There are many disadvantages to doing language exchange as a beginner.
1) Often the people who are doing language exchange with you can speak English better than you can speak their native language. If this is the case, the situation devolves into one where you are speaking English for the majority of the time. In that case, you are giving free English lessons.
2) You are not in control of the schedule. You have to make compromises and fit that person in as it suits them.
3) You do not have a reliable language partner. They may not show up or be available suddenly. Or they could suddenly stop coming.
Even if you DO find someone who speaks very little English, you are not in control of the situation and being in control of the situation is the best thing from your point of view. You have set your goal to do immersion for x number of hours a day and have set the time aside to do this. When people don't show up or insist you do it on their time, it becomes a problem. If you set it up as a job and you stipulate clearly the hours and the times and the work conditions and the payment, they won't apply and waste your time if they are not in agreement with this.
Also, if you set it up as a job situation, you can interview people and eliminate the unsuitable ones early on. With language exchange, you feel awkward about rejecting anyone.
With language exchange you are wasting a lot of time arranging things to suit them and they may not show up which means you waited for nothing. And also there is a problem that they might want to use you for friendship and so on. If you have a professional relationship with these people, there are no chances of abuses like this. It's best to be friendly but keep a professional distance. I have to remember this. Keep a professional distance.
So it's best not to do language exchange as a beginner. Only do it when you have achieved a certain level of fluency.
