a native of each language one wanting to learn the language of the other? I think and how it happens in Europe
Short answer: No, it’ll never happen
And we don’t learn that way in Europe
maybe there is a way. We chose to use phrases in English. who speaks Portuguese, translates this phrase for the Portuguese and who speaks French translates into French. after each speaks the sentence aloud and the other repeats until able to pronounce correctly. what do you think ?
I think yes. As long as they can teach you other language even you just sitting down to talk on Skype.
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“a native of each language one wanting to learn the language of the other?”
Well, yes, many people have language partners and learn from each other. An Englishman can learn a lot from a Frenchman and visa versa.
You can learn a lot without “studying”, by studying I mean, using vocabulary exercises and grammar exercises, filling in gaps etc. If you combine sitting down and talking to a Frenchman with a lot of comprehensible input, that is listening to audios at your level, you’ll undoubtedly make progress.
If you want to pass exams you’ll need to do lots more, but you can definitely learn another language through listening and speaking without reading and writing. That’s how kids learn!
Many kids don’t actually learn to read and write until they go to school, which can be as late as 7, but for sure they’ve learned a language, their native language.
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It’s not a bad start and it may get you started and motivated. But you’ll soon hit a wall.
You need a lot more exposure than that and be more systematic
You speak portuguese so I think French is already somewhat understandable to you. If you’d want to learn arabic then I don’t think this would work.
Don’t limit yourself to this technique though, but it can somewhat help.
I think it’s definitely possible, it’s just like you moving to the country that speaks the language (just less frequent interaction). However, I don’t think it as efficient or quick as it could be if you also added in reading/listening/writing and maybe the occasional grammar review.
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I’ve been doing conversational English courses with adult professional Spanish and Portuguese speakers for almost 10 years. The classes are intensive, one-to-one. Most of my clients take 160 hour courses over 30 days. We spend about 50-70 hours in natural conversation.
From my experience, I see about 80% of my student make a moderate improvement in speaking fluency. About 15% make a small improvement, and a gifted 5% make a dramatic improvement.
To define moderate: they stay within the same CEFR level (ex: going from low b1 to high b1), but you can note in video interviews from day 2 vs day 30 a reduction in grammar and vocabulary errors, more projected confidence, less hesitation, more awareness and some self-correction in their speaking.
there are no miracles 
note that i’m using LingQ to learn spanish by getting lots of input first, not the conversation method.
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Of course. Conversing is how people have learned each others languages for thousands of years. Remember that widespread literacy has only been around for a few hundred.
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Of course, one could learn this way, but the time needed would likely be too much. I mean, how much time would you and your partner be willing to sit on Skype? It is highly unlikely that you will talk every day for a couple of hours. As ftornay has said, you will soon hit a brick wall; a brick wall primarily put in place by your own limited ability to remember the huge numbers of things you need to remember. The reason reading on LingQ, for example, is more effective is that you can easily spend the required time doing it.
Not everyone has your perspective. Check out Wulfgar’s response here:
Wulfgar thinks it is definitely possible to improve conversational skills following daily conversations with an iTalki tutor, and follow up practice of what he learnt during the conversation. He’s actually done it!
Which perspective of mine does Wulfgar’s response contradict? Remember, the question is
“it is possible to learn another language without studying ONLY sitting down to talk to a Frenchman on skype?”
The question was not about whether one can improve their language skills by talking to people on Skype, it was about whether one learn the language by doing just that and nothing else.
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I completely agree with Colin here.
I’m sorry to say this but I think the conversation of this thread has moved far away from the OP’s original question.
Maria and some other repliers have gone on to argue about
a) Whether it is possible to learn a language conversationally, by living in the country or giving the examples of children learning their native language
b) Discussing the utility of conversation as a supplementary activity for learning language, which you combine with some other techniques
Neither of those issues are in doubt. Nor do they have a direct bearing on the OP’s question.
He asks whether he’ll learn the language from scratch by doing only Skype conversations with a single native speaker.
In absence of further clarification, we must assume that he means a normal Skype conversation schedule and nothing more. In my opinion, that’s unrealistic and, if someone disagrees, I’d like to hear arguments about this particular situation.
Of course, if what the OP has in mind is to reproduce a child’s schedule or the kind of immersion you get by moving to the country and living most your everyday life in the language. Meaning hearing realistic, not simplified material from a native speaker, over 6 hours a day, every day for about two years, chances are he’ll pull it through.
Same thing if he used the help of committed, paid speakers to deliver him with sentences already prepared by the OP (which entails doing previous research on the language so as to actually read the sentences, as Wulfgar did, plus I’m sure Wulfgar did a lot of other things as well)
I said it was possible, because that’s what the OP asked. Like Colin, I don’t believe it’s optimal.