Regarding your last point, that some teachers ask you too often what you want to learn or do during your lessons, I think that's where you see the big difference between professional and community teachers. Community teachers usually charge a really low price which is sometimes even lower than the minimum wage in their country. And still they use their time to be fully engaged in the lesson and to help you speaking as much as possible. So I don't think it's ok to expect from them that they prepare a lot of material for the lesson. It's just not gonna be worth it working on italki then. Professional teachers, on the other hand, usually charge a little more and if you want a teacher who has a lot of material and is always well prepared, then I think it should be normal to pay them more. Lesson preparation time is usually much longer than one would think. And in the end this is a job like every other job. Why should they charge less than some teachers im traditional language schools?
100% agree and ironically on top of that i know language teachers get payed rly low on platforms like lingoda so they switch to italki but then the competition is so high. Defs can't expect that much if paying low for a community teacher. I made another video coming up with an intensive with a professional teacher and it was well worth the extra cash.
I think this is where trial or first lesson comes into play. What the student wants and what the tutor or teacher can offers should be communicated well beforehand so that there could be a minimal miscommunication or mismatch of expectation. I have tried professional teachers that are more expensive and it didnt work out too. they did the same thing as other community tutors, so i would be careful to judge a tutor or teacher by the price you are paying them.
Great video. I think you were pretty spot on. I tried iTalki for a couple of months but soon realised that the cons outweigh the pros, especially finding the right teacher, navigating the scheduling, the currency issues and the curriculum choice. I have gone back to a traditional online French class with a small group of 3, as my primary learning method. However, I will keep using iTalki for conversations, it is great as that secondary tool to keep meeting new teachers and hear new accents. Thanks for sharing & good luck with the intensive classes - maybe a follow-up video on that?
Thanks for your comment! I totally agree it can be really difficult navigating italki and finding the right teachers who have their own styles (not always structured lol). What programs do you use? 100% - follow up video coming very soon 😋
I am thinking of working with iTalki as a professional teacher and this video helps in developing my approach to service delivery and student success. Good luck with your language studies!
Youre amazing, BV! Because of you I am currently in the language Lingoda SPRINT (2nd week in) and am now going to start iTalki! I tried Tandem but it was full of creeps trying to date me? Ugh so hoping this isnt the same type of experience!
Thank you! 😍 look at you! You’ll make progress in no time. Yeah there’s not much you can do about that as far as I’ve tried 😅 it’s pretty annoying I usually just respond to girls only
First video of you that I watch. Your voice is so peaceful and good to listen, that I had to pause the video after the first 3 seconds to make this comment
Great video thanks. I agree that the pros greatly outweigh the cons and that it just takes a little while to master the Italki processes , and mostly agree with all your points except that I don't think a USD price is really a problem - in my case I rarely get to buy anything on-line in NZD! A couple of extra tips for using Italki: (1) While the reviews are, as you say, a waste of time, do look at the number of lessons a reviewer has taken. Some teachers get lots of repeat lessons while some get very few reviewers who come back more than once or twice! (2) If you're far outside the European time zone (especially Aust/NZ), check a teacher's available hours first, as some will typically have NO times suitable for you unless you're ok with being up half the night.
This is going to be a long comment because I am going to talk about my experience with italki. I 100 percent agree with her about everything. The problem with the dollar is so annoying and I am not kidding the prices of the lessons change with few cents every day. So I've been using italki for a month and a half and I have some experience. I started because I wanted to learn French and improve my English speaking skills (preparing for two exams). My first lesson was a disaster if I have to be honest. The teacher was a great person but she was way to intense for me. She wanted me to read in French even though it was my first lesson ever. Also I was nervous to that point where I just wanted everything to be over. So my anxiety basically ruined the lesson. And I didn't book another lesson with the same teacher because I'm still ashamed. My first English lesson wasn't that bad. My teacher was great but she had a strong accent and I couldn't understand her. Then I booked a lesson with another one but we didn't click. Now I have three English teachers and I honestly use whoever is available. I found another French teacher and honestly she the best. But she made her lessons more expensive and also she gives lessons only three days a week so it's hard to find her available. For example now I have to book a lesson for the next month. (Idk what to do pls help). Another thing is that if I pay by card for every lesson it takes me fees for paying by card (I live in Europe) and I have to buy credits so I'll have to pay only one fee. But I hope that everyone will have more luck than I had.
Thank you for sharing your experience! I bet lots of people will find it helpful and I love reading others experiences. Hope it all works out for you! 🤩
It's so nice to know you value your teachers by thinking of their hard-earned qualifications and efforts, and he results and possibilities you can gain from them, so cheaply.
It’s the best site to learn a language but you better find the right teacher and you have to be determined. The biggest problem is finding the right teacher there are too many teachers
I find it good overall. But one big con I discovered is precisely the app itself but how our brains adapts, most precisely how teachers brain adapt and get used to your way of speaking and just understand you better, even though you still speak like a 4 yrs old. One fix to it is to have more than one tutor so you get different perspectives.
Thank you for your honest review. I'm strongly considering it. I've yet to be on the website, but do have a question perhaps someone here can answer. I don't have a video cam. Is that a requirement? Can I simply use a mic ? Thank you again.
I'm going to Ecuador in late July. I know some Spanish that I speak with my in laws but obviously I want to be self sufficient in Ecuador! Do you recommend one hour everyday 'intensive' type approach you're doing?
Hola, que tal?, como van?, Los mejores y más cordiales Saludos desde puente piedra, lima, Perú, ojalá que puedas venir en algún momento a mi país y que disfrutes mucho de todo por aquí, con la familia y los amigos, felicidades por tus vídeos.
What I think is the problem in those plataforms is that I dont like teachers to teach the basics, I like to learn the basics by myself and after I have like 3-4 years of study I try to find a teacher to help me to get to post intermediate levels but I see that it seems there is no such a thing actually, they dont have material to teach that level, they want only to teach simple grammar to people with zero knowledge and they find it annoying to have to prepared more advanced content, usually (almost all of the time) they wont accwpt my requests and when they do, most of the time they will ghost me while scheduling the first class lol (I am very polite with them, I think they find it to be too much pressure and they are not actually professionals in most cases and the professionals are mostly teaching easy things to kids. Its like the difference of teaching how to sum and teaching math to a math undergrad student)
Im not sure long term how this is going to be, but i tried a $18 NZD per hour teacher and literally said fuck that i should spend more becoz im the only one whos gonna benefit from it. Of course if money is a pb then sheesh may not work out Pay $29 NZD shes a good teacher close to my age, for chinese her english is good and she recommended a structure for us to develop natural conversation and grammar, which goes hand in hand on what i use to study chinese which chineseclass101, she can fill in gaps what that wont teach me in english then give examples and its a vibes because she is cool lmaoo But i was skeptical coz i literally was like you dont ask a fish how to fish, u dont ask a girl how to pick up girls u ask a fisherman/man lol
Girl! You are tripping! I have no problem telling someone they suck! If I felt they deserve a one star… you’d be lucky if you got that! So , that con wasn’t very plausible 🤷♀️ why are you giving someone a good rating when you weren’t satisfied????
Oh considering one of your cons, teachers actually can choose not to accept new students. Many teachers I have come across have the lessons blocked off with a message saying "This teacher is not accepting new students." I'm sorry that you experienced teachers that didn't utilize this option, but that's not on the fault for iTalki.
Another con: good teacher not always mean funny teacher. I ditched 5 german teachers before finding a nice one. The 5 teachers were good but, I just hate grammar.
It's recommended to choose a professional teacher over a community tutor. As an italki professional teacher I can tell you that italki is very strict and ask for lots of certificates and credentials to approve a teacher as a professional one.
@@tasneemarabic thanks for the info! I agree with you and that’s interesting I don’t know a whole lot about the process to become a professional teacher on there.
Great video. I just dont get why you cry about necessity to pay in usd as AUD is crushing US dollar since start of the covid. Should be good for you. xD
I just seen your video on lingoda, I don’t know any French you have a lot of experience may I ask what would you do if you start over(any other platforms/btw I wouldn’t do a sprint) I hope you respond thank you!
@@BonnieVoyage yeah I just started Duolingo and I just started learning the 1000 words, do you think that’s enough, Im thinking a teacher would help. Thanks for responding!
