Our Review of italki
italki separates itself from other language tutoring platforms in that it makes a distinction between “Professional Teachers” and “Community Tutors.” It's especially useful for finding a tutor from a specific country or region, but it can cost more than other tutoring platforms and there's a broad spectrum when it comes to lesson quality.
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Tutor Selection9
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Flexibility10
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Tools & Resources8
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Value for Cost7
italki is one of the largest online tutoring marketplaces with thousands of teachers covering more than 300 different languages and dialects. It’s also one of the most affordable platforms for language learners on a budget, with lesson prices as low as $5-10 per hour.
italki separates itself from other language tutoring platforms in that it makes a distinction between “Professional Teachers” and “Community Tutors.” Professional Teachers have formal teaching certifications and are generally more experienced at providing structured lessons and guidance, while Community Tutors are usually better suited for conversation practice. Professional Teachers tend to charge more for lessons, but it’s worth the cost if you’re seeking a more complete learning experience. If you’re just looking for a native speaker to practice with, Community Tutor lessons tend to be less expensive and more laid back.
Table of Contents
- How does italki work?
- How much does italki cost?
- Where do italki lessons take place?
- What will you learn with your italki language tutor?
- Our experience with language tutoring on italki
- Why study foreign languages with a tutor instead of just self-study?
- The bottom line – is italki worth your time and money?
How does italki work?
italki is a platform that lets you book tutoring sessions directly from a language teacher. Teachers set their qualifications, lesson costs and availability, and students can browse according to their individual needs.
italki is especially useful for finding a tutor from a specific country or region. For example, we were interested in finding a German tutor from Austria in order to get more acquainted with the Austrian accent. We were able to search for tutors offering “Austrian German,” as well as a number of other filters like “Lesson Category” (we chose “Conversation Practice”) and “Lesson Time” (we chose Monday, Wednesday and Friday between noon and 8pm).
italki then showed us a list of the tutors that matched our search criteria. We were quite specific in our search, but italki still managed to find three tutors who matched. From the results page, we can easily compare each tutor according to how many lessons they’ve completed, their average rating, their cost per hour and more.
If we hover over a profile we can see a preview of their availability for the coming week as well as a brief introduction video. The introduction videos are really helpful for getting a glimpse of the tutor’s personality and accent.
Once you find a potential match, click on their profile to select a time slot and begin scheduling.
How much does italki cost?
On italki, tutors set their own lesson prices. That means the price per lesson can vary widely depending on the subject, amount of time and tutor’s qualifications.
For example, a Professional Teacher offering advanced grammar lessons or test prep might charge $50 per hour while a Community Tutor offering informal conversational practice might charge $12 per hour.
The cost largely depends on what you’re hoping to get out of your lessons.
In general, you can expect to pay $10-20 per hour for lessons with a Community Tutor. If you’re looking to work with a Professional Teacher, you might pay $20-40 or more depending on the individual.
If you’re at a lower proficiency level in your target language and still working to master the grammar, we’d recommend finding a Professional Teacher. If you’ve already studied your target language for a while but still don’t feel comfortable having conversations with people, you should consider working with a Community Tutor to practice basic conversational skills.
Where do italki lessons take place?
When you book a lesson on italki you can choose whether to conduct your lessons via Skype or on the italki Classroom. The Classroom is italki’s internal video conferencing tool, where you can chat and screen share with your tutor. The Classroom is a newer feature on the italki platform, so many teachers seem to still prefer to use Skype.
Personally, we’ve found Skype to be more convenient since it’s so easy to share files, images and chats during lessons. Skype makes it easy for your italki tutor to send you messages when you make a mistake or when you ask how to say a given word/phrase. It’s particularly helpful when doing lessons over a call since you don’t necessarily have a chalkboard or notebook right in front of you.
Our French tutor messages us whenever we run into a word we don’t know how to say in French. She also sends us messages when we make a mistake or say a word incorrectly, rather than interrupt the conversation. At the end of our lesson, we can easily scroll through all the new vocabulary we discovered, then make flashcards (or add them to Anki) to start memorizing them.
What will you learn with your italki language tutor?
When you start studying a language with an italki tutor they’ll likely want to ask you what goals you have in mind, or if you have any particular areas you’d like to improve upon. It’s completely okay if you have no idea what you need to do to improve. Just try to give them as much detail as possible so they know how to teach you most effectively.
For example, if you’re at the beginning stages of learning your target language, we’d recommend finding an experienced Teacher who can prepare lessons and guide you through them (see above sections for the difference between Professional Teachers and Community Tutors).
If you’re taking a language course somewhere else or if you already have a good bit of experience studying your target language, we’d recommend working with a Community Tutor to strengthen your conversation skills.
We worked with a Community Tutor to improve our French conversation skills. Since we already have advanced proficiency in French, we really just needed someone to help us practice having conversations.
One strategy that worked really well for us was to play a “topics game” using these language learning topics and questions. Each letter on the list has a few dozen topics, and each topic has a few dozen questions you use to kickstart a conversation. Start by picking a letter, for example ‘G,’ then let your tutor pick a topic from the list:
Take turns asking each other questions within your chosen topic. If we had chosen “Global Warming” under the ‘G’ list, for example, we might take turns each asking two or three questions, then move onto the next letter and topic.
This language learning activity will introduce you to new vocabulary topics you might not normally come across in your everyday life. It’s an excellent way to practice stating your opinion on something, asking follow-up questions and giving descriptions of actions and activities in your target language.
Our experience with language tutoring on italki
We’ve used italki for years to find tutors for Swedish, Spanish, French, Portuguese, German, Chinese and a number of other languages. Tutors on italki tend to be less experienced than on other platforms (see our Wyzant review) but overall italki is a reliable platform for easily finding and booking language lessons. We particularly recommend italki for more experienced learners seeking conversation practice.
italki makes it easy to find and book a language tutor
Finding the perfect language tutor on italki is easy. Once you choose your target language, you can filter search results by a variety of criteria such as country of origin and lesson cost. For example, we ran a search for native-speaker French tutors from Canada, with a maximum lesson cost of $30 per hour.
Once you select your filters italki will show you a list of all the matching profiles – we found 36 French tutors matching our search. From this page you can see a preview of each tutor’s bio, including some important details such as lesson cost and tutor rating. If you hover your mouse over a tutor profile you can see a preview of their availability this week and watch their introduction video. Once you find a match, simply click “View full schedule” and send a booking request.
italki has a huge variety of tutors
italki has an impressive variety of tutors covering hundreds of different languages and dialects. For commonly-studied languages like French or Spanish, you can find thousands of tutors according to your budget and preferred lesson time.
Additionally, if you’re interested in studying a less-commonly-studied language there’s a good chance you can find an italki tutor to help you. We were able to find teachers available for languages like Icelandic, Estonian and Turkmen.
Lessons on italki tend to be very inexpensive
italki has a wide range of tutors to choose from based on your needs and expectations. If you’re on a budget, you can find tutors offering lessons at insanely low prices, sometimes even as low as $5 per hour.
Community Tutors tend to have the lowest prices, since they’re usually less qualified and less experienced. It also depends on where your tutor is located, since living costs can vary widely from country to country.
Keep in mind that with language tutoring, you get what you pay for. If you’re just looking for a cool person to have a conversation with and practice your speaking skills, a Community Tutor on italki might be the perfect solution for you. If you’re looking for more customized guidance on your language learning journey you might want to consider finding a Professional Teacher, or using another powerful tutoring platform like Wyzant.
Why study foreign languages with a tutor instead of just self-study?
There are tons of benefits to working with a tutor to achieve your language learning goals, but the number one benefit for us lies in the accountability a language tutor brings to our study routine.
Have you ever decided you’re going to get back in shape, started going to the gym, then dropped off after just a few workouts? There’s a reason people pay money for expensive fitness training – and it’s not because they need help learning how to use a treadmill.
Language learning is exactly the same. It requires a lot of self-discipline to study regularly over a long period of time and it can be really frustrating when you sometimes lack the motivation to keep going. Every language learner sometimes struggles with maintaining their study habits – and that’s completely normal. Working with a language tutor is like getting a fitness trainer to hold you accountable for showing up every week. We’ve found that we’re much more likely to study our target language if we have a lesson booked in the next few days. Especially if we have material we’re supposed to review from the previous lesson.
Finding a tutor can help you hold yourself accountable, keep your motivation high and more efficiently work towards your fluency goals.
The bottom line – is italki worth your time and money?
Can you learn a language on italki? Are lessons on italki worth your time and money? Absolutely! But keep in mind, what you put in is what you get out.
Tutors on italki tend to be less expensive than on other platforms, sometimes with hourly rates as low as $5. It’s the perfect solution for learners on a budget, however there’s a rather large spectrum when it comes to lesson quality. We’ve found that tutors on Wyzant and Preply generally tend to be more experienced and qualified, whereas italki tutors are hit or miss.
italki offers both Professional Teachers and Community Tutors depending on your learning needs. Professional Tutors tend to charge more for lessons, however they are usually more experienced and can provide lessons tailored to your needs. Community Tutors, on the other hand, generally do not have professional teaching qualifications but can help you with conversation practice.
No matter what language you’re studying or what proficiency level you’re at, you can find someone on italki to help you work towards your goals. Book a lesson and try it for yourself!
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