Your Experiences with iTalki

[oho]

In a few weeks I'm going to take my first Hebrew lesson on iTalki. This is a new thing for me as I've been teaching myself languages for a long time and the last lesson I had with a teacher was many years ago. Plus, this time it's going to be on-line. So, while I wait for my lesson, I'd love to read your experiences with this website, if you have any.

[Xenops]

I just started using iTalki...In October I think? And I'm not sure why I waited so long. But these are my experiences:

With Japanese, I feel I hit the goldmine: the first tutor I picked happens to be just the right one for me. She has a good level of English as well, and she regularly encourages me. She is both a cheerleader and a coach.

With Norwegian, I've had to search around longer. I started with a Dutch lady that had a good command of Norwegian, and I thought she was pretty good, but my work schedule changed, so I had to find another. The next tutor I tried like using the Mystery of Nils (which I use), but he spoke full-speed Norwegian, and as a beginner I felt very lost. The next one I met with longer, but I felt like we didn't mesh, if that makes sense. I also felt the book we used introduced too much vocabulary at once. My current tutor is just right: he has Powerpoint slides with some vocabulary, lots of speaking practice, and I feel we mesh better.

So in short, feel free to try different tutors--the people that work best for me might not work for you. You might have to try different tutors to find the right one. But overall, I would say it is definitely a positive experience.

[SCMT]

For me, italki has been an outstanding resource. I have used the platform weekly for a year and a half, and I have been fortunate enough to find two tutors who identify paths for me to improve and then help me practice them in real life, native language. They identify my level, diagnose my strengths and weaknesses, and structure lessons based on what I need. I don't get sufficient opportunities to use my TL on a regular basis, and my italki time is my most frequent speaking practice. The correction I receive fits my needs very well. It is difficult to judge such things accurately, but I feel comfortable saying that this time spent live with a real life teacher has been the most productive time I have spent studying, and although costs add up over time, I feel it has been great value for the money as well and is far, far cheaper than trying to get this type of individual instruction in person.

I don't know much about Hebrew, but I have had some advantages because I am studying Spanish. There are currently 1,769 Spanish tutors on italki in every variety of price, dialect, and quality. For Hebrew, italki has 64. I did quite a bit of research, watching videos and reading bios, before doing trial lessons, and even then, I tried several tutors before settling on two. I eventually "outgrew"one of these two and changed, but that is one of the beauties of the platform--you can move and change depending on your needs. Most likely, I will change, or add, in the fairly near future, as my needs two years into learning Spanish are different than they were one year into the process. With fewer options, you may not have all of those choices. Of course, all it takes is one good option. Another advantage of the Spanish italki offerings is that they tutors can cost less than tutors of some other languages. A quick glance shows that you will probably pay more per lesson than I do. Compared to the cost of finding high quality instruction elsewhere, though, I think it is still a bargain.

In short, I can't think of a better method for learning a language than having someone good at teaching it guide you, and italki (and similar platforms, although I don't have experience with them,) can bring that directly into your living room. You may have to sort through some lesser quality teachers and find the schedule and methods that work for you, but it is a great tool. It certainly has been for me.

[lingua]

I've been using italki for at least two years now for Italian. I've gone through a few teachers in that time and have been with the current one for over a year. She's perfect for what I want out of a teacher. We mostly chat but she will spend time on a grammar point if I have an issue. I've had several other ones in the past that I liked but they either changed their hours, completely quit or in the case of one raised the prices to more than I was willing to pay.

Many of the italki teachers do it only temporarily and quit once they find a local job which can be disappointing when you like them. I've had a few I didn't mesh with at all. Some of them have wanted to do set lessons initially but that's not what I'm looking for with Italian. Once I've explained that I only want to converse and get corrections on any problem areas I've found the majority are flexible.

Just be clear about what you want and take advantage of the ones that offer a short tryout session. You'll likely have to try a few out before you find one that works well with you. I'm planning to add one in Portuguese in the next few months and in that case I'll want a little more structure at least initially as my primary objective will be to work on my pronunciation.

[Sumisu]

I'm a huge fan of italki. I spent a lot of time researching the various tutors and ended up sticking with the first one I chose, because we're around the same age and have similar interests. We talk about language learning, movies, politics, family life, etc. He will add words that I didn't know or used incorrectly into the chat on Skype, and then I go back later and add those words to Anki. Doing that has improved my speaking by a huge amount because I'm learning words that actually apply to my individual circumstances, and I tend to use those words over and over again. Also, because I struggle with motivation, having an appointment every week or two kind of forces me to keep studying, so that I don't waste both of our times, and my money.