How to Chat With People in Other Countries

The Internet has paved the way for people all over the world to meet and stay connected. All it takes to chat with the world is a computer or smart device and access to a communications service. The tools to chat with others are readily available to nearly everyone everywhere.

Before you can start chatting with the world, you have to meet people. There are a lot of great websites that offer meet and greet services for free. ICQ is a popular option that allows you to meet anyone from any country, speaking any language. Once you meet someone with common interests, you can regularly chat with your new friend on the same ICQ service. This option is also available as a downloadable app for smartphones and tablets. My Language Exchange is another great service via which you practice speaking foreign languages with new friends from around the world. If you don't already know the language, no problem; My Language Exchange offers lesson plans and games to help you learn conversational basics. Looking for a long distance international relationship? Mingle 2 is a dating site where you can meet your perfect mate, no matter where they live or what language they speak.

Perhaps you are not looking for someone new and are instead looking to chat with an existing friend or relative. It is easy to chat with anyone using messenger services like Skype, Yahoo Messenger and Google Hangouts. All of these services are free and accessible by computer or smart device. With Yahoo Messenger, you can chat with friends by text either between computers or from computer to cell phone. With certain devices, you can even perform file transfers and video calls. Skype is a popular option to communicate with anyone from around the world. You can have text chats and audio chats with individuals or groups of people. You can also have free video chats with one person, and for a fee, you can have a video chat with a group of friends. Google Hangouts is an all-inclusive service that offers even more than Skype for free. You can have text chats with your international friends where you can share files, photos and videos. You can also have live video chats with up to ten people. One cool thing that Google Hangouts can do is to share maps with your friends, showing them exactly where you are in the world.

Live chatting options are great to connect to people from other countries, but they all depend on a decent Internet connection. Unfortunately, not all countries have access to lightning-fast Internet services; some villages don't have Internet connection at all. How do you chat with those people without it costing you a fortune in phone bills? If your friend or relative has at least some kind of Internet service, but it is just slow, email is the best chatting option. However, in some countries, email services cost too much. If email cost is an issue, try chatting with your friend from a gaming or Web forum, setting a regular time and day to meet online. If he doesn't have a connection at all, you can still chat with him by calling his phone directly from the Google Hangouts service. Skype also has this option, but it requires a fee.

There are more secure chatting options for businesses that only want accessibility from within a virtual or local network. While Skype and Google Hangouts do offer paid business options, you may be better off with a complete and secure communications package. Brosix, Campfire and Microsoft Lync are just a few good services that can be embedded into your company's private network and can be accessed securely from virtually everywhere in the world.