Isn’t switching between websites and apps tiring just to find a simple, workable language learning app that can make you fluent? We know it is.
How about we tell you there’s a place where you can quickly get better at speaking different languages with the help of some of the best tutors from around the world? That’s what italki is all about!
Even if you’re familiar with the platform, this italki review will help you more and provide all the insights about the website, its app, and how it works.
So, let’s start our complete italki review and answer all your questions!
Related: Lingoda Review
What is italki?
The first question that pops up here is, what is Italki even? Let’s give you a brief overview of the platform and how it works before starting our italki review.
italki is one of the most efficient language tutoring platforms that involves raising mutual relations between learners and mentors. Launched in 2007, the site provides 1-on-1 tutoring for students by letting them find online teachers.
Professional academic professors not only respond to students but also create more accessible ways to overcome complex learning tasks. They offer various strategies, along with a variety of curriculum activities, for evolving language learning techniques and tactics.
iTalki has a wide range of languages and lets users choose tutors for themselves. Learners can select tutors based on their expertise, schedule, and teaching style. Students can take one-on-one lessons and also participate in group classes. It’s a popular platform for those looking to improve their language skills through personalized instruction and practice.
However, it’s important to note that experiences can shuffle based on individual preferences, the specific tutor chosen, and the language being learned. Some users may have encountered unusual lesson availability or connectivity issues, but these issues are typically resolved through italki’s customer support.
Attributes of italki
Let’s continue our italki review and look at some praiseful attributes:
- Variety of Languages: It exclusively offers non-familiar dialects or languages and a global combo of leading languages.
- Flexibility: The platform provides excellent flexibility. You can choose the class timings at your convenience.
- Affordability: Comparatively, italki appears more affordable and flexible in terms of developing Tutor-learner relations, with prices varying based on the teacher’s experience and location.
- Community and Resources: This platform provides multiple opportunities by letting learners not only connect with officially recruited scholars but also become members of the community, who possess a wide range of dynamic outlooks concerning the world. Besides, it offers community aspects where learners can connect with others, ask questions, and access additional resources.
- Motivation: It can be hard to stay motivated when learning a language on your own. Having a tutor can aid you in staying on track and accountable.
Pros & Cons of italki
A review is only complete by noting down the advantages and disadvantages. So, let’s list down the pros and cons in our italki review:
Pros
- Italki ensures the availability of a tremendous number of teachers, even for less common languages.
- You can find well-trained professional mentors even at affordable prices.
- The variety of teachers matches learners’ expectations concerning schedules, which are more feasible and even composed for learners’ ease.
- The additional attributes in the Italki community make it easy to ask questions, check your discourse, and find a free language exchange partner.
Cons
- Selection of ideal tutors leads to consumption of much time in convenient class-taking procedures since striving with issues related to internet access.
- Italki itself doesn’t offer any classes. It’s simply a privileged platform used by teachers to facilitate the classes. Payment is made through Italki, and courses are placed over Skype, WeChat, Facebook, etc.
- The italki platform can be a bit buggy at times. There have been reports of issues with video chat, audio quality, and the booking system.
Is italki a Chinese company?
Italki is headquartered in Hong Kong, China, and Kevin Chen and Yongyue Jiang co-founded in 2007. The site launched its teacher marketplace, allowing teachers to earn money by providing online pedagogical services.
Moreover, it nurtures teacher and student relations by extensively demonstrating inter-lingual strategies. Besides, its basic foundation is laid on earning with learning notions, which seems only possible through such things as opening an account, customizing the schedule, getting info publicity through media, etc.
Does Italki really work?
Absolutely! Italki does work, and it works wonders for those keen to master a new language! Let’s tell you more in this section of the italki review.
It actually opens up a multitude of opportunities for learners. It’s like having the experts at your fingertips.
Even though finding the ideal teacher is hard, tabbing through and clicking the app eventually gets you to the kind of tutor you are looking for. It even makes it easier to find tutors in your free time.
The good thing is that the lesson prices are neither high nor low, depending upon the tutor’s pay rate. The lowest is $4 per hour, while the highest is $80, which is mostly affordable.
There are two kinds of teachers: professionals who have recognized college and university degrees and the other are community teachers who willingly extend the essence of native language through interacting globally.
Looking at all this, we can undoubtedly say that italki does work wonders.
Can italki make you fluent?
Can this app make me fluent? We know that’s the most basic question every language learner asks before signing up for it.
So, if you ask, can Italki make you fluent? We won’t hesitate to say yes.
Italki, with its one-on-one personalized lessons and language practice, can indeed be a game-changer. The direct interaction with native speakers, that too, not just some random but actually professional tutors, can certainly elevate your path to fluency.
italki also makes it easy to choose lessons based on levels, which makes it easy to ace at your pace. There are six language levels, comprised of:
- A1 Beginner
- A2 Elementary
- B1 Intermediate
- B2 Upper-Intermediate
- C1 Expertise
- C2 Mastery
With the advantage of choosing your own language and time and choosing lessons based on your proficiency level, italki can be very helpful.
How long should a lesson be?
How long a lesson on Italki takes depends entirely on two specific things: The tutor’s schedule and the time you take to finish.
The tutor’s professional schedule reflects factors such as availability calendar, resume or work experience, student reviews, hourly rate, lesson options, and more. The tutor will often offer different kinds of lessons, but the most expected is based on 30-minute trial lessons. After choosing a time, your lesson request will be sent to the tutor for acceptance.
How much does it cost to use italki?
When it comes to cost, you are in good luck with italki. Compared to others, it is relatively affordable. The cost fluctuates because it depends on what you want to learn and the tutor you choose. The average price for a one-hour lesson ranges from $10 to $20.
Some tutors charge as low as $4 an hour on Italki, with others charging $80+. It entirely depends on the tutor’s wholesome qualification that makes them pricey. On the average, the lessons and tutors are pretty affordable.
Meanwhile, there are other ways of purchasing lessons in packages, as the tutor accumulates lessons at once at a discount rate.
Are you enjoying the italki review so far? There’s more for you to know!
How much can you get paid on italki?
How much can you earn as a tutor on italki? Let’s answer this question as well in our italki review!
First, as a tutor, you can set your own rates completely. It’s entirely up to you whether you charge $4 or $80 per hour.
Moreover, when a teacher finishes a lesson, they get $8.50 in italki Credits. (One lesson typically costs $10.00 in Italki Credits, so the tutor gets an 85% of it).
The average salary for an ITKI teacher can range from approximately $30k to $90k. Impressive, right? So, jumpstart your career with italki as a teacher!
What is Italki’s most popular language?
Italki offers diverse languages for its learners. When we talk about the most popular language, it undeniably is English. As the world’s lingua franca, English is always in high demand.
Whether you are a native speaker looking to polish your skills or a non-native speaker aspiring to be fluent in the language, italki has a plethora of English tutors to choose from.
After English as the most popular language on the platform, Spanish, French, Chinese, and Japanese are the most learned languages on Italki.
Italki App Review
While we are talking about Italki, it’s important to give an Italki app review as well.
The app version has quite positive feedback from the users because of its convenience and user-friendly features. The good thing is that it is available on both iOS and Android platforms!
Within just a few clicks, you are able to select a tutor from a variety of options. It also offers a chat feature for instant communication with your instructor. One of its unique features is the Notebook, where learners can post written entries in the language they are studying and get corrections from native speakers or teachers.
However, like all the apps, it might lag or crash. But overall, and on average, it works well. The customer support is very responsive in this manner and tackles the issues quickly.
Simply put, the app is a positive aspect of the italki platform.
Significance and Implications of Italki
Now, as we answered most of your questions in our Italki review, let’s look at the significance of Italki in general.
There’s no other platform that offers as many teachers or as many languages being taught. This abundant ratio of language teachers’ availability scatters a lot of choices.
On Italki, every mentor sets their ideal prices. Not astonishingly, this may lead to a massive disparity in costs per lesson.
As a specimen, for Spanish, you can find some teachers charging over $50 per hour, while teachers have been charging between $4 and $9 per hour.
Meantime, if your native language is a language other than English, you could indeed find someone who speaks your target language and also knows your native language.
Moreover, conducting online classes is cheaper and more effective than finding an in-person tutor.
Selection Requirements for Teachers on italki
Teacher-chosen criteria set by Italki are purely on merit-based recruitment. Two different types of teachers are available – Professional Teachers and Community Tutors.
The necessity and primary requirements of hiring professional teachers are given below.
Besides a teaching certificate, they must have Professional teaching experience in any reputed school, university, or language institute, along with an officially certified University degree.
Community Tutors are either individuals with advanced levels of language skills or native speakers with a good grasp of their language.
Community tutors would generally be an elevated notion if you’re more keen on casual conversation practice.
Selecting Teacher & Classes on italki
Choosing your phenomenal tutor, who matches the presumed level concerning learning expectations, is one of the most challenging moves: italki has a few features to make it help you discover the true mentor.
You can see the mentor’s demographic knowledge, including his genesis, heritage, and inherent descendence. You will also be able to see how many lessons they have taught, their ratings, availability schedule, other languages they speak, and videos.
Clicking on a teacher, you will be redirected to the teacher profile, which explicitly enlightens you.
There are reviews, too, that give an idea of whether or not a teacher would work for you based on what others say.
While you can get a notion of whether or not a teacher will be a good fit, it’s only possible to know for sure once you have a class with them. The good news is that italki makes it feasible for you to try out new teachers.
Most teachers offer a 30-minute trial class. Or even half the price or less than that of a regular lesson, this can help you get an idea of the tutor. While analyzing the platform in our italki review, this indeed gives a plus point to the site!
Process of Lesson Booking and Payment on italki
While you are done with the first step of finding a good tutor for yourself, it’s time to book a lesson with them. Just head to the “Book Now” button and click it. You can also contact the teacher before commencement in case of any queries.
You will see that teachers have different types of classes and different prices for their lessons.
Moving forward, you will need to choose the time that you would like the lesson to take place. This is easier to do since Italki’s schedules depict when the teacher is available according to your time zone.
Next, you can choose the platform for your class. There are options such as Italki Classroom, Skype, Hangouts, and FaceTime. The italki classroom is better for video lectures.
You can also drop a message to the teacher before taking a lesson. This could give them a better understanding of your language level, what you’d like to focus on, or just some things you may be willing to discuss. Then, you’ll have to pay.
You can pay for lessons with a specific teacher or even buy Italki credits. The credits can be used to buy any lessons, they are like your dollars on the platform.
While you pay for any lesson, lesson package, or credits, you notice a processing fee affiliated with it, depending on the payment method you choose. For $10 paid by debit card, it’s 69 cents. This fee rises to $8.40 if paid by bank transfer. The percentage gets low if you purchase more credits. Buying $100 worth of credits will cost $4.44 extra if paid with a debit or credit card.
Alternatives
While we provide a complete, in-depth Italki review, it is still better to look at other platforms, too. So, we have some alternatives to Italki that also help you to learn new languages faster and more effectively.
- Memrise: Memrise is also a powerful language learning platform that uses the Spaced Repetition System to help users ‘memorize’ vocabulary quickly.
- Busuu: Busuu is one of the well-known language learning platforms that offers online classes and also lets you interact with native speakers. It currently offers courses in 14 languages.
Conclusion – italki Review
Summing up our italki review now: The platform is indeed a great language learning platform. It’s affordable, flexible, and offers various languages and tutors.
The flexibility of selecting classes and tutors and the timing for classes at our convenience is what makes Italki stand out. Students only get one-to-one classes with experienced teachers from around the world, but also at an affordable price.
The only task is to find the right teacher that suits your style. With a bit of research, you can find a great tutor on italki and achieve your language learning goals.