为什么交国际
笔友？Why?
编者按：正在浏览“果皮笔友网” penmatters!的朋友一定会听说过“Penpal”或者“pen freind”这些词吧？但是你是否不知如何开始笔友生涯，如何找到合适的笔友呢？你是否不是很确定自己会坚持着和海外的朋友们通信呢？今天我来讲下交外国笔友的好处，以及如何交笔友。
penmatters!的朋友一定会听说过“Penpal”或者“pen freind”这些词吧？但是你是否不知如何开始笔友生涯，如何找到合适的笔友呢？你是否不是很确定自己会坚持着和海外的朋友们通信呢？今天我来讲下交外国笔友的好处，以及如何交笔友。■国际友谊靠谱么？
Is international friendship possible?
非常靠谱！即使你从来没有见过一个笔友，你依然很可能与他们建立深层次，相当长的友谊。甚至可能比你平时见面的那些朋友还要深厚的友谊。其实很多笔友爱好者有见过他们的笔友，还有人做了几十年的笔友。你并不一定因为是给国外写信，老是谈论你的国家，文化。你可以像和身边的朋友一样得对待笔友，你可以说说你的爱好，你工作，一天中发生了什么，等等。如果你觉得可靠的话，可以询问笔友关于你生活的建议；“我有个外国笔友！”这不让你感到激动吗？如果确实是，现在就开始交笔友吧！
■学习异国文化
Learn about foreign countries and cultures.
你的笔友是现实中的人，只不过他们生活在另外的国家，他们和你的生活一样。就是说，他们也不和媒体中宣传的那样，从你的笔友了解他的国家给你一种“零距离得到第一手资料”的感觉。这样，你通过你的笔友直接了解他们的国家的一些事情，你的笔友也从你身上得到相同的东西。虽然是未曾谋面的笔友，你也会对他的国家感觉更加友好和亲近。举个例子，看到该笔友国家的新闻时，你会更加感兴趣。
■提升您的语言水平或掌握一门外语
Improve your language skills or learn new languages.
很多人，特别是英文为第二语言国家的人们，通过笔友活动来提升他们的英文或者其他外语。和其他人一样，我也是出于此目的成了笔友爱好者。和英文考试不一样，笔友间的通信会让你把学到的东西和地道的母语人士进行交流和锻炼。不会又分数，也没有给定的话题 – 你可以想任何你觉得笔友感兴趣的东西。通过笔友，你会发现用外语写作的乐趣（至少比考试强多了吧），因为有了兴趣，你的语言能力会提升。即便你用你的母语，通过书面的方式和对方交流，你也会整理你的思路和笔友交换看法，这样会提升你的交流技巧。
Why start penpalling?
I’m sure that most of you who is looking at this page have heard of the word “pen pal” or “pen friend”. Are you not sure how to get started with pen-palling or how to find right penpals? Are you not sure if you really want to start making friends through overseas correspondence? I’d like to show you all benefits of having penpals around the world and show you how to get started.
○Is international friendship possible?
Yes it is! Even if you have never met your pen pal before, it is possible that you build a deep, long-term friendship with your penpal; perhaps the same as or even closer friendship than the friends you actually meet and hang around with. Some pen-pallers have actually met their pen pals, and others have been corresponding with their pen pals for tens of years. You don’t have to always talk about your countries, cultures, just because it is overseas correspondence. You can write to your overseas pen pals like you chat with your friends in your town. You can talk about your hobbies, your work, what happened on the day, and so on. You can seek your pen pal for advice about your life if you think you can rely on him/her. “I have a friend overseas”. Does this statement make you feel excited? If so, overseas correspondence is the thing for you!
○Learn about foreign countries and cultures.
Your overseas pen pals are real people who live in a different country, and they are living everyday life in that country just like you do in yours. That is, they are not the same as the media; the perspective of your pen pal’s country from his or her point of view is more of a “first-person” view than of the media. That is, you will get to know about overseas country more directly though your pen pal, and your pen pal can learn from you in the same way. Also, you’ll be able to feel closer to the country your pen pal is in than before because you have someone that you “know”, even if you have never met her/him. For example, you’ll get to watch the news about your pen pal with more interest than before you’ve started overseas correspondence.
○Improve your language skills or learn new languages.
Many people, especially ESL people, start overseas correspondence in order to improve their English or any other foreign languages. Like others, I first started overseas correspondence because of this. Unlike paper tests, you can communicate with real foreign people with the language skills that you learned. There’s no markers, and there’s no given subjects - you can write whatever you want to let your pen pal know about. Through pen-palling, you will get to enjoy writing in foreign languages (at least much more than paper exams!), therefore your language skills will improve. Even if you correspond with your pen pal in your first language, you will get to know how to organize your thoughts to clearly communicate your ideas to your pen pals on paper so you will be able to increase your written communication skills.
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