A frequent complaint by Chinese-speaking English learners in Singapore is that they don’t get enough practice talking in English, since such a large number of locals are bilingual. I feel that you really find as many opportunities to use English as you look for. As a student in the UK and Australia, I noticed that many students from non English-speaking countries tend to stick to people with the same first language as theirs. This is only natural, but it does explain why many of them do not make much improvement in their English even after years of study in the UK or Australia.

Bilinguals tend to switch to the language they feel is most appropriate for the situation, so it’s not surprising that they would choose to speak Mandarin to you if they know you’re from China. If you want to practise your English, then you have to speak English to them, even if they continue to talk to you in Mandarin. If necessary, explain to them that you want to improve your English. I think most people would be sympathetic.

That said, if you really want somebody you can practise English with regularly, consider chatting online. Today, I found a networking service, italki, that connects people who are learning another language with speakers of that language.

The idea is to find a language partner who wants to “exchange” languages with you. So if you want to learn English, and you speak Mandarin, you could look for somebody who speaks English and wants to learn Mandarin. It’s a great way to make friends online too.

You can also find “study buddies” – people who are learning the same language as you – whom you can share what you’ve learnt with. Study buddies can also keep each other motivated.

Another thing you can do on italki is to find a language teacher who gives online classes. The teachers don’t do this for free, but after taking a class, you can rate the teacher so that other italki members will have an idea of the quality of his/her classes.

You can choose to communicate with your new friend by e-mail, live text chat or live voice chat (e.g. Skype). You can also offer to meet up in person, but I wouldn’t really advise that you do that.

The italki website is not difficult to use, but if you’re confused, it’s currently also available in Chinese and Spanish, with more languages to come. Scroll right to the bottom of the page and you’ll find the links there.

italki was co-founded by Chinese entertainer, David Wu, whom you might know. You can find his blog here. David speaks English, Mandarin and Cantonese fluently.