Trying Italki (a language exchange site) for the First Time

After I learned Italian for two years, or several other languages for that matter, I have amassed a sophisticated system for acquiring languages. I had a lot of fun; that is undeniable, but it is a self-obsessed kind of fun that stems from stimulating my sense of discipline. As long as I accomplish a task with high efficacy, I feel that pleasure, even though this ple

asure has no essential rapports with language or culture itself.

Tonight I had a different kind of fun. I signed up on Italki and found an Italian partner who is learning Chinese. Since he just began his chinese studies, I could talk in Italian throughout; whereas, while we talked in Chinese, we talked about Chinese culture and language, so each got what we wanted.

We exchanged jokes; exchanged films and musics; tested our culture stereotypes. I got, from all these, an interactive, talkative kind of pleasure that my ivory tower of sophisticated methods could not bring, nor can compare the efficacy with.

It must sound awfully banal, but this is what learning another culture and language is supposed to be like: to possess and express that innocent, genuine curiosity, and to bring forth that curiosity in an intensive interaction with someone from somewhere else.

第一次用italki这个网站做视频语言交换：

我学意大利语两年了，每天早上赖床时，或者走路时，会听听音频，看看书，但是过去两年只有三次真正说意大利语的机会，所以前几天就上了italki，寻找到一个想学中文的意大利人，做搭档。

因为他是中文初学者，我们在两小时视频时，我可以全程说意大利语，然后他纠正我每个句子，但是我们讨论的内容是中国文化和中文，这样我们就可以各取所需。

我学外语一直都很快乐，也发明了非常复杂和精细的学习系统，但这快乐都是在自律感和成就感里的自娱自乐 —— 其实只要我能完成一个任务，坚持不懈，本身就有乐趣。虽然一种跟语言本身无关的乐趣。

但今晚两个小时视频后，我感觉到了那种原始的，互动的乐趣。 交换笑话，交换音乐和电影，测验固有的文化偏见。这乐趣是我复杂的学习系统给我不能给我的，也不及其效率。

就算这听起来像是在概括小学阅读的中心思想，但还是说好了：了解一个文化和语言，最天然，纯真的途径还就是那颗好奇心了，然后带着那颗好奇心，进入一场激烈的对话和交换，和这个他时，他地，来的他人。