round, you speak a few minutes of English and then the same in your target language until you swap partners and keep the flow going! Language Exchange Ireland creates a vibe without nerves, stress, restriction or disorder as they have hosts on site to keep timing and help the session run smoothly and there is no pressure on mistakes like if it were class because it is informal with everybody in the same boat, just wanting to meet new people! 

If the conversation ever lags (which is rare because it's kept short and snappy with you always meeting new people) there are conversation topics on the table to help! However, you can each take the conversation wherever you want to go with it and the best thing is, no exam at the end! As a native speaker, you get the chance to network with the people from over sixty different countries who attend these events and have the opportunity of making a difference and having fun chatting about Irish culture and sharing it in a worthwhile way. Meanwhile, for the international community, it is the perfect opportunity to see how your learning holds up with a native speaker. You build confidence, use language in a fun, social and real-life use, learn cultures and different accents and if you come to five events, you get the sixth one free. 

It’s things like these that remain so important to support! In the age of AI, more and more businesses will cut costs and corners by trying to advertise language learning through technology and AI is the best way! But in reality, doing lots of online language games which give you dopamine, keep you hooked and most importantly, keep you alone is not the best way to learn a language – you just learn fragmented parts of it and you build no real confidence. Language Exchange Ireland emphasises the humanistic element of learning a language, as many have said before them, they say, simply, clearly, and truthfully: the best way to learn a language is to speak it. 

Check out @Languageexchangeireland for more information!

Written By: Ben Lynch @ben_lynch__

Edited By: Kirsten Baldwin, @teddys_bookshelf