Making friends in college is not always easy, but for many international students it is even harder considering the language barrier. The Language Pairing Program's (LLP) new social hours, however, are designed to help.

The LPP matches students who wish to teach one language while learning another. The English-Chinese exchange is the most common in the LPP, but such other languages as Spanish and Swahili are also represented, said Yong Chao "Chapter" Li '10, a civil engineering major who serves as LPP's treasurer.

At the Feb. 20 LPL social hour, for example, French, Chinese and English were the most common languages spoken.

Li, who organizes the social hours, said that these events give students the chance to meet more people who share their interests or background. "[They have] a totally different purpose than the one-to-one pairing," he said, which pairs people with common language interests for a sustained relationship. The social hours, on the other hand, are for fun and casual bilingual relationships.

Social hours also help students make contacts so they can improve their language skills. "You don't always have access to teachers, so if you have someone you can casually call or e-mail" for language help, that's very useful, said Bahirah Adewunmi '10, an applied economics and management major who is learning Chinese.

When people arrive at the social hour, they gradually form small groups "and start chatting away," said Li. About 20 students come to each social hour, and the LPP hopes to increase this number.

At the Feb. 20 event, for example, Vikas Taliwal, a graduate student in mathematics, chatted in French with Daniel Porter '11, a physics major, and Jasmine Lin '12, the LPP outreach coordinator, a biology and French major. "My language partner is away in Italy," said Taliwal, but the social hour gave him a way to practice French without an assigned partner, he said.

A few feet away, Hui Xu, a visiting scholar studying natural resources, practiced English by discussing Ithaca weather with English-speaking students.

Ying Zhang, a graduate student studying cell biology, had not yet met with his new language partner to practice English, but he quickly began conversations with English-speaking students at the event.

"The social hours keep things interesting," said Anna Kress '10, an Asian studies major who offers her English for a Chinese exchange. "Meeting with one person each week, you might run out of things to talk about. The social hours give you the chance to talk to new people," she said.

In addition to practicing a new language, the social hour "gives students a chance to learn culture," said Haoshun Liu, a graduate student in financial engineering.

The LPP is eager for more members, and anyone can come to the LLP social hours, which are held every other Friday in the Willard Straight Hall Music Room. The next one is March 5 at 4 p.m.

The LPP is affiliated with the Cornell Public Service Center.

Hanna Roos '10 is a writer intern for the Cornell Chronicle.