Exploring the language site italki.

In a departure from my habit of using only free tools, I recently decided to try the online language learning site italki. Italki offers language conversational tutors and professional teachers for hire for lessons via Skype.

I knew from looking at the italki website interface that I would love using it. The site is so clean and intuitive that they had me before I even hired a teacher.

You can set your criteria for teacher/tutor by country (useful if you want to learn a particular accent or regional slang), desired hourly rate and whether you seek a professional instructor or a less expensive “community tutor” who will lead a guided conversational practice. .

The instructors and tutors set a wide variety of prices for lessons and chats. You can select 30-minute, 45-or 60-minute lesson. Many offer $5 30-minute introductory lessons. The teachers/tutors post their schedules. You find an opening and send a request. You will be sent a reminder a few hours before the lesson.

To the left are some of the Skype conversations I had with instructors and you can see how personable they are. I even traded recipes with one who is also a chef.

Easy payment system

The payment system is low-maintenance. You buy credits, starting at a $100.00 block. Each time you confirm a lesson as successfully concluded, the payment for the lesson is deducted from your account.

After a lesson, you rate its quality and submit your comments. If there is a problem, say you have internet problems, you are able to report that. You are able to freely communicate with your instructors via your mailbox on the site or Skype.

Costs can add up.

Professional teachers on italki usually run at least $12 an hour, most charge around $20. However warranted, it can still add up. Learning a language is a slow process. You can sink money into lessons for months and feel you’re not progressing enough. That’s simply how learning anything difficult is. You’re not always on a straight trajectory up.

If you are paying a professional teacher through italki, I found it important to set expectations by email upon confirming the appointment. Otherwise, the teacher spends a good deal of time getting to know you.

I love to chat in Spanish but felt that I shouldn’t be paying higher professional teacher rates to simply converse. That can be done with a less expensive community tutor or a free language exchange partner. Instead, I hired professional instructors for some verb conjugation practice that’s particularly challenging for me, and let them know my goals upfront.

Finding the right instructor/tutor

The tutors and teachers on italki try to please you in a way that’s almost painful. I wish all my past schools offered me such a wide range of adorability in instructors. They produce videos to introduce themselves and what they have to offer.

Those with the best resumes are more popular and costly. Their students wisely reserve their session times well in advance to get optimal times so it’s hard to get in. Ratings depend on client satisfaction.

Professional teachers on italki have many students. Even by the second and third lesson with the same instructor, my lessons were fragmented and jumped around. Looking at their calendars, I could see that they have little time to prepare individualized lesson plans. It’s difficult to do in the face of such cuteness, but again, establishing expectations upfront might help lessons be more cost effective.

Look at free tools first

When considering any language tool, always think about what you can do for free first. I tested at B2 intermediate level without ever spending more than the price of a cup of coffee at Spanish Exchange Meet-Ups twice a week and an occasional $6 monthly membership to recruit free Spanish exchange partners on sites such as My Language Exchange. Vocabulary and grammar instruction is easy to find on free sites like I have listed in my Website of the month page.

Finding free language exchange partners does take some effort, but not much more than finding the right paid instructors/tutors on the italki or similar sites.

To find free language partners, you have to put your best self forward and reach out to people. You have to coordinate schedules along multiple international time zones. There is an element of rejection as you will click better with some than others.

Ultimately though, you can recruit a full slate of people with whom you can practice as many days as you want for free. One of my favorite practice partners has 10 other practice partners, which gives him an hour a day five days a week practicing English (he is 64 years old), all for free. I have five free language partners whom I’ve practiced with for years.

Reasons to hire an instructor/tutor

If you have the resources, using italki is the most efficient way to get the speaking time you absolutely must have to learn a language within a time frame. It is perfect for people who need to get up to speed quickly and don’t want to spend half the time speaking in English as you have to in a free language exchange (although teaching others and competition can help keep you motivated).

If you are a beginner speaker, you have to be a pretty talented conversationalist to hold it together for 30 minutes. Paying someone may be the only way to find practice partners until you get to at least beginner intermediate.

Instructors are almost all quite young

Almost all tutors on Italki appear to be under 40 years old and many appear to be under 30. As an older student, this would make me pause in hiring them as conversational partners (community tutors). From my experience with free language partners, I’ve learned it is more productive having conversations with people within 10 years of my age, talking about subjects people my age talk about (and developing vocabulary in those subjects).

I’ve practiced with dozens of people of all ages. It’s the ones that are closer to my age that have lasted years. I hope that I see more older tutors on the italki site soon.

Conclusion

Italki is perfect for those who are too shy to recruit free language partners, want practice on specific grammar points or want concentrated, Spanish-only practice rather than exchange.

Paying tutors or instructors saves you from the inevitable rejection and the discomfort some have of contacting strangers with whom to practice. You can focus strictly on Spanish and be totally selfish about setting and conveying your goals. You could also hire tutors to fill in gaps with your free practice partners are on vacation or traveling.

As part of a well-conceived plan, Italki is definitely a great option to keep you moving forever forward in your second language goals.

Related links:

Check out my Spanish “Website of the Week” page. All the free tools you’ll need for learning Spanish.

These are the best Spanish-language programs on Netflix if you like a faster pace. Ventanas Mexico

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About the author:

Kerry Baker is a partner with Ventanas Mexico and the author of four books. If Only I Had a Place is guide to renting in Mexico that gives you the “uncomfortable” information about renting that realtors do not want you to know. Use this Guide to understand the pitfalls and potential advantages of renting in Mexico as an expat.

Her third book is The Mexico Solution: Saving your money, sanity, and quality of life through part-time life in Mexico. Unlike other how-to books on Mexico, this book will not leave you numb. It is both a manual and a story. Most recently she released a cookbook, The Lazy Expat: Healthy Recipes That Translate in Mexico, a cookbook for travelers, snowbirds and expats seeking to maintain a healthy diet in Mexico.