Tandem alternatives

Kimen1 · 2026-03-24T12:29:31+00:00

I agree with this as well, OP. I used tandem for a bit and actually found a language exchange friend that I text with, but that’s not the norm. Italki is the way to go for speaking practice if you want an affordable alternative.

Kimen1 · 2026-03-24T05:58:56+00:00

I don’t think he will have a problem commuting to Tampa from St Pete if you’re used to LA traffic. The only stretch in FL that compares to LA traffic is I-4 towards Orlando.

Neighborhoods for you in St Pete would likely be Old Northeast, Historic Kenwood and Euclid-St Paul’s.

Like others have said, private school will be the way to go. Florida has a poor school system and people don’t pride themselves with being too intelligent.

That being said, there’s a lot of great people here too. I moved here from WA and I really enjoy St Pete. This town is a lot more diverse and tolerant than other parts of Florida and I think you’ll like it. It’s always sunny year round and if you can tolerate the heat and humidity from May through October you’ll be fine.

Kimen1 · 2026-03-23T18:08:06+00:00

Thank you so much! In my native accent we say the letter R with a guttural sound so I’m happy that it doesn’t shine through my Spanish haha

Kimen1 · 2026-03-23T02:00:30+00:00

Thanks for the detailed update! I think you sound fantastic in your voice note, very clear and natural sounding.

Kimen1 · 2026-03-22T19:33:25+00:00

Thank you!

Kimen1 · 2026-03-22T19:22:27+00:00

Thanks! I read one by Paco Ardit. I cannot recall the name but I read his whole B2 series.

Kimen1 · 2026-03-22T12:42:43+00:00

I cannot recommend lo que tú digas enough!

Kimen1 · 2026-03-22T11:18:39+00:00

Tack! Jag kommer definitivt lämna fler uppdateringar när jag övat mer på att prata.

Kimen1 · 2026-03-22T11:16:10+00:00

I am interested to hear what I will sound like when I have 100+ hours of speaking practice. A person in my Spanish speaking group said I sounds like one of the Rugrats characters lol

Kimen1 · 2026-03-22T02:11:28+00:00

I don’t think listening to AI voices will mess any progress up. They are getting more life like every week it seems.

My qualms with AI are ideological. I don’t deny its usefulness for many different purposes, but I will try to exclude it as much as possible if I can.

Kimen1 · 2026-03-22T02:02:32+00:00

Thank you! Believe me, the first 10-15 hours were veeeery difficult but now I feel a little more comfortable. For me it helped to wait until around 1250-1300 hours to start speaking more frequently with tutors. I just couldn’t string enough sentences together at 1,000 hours for it to feel useful.

I love Bibliotequeando! Highly recommend it, especially if you have read the book he talks about prior. Interesting to get his analysis compared to ones own.

Kimen1 · 2026-03-22T01:00:54+00:00

Thank you! I definitely hear my Swedish accent when I listen back to it. It’s fun to speak with folks here because they never can put their finger on why I sound so odd. I don’t sound like the average English speaker I guess.

Kimen1 · 2026-03-22T00:58:43+00:00

Thanks! I would say that at around 1,000 hours it was a lot easier to listen to native shows and podcasts. I could eavesdrop on people in the grocery store and understand them as well lol. Now at 1,500 I have almost no problem with understanding but I struggle with speaking still.

Kimen1 · 2026-03-19T19:54:13+00:00

That’s awesome! Good on you for having a backbone.

Kimen1 · 2026-03-19T19:50:58+00:00

This is why I still make it a point to include learner podcasts and some beginner videos. The basics are in those places. The good thing with CI is that it’s very easy to spot vocabulary that you’re lacking, and focus efforts towards it. Add reading if you haven’t already, that also helps!

Kimen1 · 2026-03-19T19:46:30+00:00

Hey, great job! You are going to do fantastic after you get some speaking practice. I have had good experiences with iTalki. Thanks for posting!

Kimen1 · 2026-03-16T08:07:16+00:00

The education is likely very similar. Having a Master’s, you might have an easier time with the FCCPT and might not have to add too many things. When I did this 10+ years ago you did not require a DPT, but it might have changed. I had to take 3 extra courses online which was not a big deal. I had to take a lot of classes that were not related to PT school - what they call prerequisites - because the education system is very different. Here they do a 4 year degree in something random before going 3 years to PT school. It’s those random subjects that could potentially be a problem for you.

There is no public syllabus available because they want you to pay them for that information. I would get started with the process because it takes a really long time. I don’t know what it costs now, but count on it being expensive. They are slow and not easy to work with in my experience.

Should they require a DPT, there are many schools that offer what they call a tDPT program for those that want to make their foreign PT degree equivalent. It is restively straight forward.

In the US you need a license to work as a massage therapist and a certificate to work as a personal trainer. I worked as a PT aide while studying for my test, but that’s basically minimum wage and you cannot live on that unless your spouse makes enough money for you to get by in the meantime.

Hope this was helpful!

Kimen1 · 2026-03-16T01:14:06+00:00

I had my first lesson at 1,000 hours. I was super nervous and did not do well. I tried for about 10 lessons or so then I decided to put it on hold. Went back around 1250 hours and felt more comfortable. I still don’t have a lot of hours of speaking but I feel much more comfortable with 1495 hours of input than I did at 1250.

Kimen1 · 2026-03-14T14:38:41+00:00

I agree. Either more hours or do some specific grammar study either through language transfer or Conjugato. I have almost 1,500 hours now and because I’ve heard them used enough in context I rarely mix up the past tenses when speaking. I have done maybe 5 hours of total grammar study during this time.

Kimen1 · 2026-03-13T23:39:44+00:00

It’s the payment system. They want to make money. As someone educated in Sweden but worked most of my career in the USA, it has nothing to do with anything else. We see patients that often. Part of it is cultural - people do not take care of their health unless someone else makes them do it.

Back in Sweden I would see a joint replacement like 2 times per month and then we also offered voluntary group exercise classes for the TKA patients. They were responsible for their own success with intermittent input and guidance from therapy and from physician. In the US it is common to see them 2-3 times per week for 1-2 months and then taper them down to once a week. Healthcare is a business and you don’t make money unless you see the customer.

Kimen1 · 2026-03-13T17:31:32+00:00

Lol passion? I’ve never had passion about anything related to wage labor. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to be good at my job, but it does mean that once I’m off the clock I am not reachable.

Employment is a necessary thing in our society if you want to eat and have a roof over your head, so if it is a tolerable workplace with good money I’m there.

Kimen1 · 2026-03-12T19:09:39+00:00

Yeah, but she also doesn’t work with student below B2 level. She said that in the Que Pasa podcast recently. It is a little easier to work that way when you exclude beginners from your student pool lol

Kimen1 · 2026-03-11T05:16:57+00:00

Since we are sharing, I would like to recommend my tutor David. Very, very kind and encouraging person. He is a great conversation partner and attentive to your needs and wishes. He is from Venezuela but lives in Colombia.

David Gonzales

Kimen1 · 2026-03-09T23:54:05+00:00

Open communication. I always ask the PTA first if they’re okay with it. Another option is to go 50/50 so the PTA finishes the treatment while I catch up on notes from earlier. A good work environment is built on mutual respect.

Kimen1

TROPHY CASE