Comments on: Couchsurfing: How to practise with a native without even needing to leave your home

By: cm

cm — Sat, 29 May 2010 04:13:38 +0000

Another way to speak with people... A woman in my area started a Meetup.com group for Hindi speaking. She started it as a way for Indians to connect and keep up their own language skills now that they're in America. There are hundreds of members, some have come to America recently and some a while ago and some are first generation here. There's a handful of people like me there to learn it for the first time and it's a great resource. We have dinner once a month and then members are always sending out invites to different events and parties.

By: Cheap & Useful Resources for Learning Spanish

Cheap & Useful Resources for Learning Spanish — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 17:15:51 +0000

[...] it and shares his secrets including how to make time if you are busy, memory techniques and using couchsurfing to practice with natives in your own home. His biggest tip for reaching fluency quickly is not speaking English, which is [...]

By: jody1980

jody1980 — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:43:33 +0000

ciao Benny! Grazie per il tuo blog – e' molto interessante per me. Sto facendo Couch Surfing, ma solo quattro persone sono stati con me da Australia, Francia e' Slovakia. Vorrei imparare italiano ma purtroppo non ricevo un messaggio da un'Italiano. Credo che Couch Surfing potrebbe essere utile per imparare una lingua ma per me, adesso, e' difficile! Forse potrei scrivere il mio Couch Surfing sito in italiano… Cosa tua consiglia?!?! Grazie mille

By: jody

jody — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:40:46 +0000

By: troy

troy — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:18:29 +0000

Benny, muito legal a sua idea! Que pena que eu nao sabia antes de me casar! Estava sempre procurando gente para conversar em Portugues. Mas agora tenho a minha brasileira–melhor ainda!

By: Cathal

Cathal — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 10:35:29 +0000

A Bhenny, a chara, Go raibh maith agat as an eolas uilig ar do dhá shuíomh. Molto informativo! I tried out the old couchsurfing thing myself when trying to learn Ulster Scots off the Antrim coast, but the damn sofa sank, so I'm bak till square yin! .-= Cathal´s last blog ..Na Longa Arda =-.

By: benny

benny — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 10:23:28 +0000

I never said it was It’s a pic of me pretending to surf that I took when partying with Couchsurfers.

By: rideshare

rideshare — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 10:05:45 +0000

Hmm.. that pic dont look like a couch to me!

By: ALicia

ALicia — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 17:30:35 +0000

HAHAHHAA just LOVED the joke on Parisians. ;

By: benny

benny — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 18:55:23 +0000

Thanks so much for sharing!! It’s great to see that others have used the site like me to improve their languages!

By: Nomadic Matt

Nomadic Matt — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 02:24:56 +0000

Benny! I did comment on the post. I said it was good information, which it is. But I never have any luck with couchsurfing. I'll keep your tips in mind though, they are very helpful! .-= Nomadic Matt´s last blog ..The Weekly Photo: Sydney Opera House =-.

By: Jana

Jana — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 17:09:56 +0000

Zdravím!
Na tvém profilu na couchsurfing.org jsem si přečetla, že jsi ukončil univerzitu ve 20 letech. Můžu se zeptat jakou univerzitu jsi studoval a jak dlouho? Je to v Irsku obvyklé?
V ČR se ve 20 letech studuje většinou teprve 1. maximálně 2. ročník vysoké školy/univerzity.
Neznám irské školství, ale tohle mě zaujalo.
Doufám, že se neptám na příliš osobní otázku

Jinak Couchsurfing jsem objevila až díky tobě a učitě ho budu považovat za další možnost při příštích cestách. Díky za užitečný článek, jen tak dál!

By: benny

benny — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 06:30:25 +0000

Matt, I was looking forward to a comment of yours on one of my posts related to travel and I have to say that I'm quite disappointed. Did you even read my post? This has nothing to do with getting a couch or being a traveller looking for a couch. I wrote about how HOSTS can use couchsurfing to learn languages. Your comment is totally irrelevant to the content of this post and is just venting your frustration for something that can easily be solved. Anyway I'm going to give you some advice to increase the chances of getting a yes and I hope you take it to heart! I've read on your blog (post about finding cheap accommodation) that you have already used Couchsurfing several times, and you gave very useful tips about what kind of hosts to look for. What you didn't talk about is what the requester has to do! I couldn't find you on Couchsurfing, so I'm not sure what your profile is like, but I'll presume that you have lots of photos, have written a lot about yourself, are verified, vouched for several times and have lots of good references. As well as this comment, you should definitely read Couchsurfing's official advice and Matador's tips about writing a good request and getting a couch in general. As I said, I've hosted almost 1000 people, but what's even more important is that I've turned down about 10 times that. I would just as easily turn someone with a full profile down for one very simple reason: impersonal email. How are you writing your requests? Is it something along the lines of "Hi! My name is Matt, and I have been travelling for x years. I've got a blog about it and live off that Here's the link. My travels have brought me to your city and I was wondering if I could stay with you for a few nights? Maybe you can show me the non-touristy and more typical parts of the city so that I can have a more authentic experience! Hope to hear from you soon!" This is actually THE most typical and boring request that I get. They just talk about themselves (which I can see on their profile if I wanted to), and sometimes don't even say my name. Clearly copied and pasted to dozens (if not hundreds) of people; the approach is quantity rather than quality: If you request a couch from 100 people, one of them has to say yes, right? No. It's much better if you invest at least 5 minutes per profile and find something interesting that you have in common with that person, or find interesting about that person and write about it. Also if possible, be clever and funny in a unique way. For example, I have a "secret message" hidden on my profile that I ask people to copy in their subject title (The default "Request to surf your couch" shows that they may not have much imagination) and some guy recently put a hidden message in his email asking ME to copy it to my title in the response to prove that I read his email. It was hilarious giving me a taste of my own medicine! I gave him an instant positive response. Others have taken the time to read my profile, or even click the link to my blog and told me that they liked it. Couchsurfing is NOT a replacement for hostels where your emails are simply a request to make a booking and can thus be the same for everyone. They have to be personal. The personal approach will always increase your chances. Sorry if you are doing this already and I'm presuming that you aren't, but if you are "in a rush" and don't give each profile time, then you are shooting yourself in the foot. As a single guy traveller you have to work extra hard to convince people. Also note that this is August and most people are drowning in requests, so of course the answer has to be no most of the time. Also, your timing may be wrong. Are you requesting a few days or a few weeks before arriving? There is no right time to write your request because each host has different priorities (some like to be organised and some prefer to be spontaneous). As I've said before, you'd be more than welcome to surf with me here in Prague before I leave. I know you through your blog and your reputation so I am genuinely curious to meet you, but in most cases you need to talk more about why you want to meet the HOST, rather than why they may want to meet you. If possible, try to host some time for a completely different experience and to see from the other perspective how it works. I almost never get negative responses the odd time that I request to surf with someone because I know what they want to read in the request. I hope you appreciate this advice!

By: Yankl-Perets

Yankl-Perets — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 05:24:36 +0000

Great tips! I’ve recently started using CS with just that motive in mind, and so far have had fantastic experiences learning languages (well, so far, German and Spanish) and meeting NICE people. Living in an English-speaking country (especially America), it can be hard to get into non-English immersion environments, especially non-intimidating ones, but when I host foreigners, it’s like the country is coming to me! Fortunately, I also live in a town people tend to visit (New York).

By: Nomadic Matt

Nomadic Matt — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 23:06:04 +0000

this would be good advice but no one ever says yes to my couchsurfing requests! .-= Nomadic Matt´s last blog ..Cheap Flights Aren’t Always Best =-.