For those who use HelloTalk or similar apps, do you call people & how does it go?

I’ve used HelloTalk in 2016 and on and off since then but I have not tried to use the call functionality until a few weeks ago.

So I decided to give it a try and oh boy lol.

My Japanese typing and reading skills are pretty good but when it comes to listening and speaking; I have near 0 practice. Anyhow, I decided that if I was going to improve it, I would have to start using it.

**1st Call with a stranger (male):**

He knows, i’d say intermediate english so he understands casual chat quite well. It was my first call so it was akward but he has a great personality so we were able to connect about a lot of things. The way we practice English and Japanese is that we will find basic conversation topics and try to ask eachother questions. It was rough for me forming sentences in real time and not via a keyboard or phone but overall the call went ok and we played some Apex Legends together afterwards. He’s going to visit my city next month so we decided to become english partners once he gets here. We spoke for about an hour and a half. We still talk every few days each week 🙂

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Before the second call, it’s been about 2 weeks. I spent time practicing my listening by actually consuming Japanese media as I never watch anything in Japanese. Silly I know but it actually helped. I watch street interviews and casual chat videos on Youtube. I felt like I boosted my listening.

**2nd Call with a stranger (female):**

This person was quite enthusiatic about learning english. Her english skills were beginner so I have to rely on myself being able to form sentences in Japanese and correct her using Japanese. It was a very fun conversation. I thought this was quite challenging as her English was so basic but she still knows basic words which helped out. She is also super playful which made it enjoyable. We spoke for about 2 hours. We still call each other about twice a week. Because of my first call (the male) had pretty dang good English, **I stupidly assumed everyone would have English skills like that. Oh boy was I wrong.**

**3rd call with a stranger (a different female):**

This call happened 2 days ago. We have a lot in common through texts so I decided we should call eachother and she agreed. She said her english wasnt too good but **MY GOD** I don’t think she knew any english. This was the first call that someone answered and spoke ONLY in Japanese. In my head, I was like “oh shit” because my Japanese listening isn’t up there yet.

Anyways after an awkward 5 minutes in the start of the call trying to adjust to what she was saying, it became more smooth. My listening practice really did improve because I was able to hold the call for an hour long before I started work. It did feel nice but super scary because I was really speaking for such a long time in a different language.

We did the same stuff as the other calls, I correct her and she corrects me (although she said my spoken japanese was fine??).

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**Moral of this post:**

I feel that everyone should actually try communicating with Japanese people using these apps and NOT by only text messages. Texting only made my reading and writing good. It does not help your listening and speaking!

I’ve been learning Japanese on and off since 2014 and I have never spoke with another Japanese person let alone called them. Don’t make the same mistake as me, fortunately I have experience in grammar and what not so I just need to improve my ears.

I understand people are shy, nervous and so am I. Before each call, I get extremly nervous because not only am I speaking with a stranger but I am expected to be able to communincate somewhat in their language.

Putting yourself out there will help you improve the most. Calling costs you nothing and there are tons of people who are down to have a chat.

I made 3 new friends who are eager to call me again and again even though we’re all learning.