Hi! I am pretty new to WaniKani, and learning Japanese in general. I’ve got a decent vocabulary built up, but I really need more practice in actually speaking and listening! I know practicing conversing with someone fluent would be ideal, but unfortunately I don’t know anyone like that 
So any advice/recommendations would be great!! Thanks!!
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Welcome to the community!
Some ideas, which might or might not work for you:
- Find a tandem partner through some app or website. (This never really interested me, but other people swear by it and it’s free, so…)
- Check to see if there are any language learning meetups in your city or general area. (Been there, done that, love it. Most of the groups I join are on meetup.com and one was on Facebook, but this might be different for your country or area.)
- Join the weekly VRC EN-JP Language Exchange. VRChat is free and (contrary to its name) doesn’t actually need VR - it can also work as a first-person 3D chat on a normal desktop computer. (I can really, really recommend this. It’s a great community and accomodates pretty much any level of experience. They also have a Discord server.)
Apart from those things, the only other thing that I did was talking to people on italki, but while that was extremely effective, it’s 10-25€/h depending on the tutor… so definitely not free.
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Hellotalk…you can join chat rooms or message randos for convos
Practicing with non-native/non-fluent speakers will also improve your speaking abilities. If you know anyone learning Japanese you can improve your speaking by talking with them (in Japanese of course). Even speaking to yourself or your pet in Japanese will help you improve.
Finding a fluent person who is willing to talk to you for free is difficult. Finding a non-fluent person who wants to improve their speaking is a little easier. Actually, I find talking to someone close to my Japanese level is easier than talking to someone who is native or has been fluent for a long time.
The methods other commenters have mentioned are also great. I have done in person language exchange in my area (very fun and a great way to meet people). I haven’t used apps but I know a lot of people have success using them. Best of luck!
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Discord has a pretty active Japanese/English server I use. You have to just join a channel, and the people will come. So, don’t worry.
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I’m looking for someone to practice speaking with actually. Beginner level. If you’re interested, please let me know. I’m residing in Japan now.
I’m interested!
Thanks for your interest. How should we do it?
Good question! Do you have any ideas? Would something like discord work?
I’ve met someone here, actually, and we’ve had our second study session online. We use Google Meet. Would that be okay for you? I’d love to have more study buddies. My Japanese teacher advised me to try to speak Japanese as much as I can.
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Yes, absolutely! Let’s try it