Another way to express this is, 50% of the time should be focused on helping YOU learn English, and 50% of the time should be focused on helping your language partner learn Korean. A beginner might not be able to converse much, but you can still help them by answering their questions, helping them translate sentences, helping with pronunciation, and answering their cultural questions. Knowing about the culture(s) - and making friends - can be a great motivator in learning a language! ^^

It means that half the time you will speak in the language you are learning and the other half of the time you will be talking in the language your partner is learning.

Skype probably, but I think the main thing someone expresses here is that the exchange must include a large part of Korean too. It is often observed that a too large part of the conversation takes place in English, and only little in Korean. So the person wants to teach you English, but asks quite a bit of Korean conversation back too. Like often it is 90% English, 10% Korean. That is not desired.

About that 90/10. Quite a lot of people told me about this problem. The exact figures given to you are just an indication to make a point. I must say, I just took lessons with a teacher to check my pronunciation, since I think the lessons are rather cheap, and most Koreans want to speak to native speakers. I am fluent in English, but I am not a native speaker. I also dont have a testscore to proof it.

@Helene

...50% of the time should be focused on helping your language partner learn Korean...help them by answering their questions, helping them translate sentences, helping with pronunciation, and answering their cultural questions.

I see. I think this is better than just talking half and half in two languages in most cases. Thank you Helene.