Our free service aims to encourage people from different languages to share their culture and language skills. This system allows[1] national and international students at the UPV/EHU to interact and to supplement the language learning in class; an opportunity to improve oral skills and at the same time to develop intercultural competence.

The Multilingualism Unit will put the people interesting in participating in contact with each other; it will then be up to them to arrange their meetups. 

The aim of the programme is to provide the opportunity to improve communication skills in a foreign language by connecting people who master a language and wish to share their skills with speakers of another language they are interested in; while at the same time developing their intercultural competence. 

 Requirements

How to participate

When we match a compatible person with your language needs, we will put both of you in contact via email with the details (email address and telephone) of the other person to set up the Tandem. It will then be up to you to contact each other and arrange your meetups. 

You can register at two points of the academic year:

• In September-October

• In January-February

Pursuant to Article 13 of EU Regulation 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, we must inform you that the data will become part of a file that is the responsibility of the UPV/EHU. You can consult the management processing of your data at the following link: (https://www.ehu.eus/es/web/idazkaritza-nagusia/-/tg0105)

If you want to amend or withdraw your consent for your personal details to be processed, you will need to fill in the relevant document that you can access through the following link: https://www.ehu.eus/es/web/idazkaritza-nagusia/eskubideak-egikaritzeko-ereduak 

If you want to leave Tandem, you will need to send us an email at info.welcomecentre@ehu.es.

How it works

• The Tandem couples mutually agree the date to start and end the meetups, the number of language meetups, the length and frequency as per their goals and availability. The Multilingual Unit recommends that a regular schedule, for example, a weekly hour-long meetup during a term, be agreed.
• At the end of the exchange, the participants will have to fill in a survey that will be emailed to them in order to improve the programme. 
• If a member of the Tandem wishes to change partner, they can contact the Multilingual Unit (info.welcomecentre@ehu.es), which will try to find a new partner.
• Communication with the Multilingual Unit will be by email and you will need to provide an address that you regularly use, preferably one of the university (ikasle.ehu.eus).
• Certificates of participating in the Tandem language exchanges will not be issued. 
• The UPV/EHU is not liable for any type of incident that may occur during the Tandem language exchanges. 

Some useful tips

• The time to be spent using each language should be established from the start to make sure that the two participants will have the same opportunity to practice the language they wish to improve. 
• During the time allocated to a specific language, participants should try to make sure that all the communication is in that language to make sure they get the most out of practising the language.  
• A topic to talk about (for example, participants can get ideas from the media) should also be chosen and goals set for the session.  
• Picking up on all the errors a person makes when speaking can disrupt the fluency of the conversation; the participants can therefore agree beforehand which type of errors they each want corrected or when prefer to be corrected (at the time, at the end of the interaction, etc.).
• The meetups can be held at different places (café, park, cultural events, museums, sports events, civic centre…). Looking for interests in common and changing venue can make the exchange more entertaining.


• The interactions are not only focused on the linguistic aspect; each person comes from a different sociocultural environment and it is an opportunity to be enriched and learn to cope in different environments. The linguistic partnerships can therefore have different ways of interacting (non-verbal language, cultural references, expressing emotions, taboos...). 

[1] This first pilot programme is only for students, but the Tandem service is expected to be extended to the whole university community in future editions.