This paper discusses the interlanguage conversation as a process in an institutional setting. The interaction type in question is language proficiency interview and the material discussed is a series of interviews of French second language learners whose mother tongue is either Finnish or Swedish. These interviews are compared to non-evaluative interviews of French learners in Sweden. The material is analyzed from the point of view of the problems repaired in the conversation. These repairs may be learner or teacher initiated. The repairs are initiated for different reasons and the different type of repairs are analyzed. Then, the differences between the Finnish French learner groups are compared to the repairs in the interviews of the Swedish students. (Author/VWL)