Question from Quora and my response:
In a bit of a similar situation myself. I am learning Chinese while living in California in an area without a lot of Chinese people.
There are a few Chinese people and even some Chinese classes, so I try to go to those.
But mostly, I practice the language online. I would recommend one website and one app to find native speakers.
iTalki (website)
HelloTalk (app)
You can find professional teachers on iTalki as well as people just looking to practice speaking. If your level of speaking is beyond a year or two, sometimes just practicing speaking with a person who is not a teacher can also help a lot. In the beginning stages, a trained teacher will probably be more necessary.
I have been learning Chinese for two years. One way I practice listening and speaking is with a game I made up.
It helps me learn new words and also helps with pronunciation.
If you are more advanced, you may just want to have more conversations and ask the other person to correct you as you go.
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