A community, not a feed

What the community is

TalkSibi is a community of adults practising languages with each other — 480+ of them — rather than an audience consuming lessons. Members are learners and native speakers at the same time, because almost everyone here speaks something somebody else wants.

The centre of it is the community wall: real members learning the language you speak, filterable by who is online right now and who is nearby. From there it is chat, voice and video calls, live voice parties and games — all the ways people actually end up friends rather than contacts.

Why it is 18+, and photo-checked

Two deliberate constraints. TalkSibi is adults only, and every profile is photo-checked before it can message anybody. Both cost us sign-ups. They buy something worth more: a room where people are willing to speak badly in front of strangers, which is the entire point and the first thing lost when a platform stops caring who is in it.

Report and Block sit on every screen — profile, chat, call and party. Calls are not recorded and parties are not monitored, so reporting is how anything gets seen; reports are confidential and read by a person. The community guidelines spell out what is expected, and they are written around the actual failure mode of a language community: not spectacular abuse, but the sarcastic reply that makes someone stop speaking for six months.

Fair moderation, and why we are odd about it

TalkSibi was built by a long-time Tandem user who was permanently banned with no reason given and nobody to appeal to — years of conversations gone. That is the origin of this product and it set the rules here: if we act on an account, the person is told which rule was broken, and a human reads the appeal. No permanent decision is made by an automated system on its own.

It sounds like a small policy detail. For anyone who has lost an account they cared about, it is the whole reason to trust a new one.

How to actually become part of it

The members who get the most out of TalkSibi tend to do the same few things. They fill in a real profile, because a blank one gets ignored on every platform ever built. They help as much as they learn — answering someone in your own native language is the cheapest goodwill available, and it comes back. They show up in live parties regularly enough to be recognised, which is how a stranger becomes a regular. And they say what they want from a partner, including how much correcting, instead of hoping it emerges.

Who is here, and how it is kept safe

TalkSibi is for adults aged 18 and over. Every profile is photo-checked before it can message anyone, and Report and Block are on every screen — profile, chat, call and party. Calls are not recorded and parties are not monitored, which is why reporting matters; reports are confidential and a person reads them. The community guidelines set out what is expected and what happens when someone ignores it.

What it costs

TalkSibi is free to use, and no card is needed. Unlimited chat, unlimited voice calls, the language games, the live language parties, clubs, partner matching and the IELTS and TOEFL material are all free — there is no paid plan and nothing to unlock. Translation and the AI coach have a daily allowance, because each of those costs money every time it is used. Full detail on pricing.

Where it runs

TalkSibi works in any modern browser on a phone, tablet or laptop — nothing to install — and there are apps for iOS and Android if you would rather have one. You can also add the site to your home screen and it behaves like an app.

Join the community

Fill in a profile, say what you speak and what you are learning, and answer somebody in your own language. Join TalkSibi free — 18+, photo-checked, no card needed.

Keep reading

Online language exchange · Live language parties · Live language practice · Community guidelines · About TalkSibi · Finding a partner who replies

Common questions