Learning tips
Learning from your eTandem partner

2. Learning from your partner's help
through comprehension aids, explanations and information

If you do not understand something, you can ask your eTandem partner to:

• translate it into your native language - he learns from this, too
• express the same thing with different words
• give additional examples, explanations or background information

Here are some concrete tips:

Written eTandem

(e-mail, letters, instant messaging, etc.)

• Your eTandem partner can't answer your questions until he writes his next message. Therefore, it is a good idea to start out by using your dictionary; certain things will become clearer after reading the message more than once.
  

  But be sure to ask your partner if you are unsure if you have understood everything correctly or if you need additional explanations.

• When you explain to your partner what you have not understood, you can naturally also use your native language.

Oral eTandem

(telephone, video conferencing, etc.)

• Interrupt your eTandem partner if you have not heard or understood something correctly. This is the only way you can learn something new and simultaneously make sure that you can keep up with the conversation.
• Ask questions (it is fine if you do so in your native language) like:
  "Could you please repeat that?"
  "What does that mean in English?"
  "Is that the same as ... in English?"
  "Can that be used in other contexts?"

Once in a while you will not understand something because, for example, you are not familiar with the country-specific connotations: ask your eTandem partner about them.

Your eTandem partner may not be able to answer all of your questions, yet you can still learn new things from all of his explanations.