Hi friends, hope we’re all keeping well.
A few days ago, I was looking into the annual ‘Polyglot Gathering’ and ‘Polyglot Conference’ events. Both are essentially annual gatherings for ‘polyglots’; people who can speak 4+ languages fluently. The requirement for a ‘true polyglot’ can differ from person to person, but the general idea of one is a person who can speak many languages at a fairly advanced level.
I was sulking a bit over the fact I couldn’t make it to the Polyglot Gathering being held this month in Poland, since I had a research internship going on and I just discovered it last minute. I’ve never been to a super large gathering of people also interested in learning foreign languages like me, so I felt like this was a huge missed opportunity.
However, by the coincidence and grace of a short Instagram ad that was shown to me a few minutes after I realised I couldn’t make it to Poland, I discovered that there was actually a language exchange event being held twice a week in a pub super close to Trinity College in Dublin. From the description on the website, it was a pretty casual and laid-back event that allowed people to come together and practice their target languages, meet new people and generally have a good time. It was held at 6:30pm every Tuesday and Wednesday, and would you look at that, I’m currently on campus and it’s nearing 6pm. Might as well go and see what’s it like!
Walking towards the pub with a Russian Pimselur lesson playing in my headphones, I didn’t really know what to expect. On one hand, it would be pretty embarrassing if it was just like 3 or 4 people chilling in the bar, more focussed on downing pints rather than practising their languages. On the other hand, I would also be pretty nervous and intimidated if there was a ton of people there instead, all being super good and proficient in their languages.
When I arrived, I realised the bar itself was actually quite a large venue. The bar also seemed to be divided in half; the front half of the place was for people dining in and eating food, while a queue of people were lining up for drinks at the entrance to the inner half of the pub.
As a waiter passed by, I tried asking him where the language exchange event was, silently praying he won’t look at me and ask what the hell that was.
Instead, this man just says ”Ah, just right over there” and points me to….the huge ass line of people who I thought were queuing for drinks.
I could not believe it. The line, when I arrived, had almost 20 people. Half of this very spacious pub had been completely closed off exclusively for this event, and it was already packed as hell.
After about 5 minutes of queuing, I reached the till and paid a fair €4 entrance fee (student discount😎), and was then asked what language I wanted to practice. Since I was still a complete beginner in Russian and I (correctly) guessed there wouldn’t be any Japanese speakers here, I said German, and was promptly escorted to a larger table with 4 other people.
The way the place worked, as I had researched prior to coming, was that you would be paired with at least one native speaker of the language you are trying to practice. You would speak for 5 minutes in your target language, then 5 minutes in English (for the native speaker), and you would then switch tables to another speaker, and repeat.
Immediately upon joining the table, I could tell these 4 were already acquainted from previous meetups and I was really the only newcomer here.
I then made my awkward introduction, got to know everyone else at the table, and then proceeded to, well, just chat (auf Deutsch and English).
My table consisted of an Irish insurance worker, a semi-retired Portuguese actuary, and two other college students who were both here in Dublin for an internship. The native speaker was one of the students, and was nothing but kind, accommodating and patient.
Everyone at the table, in fact, was super respectful and patient with each other, it was honestly so nice to see. We’d help each other when one of us couldn’t think of a word, waited patiently when one was trying to think of how to say something, etc. Some of the topics we chatted about were obviously German-learning-related like resources we used, reasons for learning and endeavours we faced, but we also talked about other general stuff like holiday plans, recent cool things we all did and general life stuff.
I quickly learned from the others the procedure of the place in a bit more detail, as they had come quite regularly over the summer. I also found out this event really was quite popular every week, with an average of 100 people coming every day it was on. Unsurprisingly, the Romance languages were the most popular, with rows and rows of tables being solely dedicated to Spanish learners alone.
Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese were the staple languages that were guaranteed to always have speakers, while German, Chinese, Russian and even Japanese occasionally were available too.
So, would I recommend this event to Dublin language learners? The answer is a resounding yes. I’ve just come back from my second exchange session, and although it was only me and the semi-pensioner this time, we still managed to converse in German for more than an hour and learnt a lot. We both even got a refund because it turns out they had a policy where if there weren’t any native speakers of the language you’re trying to practice, you get your money back!
This is the website, Language Exchange Ireland, for those who are interested in checking it out.
Overall, I’m proud of myself for overcoming the initial cringe and fear of attending this event alone, and expect to attend a lot more exchanges in the foreseeable future.
Thanks for reading this far if you did, I appreciate it a lot! Stay safe, healthy and happy👋🏻
Rebellious 
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