Mandarin speaking partners

SiYao
 June 15, 2009, 04:54 AM posted in General Discussion

Hello - looking to join a S.F. Bay area group of mandarin learners - intermediate or upper int. for fun practice, vocab building, grammar correction. I can do Skype or meet up somewhere in San Francisco or Daly City.

Si Yao

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tvan
 June 15, 2009, 12:55 PM

Si yao, here are some possibilities:

  • Enchanted Moment in San Francisco.  I've never officially joined their group, but it's in your neighborhood.  They seem to emphasize having fun and learning Chinese in the broader sense (i.e. different dialects and culture/food, not just Mandarin).  I crashed a kayaking event there last month.  Lots of fun, mixed ages and levels, Mandarin, Cantonese, Toisanhua, etc.
  • Comrades of Chairman Mao, across the Bay in Berkeley.  Never been, but it seems like it's less active.
  • Fremont Chinese Language and Culture, is a bit farther away but, is well organized by level and includes three Cpoddies: myself, Obitodkenobi and, the star and organizer, Jamestheron.  If you don't drive, it's also easily accessible via BART.
I'm a fairly new (transient) transplant to the Bay Area, but those are a couple of ideas. There are lots of other groups (e.g. young Chinese professionals, mothers, etc.); maybe some other Bay Area poddies have some insights there.  

 

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jiazhougirl
 February 24, 2010, 09:35 PM

Another idea is to find a program that offers English language assistance to foreigners, grad students, etc. and ask if they'd set up a language exchange between yourself and a Mandarin speaker. I've been doing this for about 3 years via English in Action at the YWCA in Berkeley. Jane, the program coordinator, has been awesome at coordinating language partners. I've really enjoyed meeting all of my partners so far.

http://www.ywca-berkeley.org/eia.html

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soltrain5
 March 11, 2010, 11:24 PM

Tvan, thanks for the info about that meetup group - it looks like it's very active!