40 Language Exchange Conversation Starters That Are Not "How Are You?"

Most language exchanges die in the first five minutes, and almost always for the same reason: two polite people asking each other how they are. Here are questions that get an actual answer — sorted by how much language you need to handle them.

Beginner — short answers, present tense

• What did you eat today?
• What time do you usually wake up?
• Do you live in a big city or a small town?
• What is the weather like right now where you are?
• How many languages do people speak in your family?
• What is your favourite thing to drink?
• Do you prefer mornings or nights?
• What is on your desk right now?
• What did you do last weekend?
• Do you have any pets?

Getting comfortable — past tense and opinions

• What is something tourists always get wrong about your country?
• What was your first job?
• Which app do you use most, and why?
• What is a food from your country that foreigners find strange?
• Tell me about the last thing that made you laugh.
• What is a normal Sunday for you?
• What music were you listening to at 15?
• Have you ever got lost somewhere? What happened?
• What is the best thing you have watched recently?
• What do people in your city complain about?

Confident — abstract, argumentative, fun

• What is a rule in your country that people ignore?
• Is it better to be early or on time?
• What is overrated where you live?
• What would you change about how your language is taught?
• What word in your language has no good translation?
• What is something you believed as a child and later found out was nonsense?
• Would you rather be famous or rich?
• What is a tradition you would keep and one you would drop?
• What is the most useless thing you know a lot about?
• What does success look like where you are from?

Questions about the language itself

• What mistake do foreigners always make in your language?
• What is a slang word I should not use with my boss?
• How do you say something is very good, informally?
• What is the hardest sound in your language for you to teach?
• Which accent is easiest to understand for a learner?
• What is a polite way to disagree?
• How do you answer the phone?
• What do you say when someone sneezes?
• How do people text — do they use full words?
• What is a phrase you use every single day?

How to use these

Pick three before the call, not thirty. Ask a follow-up before moving on — the second question is where the real conversation is. And if the answer comes back in your language rather than theirs, gently swap back; the point is that both of you struggle a little.

New to this? Start with what a language exchange actually is, then find someone on the community wall.