What's the better way to practice? Chatting or conversing?

First you should learn the alphabet and pronunciation.

I haven't used the method you mentioned, but I just got an idea. What about making phrase or work cards and starting a conversation with someone ? In this way, you can use the phrases and words you have already learnt and make sure if you memorize them perfectly. I hope my idea is useful for you. 

Hi Yuka! This is very helpful and I think I would like to try this out for myself. Thank you for reminding of the use of such cards. I think this is the best way to guide myself before starting a conversation with someone. Thank you!

I chat more often than converse, but I also use my voice all day to work and I have a hard time getting a chat mate who also wants to talk via voice.

It depends on which skill you want to improve in the most. All skills reinforce each other, but typing(assuming that's what you meant by chatting) will help your typing the most, and conversing with help your conversation the most.

I assume we are talking about conversation partners and not tutors. If that is the case, I would say that texting is a good way to start, especially if you are a beginner. It allows you to analyze both what you are reading and what you are writing more in-depth. When producing sentences, you can take your time, reread what you wrote and tweak it before you hit send. Those pauses also allow your partner to make real-time corrections. When it comes to reading the messages your partner sends you, you also have more time to look up words that you don’t know and point out specific things that you don’t understand. Not to mention that this takes the pronunciation and listening comprehension factor out of the equation. For that reason, I would say that this method is best suited for those looking to perfect their grammar, orthography, and vocabulary (spelling, declination, conjugation, collocations, etc.).

If you want to refine your listening and speaking skills as a beginner I would first start with audio messages. That allows you to think about what you want to say before you actually record it and slow down the pace of the conversation. You also get to keep a record of the whole interaction and relisten as many times as you want in case you don’t get it on the first try. This method would be better for those who want to polish their listening and pronunciation skills, and those looking to have a source of audio bits for later listening.

Finally, real-time conversation practice would be the most advanced of the three methods. I would say that the focus here is on flow so I would avoid it unless I am somewhat capable with the language already. Although many people try to push the idea that you should jump into conversations from day one I actually think that can be counterproductive. Notice that I am referring to conversation, not speaking. You can and should start to practice your speaking skills from an early stage but that would be best done through drilling or guided conversation with a tutor or teacher who knows what he is doing, not with a random conversation partner.

When you are proficient enough you should take advantage of all three methods, ideally.

markoSSS wrote:

If you want to refine your listening and speaking skills as a beginner I would first start with audio messages.

That's a good point. Forgot about those :)