I don't really agree with the contents of (Thomas Dillon's) Jan. 24 article, "The language game — here's what not to do." Although language exchange is a poor substitute for a real language school — unless of course you exchange with a real teacher — it is, and should be, a wonderful addition to regular classes.
The real problem is that 90 percent of the Japanese people looking for exchange with foreign partners are looking for a boyfriend or a husband, and the remaining 10 percent are equally divided between men who have no idea what they are looking for with the exchange and men and women who really want to study. Once you find this single person out of 20 candidates, language exchange is wonderful.
But now I'm wondering if this article was written just to promote language schools, which are suffering because of the overall economy.