"Alligator Room" Language Exchange

Come here if you speak at least two foreign languages! The more languages, the better!

The idea of the "Alligator Room" comes from the Esperanto movement, where "aligatori" (to alligator) means to speak a language that is neither your native language nor Esperanto. The "aligatorejo" (Alligator Room) is a fun room for people who want to practise other languages at Esperanto meetings. It’s an institution, with clear rules:
1. You are not allowed to speak your native language.
2. You are not allowed to speak the common language of the meeting.

So what you wind up with is a lot of groups speaking a lot of languages that would otherwise be drowned out. Plus, nobody has to be afraid of making mistakes, because everybody is speaking a foreign language.

Now we're re-creating this institution outside the Esperanto world. Same rules apply: you will not be speaking your native language or English (since that’s the common language here). Last time, we practised German, French, Spanish, Italian, Esperanto, Chinese, Russian, Arabic, Hebrew, Polish, Yiddish and Thai.

So what will happen is for example you speak Spanish to someone from Columbia, but that person is not allowed to answer in Spanish! He may answer in German for example, and if need be we can have another member interpret that for you.

Everyone will be wearing little stickers indicating the languages they speak, so that you know what language you can use with them.

It is not necessary to have really great command of these languages, if you can say a little about your family and friends, it's okay. The Alligator Room is particularly good for practising languages that you don't speak very well.

Note: this event is not anti-English, but there are enough opportunities to practise English at the other language meet-ups.

Date: Sunday March 18th, 2012, 8-11pm
Location: a separate room in the pub "Aufsturz", Oranienburger Straße 67, 10115 Berlin-Mitte

Directions: The pub "Aufsturz" is right next to Oranienburger Straße S-Bahn stop. Inside the pub, go all the way through, past the bathrooms and into the old smoker room (where nobody will smoke). This room will give us the quiet we need to practise languages.