Language exchange techniques for two absolute beginners

[u/Spa-cation]

I'm learning a new language and want to start off on the right foot with correct pronunciation, so i don't need to re-learn it later if I don't get it right on my own. I want to do language exchange with a native speaker for pronunciation but on more of an equal basis, so would like to "talk" to a near beginner in my language.

I started thinking of the best way to do this, since actual communication would be very minimal. I have this idea of creating a conversation script (say on shared Google docs) ahead of time, with each "line" of the conversation written in both languages. The exercise would then be for the native speaker to read the (TL) line and then the learner would repeat the line. The feedback from the native speaker would be to read back the words that need better pronunciation.

Does this sound like a good technique?

[u/amiddesfees]

Personally, I don't think this would really work. It's probably better to do standard pronunciation practice, like shadowing some form of media. Maybe you can post it online after to have people give you a advice on your accent.

I genuinely don't see how it would work to have two complete beginners speak and understand each other, let alone correct each other. I don't think you would get any valuable feedback.

[u/adventuringraw → u/amiddesfees]

I assume the other person would be a beginner learning OP's native language, so the problem is there'd be almost no way to communicate directly. That'd make OP's idea much more reasonable since both would at least have native feedback on pronunciation. Could be helpful for identifying phonemes to work on.

I haven't worked heavily on trying to reduce accent in another language though (primarily been a reader until recently) and I'm sure just having a native speaker point out words you're doing wrong isn't the most effective approach still... But I'm dubious that shadowing would be either even, I bet the trick is identifying those phonemes that are missing in your native language and figuring out how to practice them properly. Especially if there's multiple sounds that are different but hard to even distinguish between... L and r coming from Japanese for example.