Weekly language challenges: 8 fun ways to shake up your Tandem chats

You’ve said hello, compared time zones, and asked how each other’s day is going. Now you’re both staring at the chat, hoping an interesting topic will magically appear. Sound familiar?

Even when you get along with a language partner during language exchanges, it’s easy to fall into the same rhythm. You get plenty of practice saying you’re fine, thanks, but fewer chances to explain why you think hotel breakfasts are the best part of traveling.

A weekly language challenge gives you something specific to talk about together. They can give you something to figure out, react to, or laugh about, and a reason to ask another question. The best part is that you can keep it simple, or make it more challenging. The key is to choose one challenge, invite a language partner on Tandem to join, and give both languages some time. To help inspire you, here are eight different weekly challenges to try with your language partner.

How to get started with weekly challenges on Tandem

You don’t have to do all eight challenges. Instead, pick one that makes you think, “I’d love to hear someone’s answer to that.” There’s no need to follow the list in order or wait until Monday. You just need a language partner who’s up for trying it with you.

However, before you start, it’s important to agree on a few basics:

• Choose a manageable goal, such as exchanging three audio messages or taking a few turns each in a storytelling challenge
• Give both languages time, whether you switch halfway through a conversation or alternate between rounds
• Adapt the challenge to your level, using short sentences if you’re a beginner or adding detail and follow-up questions if you want more practice
• Decide how you’d like feedback, such as help with unfamiliar expressions during the exchange or a few corrections afterward
• Leave room for different schedules, so neither language partner feels pressured to reply immediately

As you go, save a few expressions you’d like to use again. Try slipping one into your next reply, then finish the week by choosing another challenge together. You might discover that your language partner has an even better idea, or an unpopular opinion that needs a second round of debate.

Eight weekly language challenges to try on Tandem

The following weekly language challenges give you eight different ways to start a conversation, from defending your most questionable opinions to telling a story that gets stranger with every message. Start with whichever catches your attention, adapt it to your level, and see where the conversation goes.

Week 1: Two truths and one very convincing lie

Maybe you’ve met a famous actor. Maybe you’re afraid of butterflies. Maybe you once got on a train and ended up in the wrong country. This week, your language partner gets to decide which parts of your story deserve a little suspicion.

Write three statements about yourself in your target language: two true and one invented. Your language partner can ask questions before guessing the lie, so prepare to explain yourself. Where did it happen? Who were you with? And how, exactly, did you not notice you were on the wrong train?

Here’s how to play throughout the week:

• Send your three statements and invite your language partner to investigate
• Answer their questions without revealing the lie too soon
• Reveal the answer and share the story behind one of your true statements
• Swap roles and languages so you both get a turn at inventing and guessing
• Try another round with a theme, such as food, travel, childhood, or unusual talents

If you’re a beginner, simple statements like “I have three cats” or “I don’t like pizza” give you plenty to work with. If you’re more advanced, add details and see whether your story holds up under questioning. You can open with: “Two of these things are true, and one is a lie. You get five questions before you have to guess.”

By the end of the week, aim to complete a round in each language and learn something new about each other. The explanation behind a true statement might be more surprising than the lie.

Week 2: Sell me your most unpopular opinion

Breakfast food tastes better at dinner. The middle seat deserves both armrests. Visiting a supermarket is more interesting than visiting a museum. Everyone has a harmless opinion they’re prepared to defend with surprising enthusiasm.

This week, choose yours and try to win your language partner over. Explain your reasoning, give examples, and let them question your argument. Then swap roles and discover which completely ordinary topic brings out their competitive side.

Keep the debate going with a few simple steps:

• Share an opinion about food, travel, entertainment, or everyday habits
• Give two or three reasons why your language partner should agree
• Ask them to make the strongest argument against your position
• Swap roles so you both practice explaining and responding in your target languages
• Finish by deciding whether either of you has changed your mind

Beginners can use phrases like “I prefer… because…” or “I don’t agree because…,” while more advanced learners can introduce exceptions or defend an opinion they don’t actually hold. Just try not to go into any potentially sensitive topics for this challenge, as this may lead to difficult conversations or discomfort.

Week 3: Show me something I wouldn’t find in a travel guide

Travel guides can tell you where to find a famous landmark. They’re less likely to explain the mysterious snack everyone grew up eating or why a particular shop has a queue outside every Sunday.

This week, introduce your language partner to an everyday detail from where you live. Choose something you can describe or photograph, such as a local food, an unusual sign, or an object that might need explaining.

Use your discovery to start an exchange:

• Share a photo or description and let your language partner guess what it is
• Explain how people use it, what it means, or why you chose it
• Ask whether something similar exists where they live
• Invite them to send their own everyday curiosity
• Follow up on whichever detail surprises you most.

Choose something you’re comfortable sharing, and keep addresses, identifying details, and other people’s private information out of photos. By the end of the week, aim to exchange three discoveries. You might come away with a new expression, a snack recommendation, or several questions about someone else’s recycling system.

Week 4: Explain the word you don’t know

You know what the thing looks like. You know what it does. You may even be pointing directly at it. The word, however, has disappeared. This week’s challenge turns that familiar frustration into a guessing game. Choose an object and describe it in your target language without naming it. Your language partner has to work out what you mean using your clues and a few questions.

Here’s how to play:

• Choose an everyday object and describe its purpose, appearance, or location
• Let your language partner ask questions before making a guess
• Add clues using words you already know
• Swap roles once they’ve guessed correctly or you’ve revealed the answer
• Reuse a helpful description or expression in your next round

A beginner might describe a kettle as “a thing in the kitchen that makes water hot.” More advanced learners can try describing feelings, situations, or concepts, such as homesickness or the relief of canceled plans.

Aim to describe and guess five words each during the week. When you learn the missing word, save it alongside your description so you have both ready for a future conversation.

Week 5: Send a small audio log

This week, exchange three short audio messages about the small events that make up your day. Choose a specific moment rather than trying to summarize everything you did, and give your language partner something they can respond to. After listening, reply with a question, a reaction, or a similar experience. If your language partner mentions missing the bus, ask where they were going or whether they made it on time.

Beginners can aim for 20–30 seconds and keep a few keywords nearby. More advanced learners can add detail, experiment with expressions, or tell the story without preparing it first.

Week 6: Survive a ridiculous situation

This week, take a familiar situation and introduce an unexpected problem. One language partner plays the customer, guest, or traveler, while the other tries to help. Agree on the setting first, then reveal the complication when the scene begins.

Choose a scenario and see what happens:

• Return a toaster that appears to be haunted and explain why you’d like a refund
• Check into a hotel with a celebrity’s extremely demanding dog
• Explain to a ticket inspector that a goat ate your train ticket
• Call a restaurant to ask whether they can accommodate a very unusual dinner guest
• Ask hotel reception to deal with the penguin you’ve discovered in your bathroom

Beginners can prepare useful phrases such as “There’s a problem with…” or “Could you help me?” More advanced learners can keep the scene going by asking for evidence, proposing solutions, or introducing another complication.

Aim to try two scenarios during the week, swapping roles and languages. After each one, choose a phrase you could also use when dealing with a real problem.

Week 7: Swap the expressions textbooks forgot

A friend tells you they accidentally sent a complaint about their boss to their boss. What comes out of your mouth first? Your reaction probably sounds different from the carefully constructed sentences you learned in a lesson. This week, explore the expressions your language partner actually uses when they’re surprised, delighted, frustrated, or trying very hard not to laugh.

You could open with: “What would you say if a friend told you they’d just booked a flight for the wrong month?” Aim to exchange three expressions each, with enough context to know when to use them. If a phrase sounds especially dramatic, check whether it belongs in a work meeting before testing it in one.

Week 8: Build a story neither of you can control

Someone knocks on your door and hands you a suitcase. Inside is a single potato and a note. What happens next? That’s your language partner’s decision. And whatever they add, you’ll have to work with it.

For the final challenge, write a story together, adding a few sentences at a time throughout the week. Read each contribution carefully, bring back earlier details, and leave something for the other person to respond to. Aim for at least three contributions each before you bring the story to an end. Then read it from the beginning and choose your favorite line, strangest turn, and a few expressions worth using again.

Make it a weekly thing without making it another obligation

A language challenge should give you a reason to open the conversation, not another task to feel guilty about. Some weeks, you’ll have time for a ridiculous role-play and several rounds of debate. Other weeks, one short audio message is plenty.

Keep things manageable by choosing a challenge together and agreeing on a loose goal. “Let’s exchange a few mystery objects this week” gives you something to return to without requiring a scheduled session every evening.

A few habits can help you create a sustainable language schedule and keep the challenge going:

• Connect your practice to a familiar moment, such as a lunch break or the journey home
• Keep a smaller version ready for busy days, like one guessing-game clue or a 20-second audio message
• Give both languages time without counting every message or minute
• Save a few useful expressions and bring them into the next challenge
• Check whether your language partner is enjoying the format and change things up when needed
• Pick up after a quiet week with a fresh prompt rather than an apology for disappearing

If a challenge leads to a conversation you both want to continue, follow it. There’s no need to interrupt a good story because you previously agreed to try a language challenge.

Connect with language exchange partners on Tandem

After eight weeks, you might know that your language partner has strong feelings about airplane food, an excellent collection of local expressions, and a suspicious talent for inventing believable stories. Let those discoveries shape what you try next.

Take turns choosing the challenge. Ask your language partner to introduce a game they grew up playing, send a question they’ve always wanted to ask, or create a scenario around something you both enjoy. A shared interest in cooking could turn into describing a recipe without naming the dish. A love of films could lead to pitching the worst movie idea imaginable.

That’s part of what makes language exchange on Tandem so rewarding: the person you’re talking to brings their own humor, experiences, and curiosity. You get to discover how they see the world while finding new ways to express yourself.

Ready to give your next conversation somewhere unexpected to go? Download Tandem and find a language partner or invite someone you already chat with to try a challenge.