Are most tutors useless for advanced learners?

[reineke]

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While I use and like tutors - this is a bit out of the scope of the question?

I'd guess that for advanced learners learning house terminology or virtually visiting the tutors house (outside of the delights of voyeurism) aren't helping on that C1 acquisition learning.

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This is where we disagree. Let's put aside the pure fun aspect which may not to everybody's taste. Why must one assume that learning house terminology doesn't help with C1 acquisition? What sort of house-related terminology are we talking about? Can't we talk about house things at a C1 or C2 level? Does talking about the room I'm in right now mean that I'm at an A2 level? Just the other day I had a long discussion about Feng Shui in Spanish where the room terminology was mixed with philosophical considerations. The point is that the subject per se, i.e. the room, a recipe, doesn't determine the level of linguistic complexity. It's rather how the subject is treated.

I agree. A lot of idioms and other expressions revolve around common household items.

[SophiaMerlin_II]

What would you advice me? How does one look for a proof-reader or copy-editor? Or a speech coach?
Do they tend to refuse non-natives?

Of course I can’t really speak from a super professional level as to this, but I know that one can usually search the college bulletins (online or in-person) for a proof-reader, I imagine that they would be willing to accept C1/C2 level speakers.

Copy-editors on the other hand would be harder to find a definitely more expensive as they are professionals. Some of them freelance, but in general they tend to work for large corporations (magazines, company ad departments, etc). They can be found on places online like upwork, but definitely the $$$ would become a consideration for these, as they are considered skilled professionals. They would be more likely in my opinion to turn down a non-native, but probably more over the subject-matter than the language skills. Since they are professionals, they would probably be more likely to make corrections, but not to explain them.

Accent (dialect) coaches would also be more expensive, probably prohibitively so. One may be able to contact a talent agency to ask around for one, or one could search for one online. They are mainly recommended from one actor to another, or by an agency to talent. I think they’d be very willing to take on non-native students.

Another example for accent reduction would be (at least in the US) a speech-language pathologist. Although that would probably be EVEN MORE expensive than an accent coach. I don’t think they would decline a non-native, but I also doubt they would have much experience with one either.

So I would think that these types of people would be very useful, but are the affordable for most people? Probably not, except the proof-reader. Is the usefulness to money ratio good? I think that depends on who you hire and who you are, to a certian extent.

[zenmonkey]

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While I use and like tutors - this is a bit out of the scope of the question?

I'd guess that for advanced learners learning house terminology or virtually visiting the tutors house (outside of the delights of voyeurism) aren't helping on that C1 acquisition learning.

...

This is where we disagree. Let's put aside the pure fun aspect which may not to everybody's taste. Why must one assume that learning house terminology doesn't help with C1 acquisition? What sort of house-related terminology are we talking about? Can't we talk about house things at a C1 or C2 level? Does talking about the room I'm in right now mean that I'm at an A2 level? Just the other day I had a long discussion about Feng Shui in Spanish where the room terminology was mixed with philosophical considerations. The point is that the subject per se, i.e. the room, a recipe, doesn't determine the level of linguistic complexity. It's rather how the subject is treated.

Ok, I'll buy that. It probably was my bias, I just did a house tour and exercises for that with my tutor this week and it was all basic vocabulary of A0 and no feng shui.

[Tomás]

The idea of finding people focusing on natives has already been mentioned once in this thread, and could be excellent. However, it is not that easy to do.

What would you advice me? How does one look for a proof-reader or copy-editor? Or a speech coach?
Do they tend to refuse non-natives?

If we're talking about your own written English, it is already of very high quality. It is equal to that of an advanced undergraduate or a graduate student at a top US university. I am a professor at a middling-level university in the US, and your written English is at the level of the best students at my school. Occasionally you make a small grammar error, or write a collocation that marks you as a non-native, but this is quite rare in your written output.

This means that you need a very competent and trustworthy person whose written English is better than yours. That is a very small percentage of the native English-speaking population. If you can find such a person, they will have no problem working with a non-native. In fact, that is probably a large source of their clientele. I have known university professors of English who would proof-read and copy-edit dissertations by foreign students to make some extra money. This is the kind of person you're looking for. But they will be difficult to find. Professional editors may be trustworthy and competent or not. Without a recommendation I personally would not take a chance on such a service.

On another debate in this thread, I strongly recommend against sending out any important documents without asking someone else to read them first. I have published a scholarly book and many other scholarly publications. I would never dream of sending anything out without asking someone to read it over first. My wife reads everything for me, and sometimes I ask colleagues in the field. I even get my wife's feedback when I'm writing an important letter or email. If one does not have access to a reliable proofreader, then that is a problem. But to me it is risky and bad professional practice to send things out without showing it to someone.

[s_allard]

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This means that you need a very competent and trustworthy person whose written English is better than yours. That is a very small percentage of the native English-speaking population. If you can find such a person, they will have no problem working with a non-native. In fact, that is probably a large source of their clientele. I have known university professors of English who would proof-read and copy-edit dissertations by foreign students to make some extra money. This is the kind of person you're looking for. But they will be difficult to find. Professional editors may be trustworthy and competent or not. Without a recommendation I personally would not take a chance on such a service.

On another debate in this thread, I strongly recommend against sending out any important documents without asking someone else to read them first. I have published a scholarly book and many other scholarly publications. I would never dream of sending anything out without asking someone to read it over first. My wife reads everything for me, and sometimes I ask colleagues in the field. I even get my wife's feedback when I'm writing an important letter or email. If one does not have access to a reliable proofreader, then that is a problem. But to me it is risky and bad professional practice to send things out without showing it to someone.

I couldn't have said it better myself, and I won't be accused of quoting myself. Here we are talking more about proof-reading and copy-editing. But I put that under the broad label of constructive criticism and tutoring. My point is that as good as we are or feel we are, it's always good to get the perspective of a qualified person that we trust. That's what the debate is all about.