I Downloaded the Tinder for Languages

As many of you know, I pretty much live in the middle of nowhere. It’s as if whoever was in charge decided to build a school and a five-story apartment building in the middle of a field. I’m not sure why that’s where they have me living, but I’m making do. Plus, on the positive side, my co-teacher informed me that after completing my first contract year, I’ll be able to move to Seonghwan, the nearest town. Keyword being “town”. It’s by no means a city, but it will have grocery stores, restaurants, and the train station all within walking distance. I’m not asking for much here! But I digress.

 

Naturally, living in the middle of a field, there aren’t many people around. People sometimes ask if I have made friends with any locals. Guys, I rarely SEE locals, let alone strike up a conversation with them. Outside of the teachers at my school, I don’t know a human being within 100 miles of me. Jacob and Jay, I think you may be a little closer than that. If you’re reading this, just know I threw that in there only for effect. My girlfriend and other expat friends are scattered across Korea. So while I may have a conversation or two with my co-teacher, who speaks very basic English, it’s safe to say I don’t have any friends to hang out with during the week. Now that I’ve taken care of my basic needs (located grocery store, joined gym, purchased moped lol), I set out to meet some friends. It’s kind of like the first day of kindergarten, except I don’t know how to properly communicate with any of the other students. Should be a breeze, right?

Tinder for Languages - yes, it's real

 

My mission brought me to HelloTalk, the Tinder for language exchange. HelloTalk connects native English speakers to locals hoping to practice their English. While the app is immensely popular in South Korea, it can be used for virtually any language. The result is an app that looks and sounds a lot like Tinder — with a slightly different focus. Not only can you chat with locals in the area, you can search by age, gender, and native language. When you find someone you’d like to reach out to, you simply click on their profile and shoot them a message. Once in a conversation, there’s a plethora of language learning tools you can use to communicate. Messages can be automatically translated between languages, and you can utilize voice memos to practice and correct your pronunciation. Overall, it’s extremely useful, and I was very excited to get started. Not only could I meet some much-needed friends, but also touch up my beginner Korean in the meantime. Win-win.

 

Shooting my shot

 

I hastily downloaded the app, with the promise of friends on the horizon. I had heard about HelloTalk months ago at orientation, but had stored it in my brain as “useful information I don’t need right now”. That thought resurfaced at the right time, because I am in desperate need of local friends not named “Alexa”. Other teachers who had used the app noted that while the focus was language exchange, often times these “meetups” were seen as dates. I made sure to clarify on my profile what I was looking for…(Valentina, see below).

 

 

 

Upon first opening the app, I immediately did a search in my area. I wanted to know if there was any hope, ANYONE out there I could connect with. Luckily, the search was promising. I found several locals in neighboring cities such as Cheonan and Pyeongtaek who I could reach out to. Not only that, I was able to locate a handful or foreigners like myself living nearby. I shot my shot and sent some “Hi!” stickers around (the HelloTalk equivalent of a facebook poke).

 

Not gonna lie, I’d say maybe 30% responded. BUT, it’s only been a day, and a “Hi!” is the lowest effort level message you can initiate. Sending it at least bookmarked interesting people in my messages that I can circle back to with a better intro message. Regardless, I got a couple bites. I could already smell the friendship in the air. Things were looking up.

 

Early successes

 

First, I chatted with Taylor, an English teacher living in Cheonan, about 30 minutes from me. As luck would have it, Taylor is from Charleston and attended the University of South Carolina. Small world, right? He teaches at a private school, meaning his hours are something like 1:30pm-9:30pm. I can imagine that’s quite different, and it was neat hearing his perspective after a couple years on the job. He, like me, was looking to connect with friends in the area. We exchanged kakaoTalk information, which is basically the Tinder equivalent of moving to iMessage. He and I are going to grab dinner on Sunday night, so HelloTalk is off to a solid start.

 

Next, I spoke with Hyun, a Korean university student living in Pyeongtaek. Hyun loves to travel, and is looking to meet foreign friends to practice his English with. We agreed that we could help each other, and he offered me some restaurant recommendations that I need to try. The Korean Buffet he recommended caught my attention, and I will absolutely be checking that out (unlimited food for 6,000 won! which is about $5). He informed me that in two months he moves to a new city in Korea, so our friendship potential is slightly capped. However, he offered to show me around Pyeongtaek, so it will be neat to check out the city from a local’s perspective.

 

Promise on the horizon

 

While it’s only been two days on HelloTalk, I’d say I already have a couple solid leads. I’m still scouting potential friends on the daily, and am taking this opportunity to practice some Korean phrases as well. From food and transportation to friendship and social fulfillment, the challenges of life in Korea have gotten more complex. However, that means I’m making progress. Each day feels more and more comfortable and brings a new level of excitement. Four months and a popular Korean app later, I’m making all the necessary moves to finally feel comfortable. Despite all the challenges I’ve faced, so far, so good.