In our previous article “How to Find a Language Partner Online? – My #1 Recommendation”. I talked about a wonderful language learning community called Italki. Today in this Italki Review I am going to show you more features and explain what makes it very powerful resource for learning any language. Keep on reading, let’s go!
1.Find Language Language Partners Quickly for Free
As we talked in the other article, in Italki you can find native speakers quickly. You can practice with them the language that you are learning. Sometimes you can give them tips how they could learn your mother tongue. This kind of language exchange is fun and very profitable.
As you can see in the picture above, you can:
- Choose a language to practice
- Filter what language your language partner is learning
- Pick a gender of your language partner
- Choose if you want to practice with a native speaker or the other learner
- Choose where your language partner is from and where is he/she living.
Of course, you can leave some of those blanks. For example, if it doesn’t matter to you where a person lives, you can leave it blank, and the engine will search language partners from all over the world.
=> Register to Italki for Free! (Get $10-Bonus)
2.Community Tutors
There are thousands of language teachers and community tutors in Italki. What is the between of those two?
Community tutors are usually native speakers who can teach you their language for some money. They may be not certified teachers, but at the same time, their service is cheaper than professional teachers. The prices vary a lot. I did a quick search and found that you can find community tutors for example for under 2€/hour for Chinese. Of course, there are more expensive ones, but you can decide which one do you want.
Practicing language with a native speaker will help you to speak it like a native speaker. Simple? Of course, it takes time and practice that you will speak like a native, but with a good language partner, that process will be faster.
Community tutor and language teacher options
You can search for language teachers and community tutors in a similar way like you are searching language partners. However, the options are a bit different.
First, choose, what language you would like to learn. Then choose what language your teaches is also speaking. Let’s say for example if you are a native English speaker and want to learn Spanish. You can choose a teacher who is a native speaker in Spanish and also speaks English fluently. It can help because then a teacher can explain some complicated things in English too.
You can also filter teachers according to their hourly rates. Maybe you want a cheaper or more expensive teacher. You can choose it. Then you can filter teachers who are also available for the weekend and even at night. Would you like to have a gift of $10 for language lessons? You can have it through this link.
3.Language Lessons with Professional Teachers
Would you like to learn languages even faster with a certified language teacher? Do you want to practice from the comfort of your room or anywhere on the world?
Before moving to Austria, I wanted to have some German lessons to improve faster. I immediately thought that the best place to find me a German teacher would be Italki. Why find a language teacher from Italki instead of “real life.”
In Italki you can decide how cheap/expensive lessons do you want because there are so many different teachers. You can decide when do you want to have the lessons because there are almost anytime teachers available. You can have your lesson anywhere in the world. And it’s easy to find a teacher who is a native speaker in Italki.
4.Language Learning Articles
In Italki you can find thousands of articles that give you tips to learn a language that you want. Articles are written almost about any subject by different community members. You can learn, for example
- New everyday phrases
- Idioms that you couldn’t learn from a textbook
- “6 ways to improve English/Spanish/Chinese/etc.”
- Important and practical grammar
- Tips for faster language learning
- Essential vocabulary
- And much more.
Community members can write those articles. Then you can of course comment and share your thoughts with other people and so on.
5.Write a Text and a Native Speaker Will Correct It
In Italki you can write so-called “Notebook entries.” They mean short articles that you can write in a language that you are learning. If you are learning, for example, French, you can write a short text describing your day in French. Or something that inspires you or just about anything you want.
Then native speakers can see the text, and they will correct it for you. Many times they will also give you tips how you could improve. That can be very helpful to improve your written language, and it’s entirely free. Of course, you can also find a language partner and write little essays to each other to practice. Then you can read each others’ texts and give feedback and how to improve next time. I have done it, and it’s a fun way to learn writing a new language. You will also get to know your language partner better.
Italki ITCs
Italki has their “currency” TIC. 10 ITC = $1. It’s not a real currency, but it’s just made to make buying lessons easier. First, you buy ITCs and then with those ITCs you will buy language lessons. As I mentioned before, the price of the lessons varies a lot depending on a teacher or tutor. If you take for example 1 hour of language tutoring with a native Chinese speaker that costs 20 ITCs, you will pay $2 for that one hour of tutoring.
If you have any questions related to ITCs or any other subject that I have talked above, don’t hesitate to ask and I will help you out.
What Are You Waiting for? Take Your Language Skills to the next level!
Registering to Italki is entirely free, and it only takes 2 minutes to create an account. I have hugely improved my language skills in Italki, and meanwhile, I have got to know many wonderful people. I believe that Italki can also give a great boost to your Spanish/German/French/Chinese/Japanese or whatever language you are learning.
Take your language skills to the next level. => Start today in Italki!
Looks like a great way to learn a new language. Does this site have a way to track your progress? I think having the connection to native speakers would be awesome. I just wonder if there is a controlled way to ensure you are progressing successfully. I’m sure if you used the same tutor for all of your lessons that would happen naturally, just curious.
Hi Brad,
I don’t think that they have a fixed way to track your progress. But for example my teacher evaluated my level and then after the lessons I made a test to evaluate the level again. You can also make a test before and after in order to see progress. But many times you “feel” the progress. It’s a wonderful feeling when you can express yourself in a new language in a way that you couldn’t express before.
Then you can write texts and see how many mistakes you made in the beginning and how many mistakes you made after some practice. However, I wouldn’t like to put too much focus on mistakes because no one speaks “perfect” language. Everyone has their own dialect so it’s nonsense to try to speak perfectly. What do you think?
-Roope
A great site! I always struggle with learning a new language, although I have to learn at least 3 languages in my country. Well, I’m not doing well in these subjects. Your article pointed out some solution I never tried before. I wish I could know it a long time ago.
Hi Chun,
I believe that the reason that you haven’t been doing well with languages isn’t that you wouldn’t be talented. I think the reason is that you have used wrong techniques. I struggled with languages very much earlier in my life and I thought that I don’t have a “language gene”. But after finding Benny Lewis, I started to learn very fast. He changed my “language learning life” 😀
I have a question. I remember reading about a group that teaches people via Skype a few years back. They teach languages, sign language, and even how to play instruments. I can’t remember the place but this made me think about it. Do you think learning a language over a skype call can be helpful?
Hi Britanica,
I believe there are lots of groups like that. Learning a language over a Skype call is one of the most helpful thing you can do if you want to boost your learning! (a little bit of exaggeration 😉
I have practiced with friends who are living abroad through Skype. It’s fun and profitable. I have also had “real” language lessons with a professional teacher in Skype and it really works. I think it can be even better than face-to-face because you can do it anywhere in the world. The other important benefit is that you and the teacher can type faster that you could write with your hands. I can fully recommend to practice languages over a Skype call!
I know that thing!!! I just don’t know the name of the site but I do remember that my cousin is one of the language teacher via skype and she earns money out of it. When it is her time to work she is always telling us to be quiet, never bother her and don’t make any noise because she is talking to a client and nuisance so my cousin and can focus on teaching and her client can focus on learning what my cousin is teaching.
I’m reading the article as we spoke and I have a few questions about it, specially about the lessons you buy with the Italki currency, who provides these lessons? The same community teachers? Also is there some kind of rating so I can know which ones are considered the best lessons and know where to spend my money in?
Thanks!
Great questions. I should have added that information already in the article.
Language teachers can register to Italki as a community teacher. You can see their certifications, experience, profile and usually a short introduction video. Students give a star rating and short a feedback after each lesson so you will see what kind of ratings each teacher has received. Then you can pick up the best one for you.
-Roope
This is a nice website which gives us informations about native languages. Thank you for creating this kind of blog. It really helps us a lot to know and be educated about a specific language to speak fluently.
Hi Eugene,
I’m glad you like. Italki is a great language learning community and it helped me to learn Spanish, French and German.
Good website! and very good strategy! You’re not only helping people to speak fluent languages but you are also helping native speakers to earn money. please continue writing this kind of blog!
That’s true. I believe that LanguagesAreEasy.com is a great help for many people who are interested in learning languages.
Well, anybody wants to learn more languages. This is a great help for us to communicate well.
I have already learned 2 languages but I think this is not enough for me to progress. I want more and more language. I am very thankful to those people who initiated this idea.
Hi Iasnic,
it’s nice to hear that you already speak 2 languages and you are willing to learn more as well. You can for sure learn 5 or even 10 new languages if you want. Italki will definitely help you to learn a lot!
I think that ain’t no better way to learn a new language than talking with natives! It seems a very nice site do to this. That is any way to see how am I progressing tho?
You can evaluate your progress yourself. How fluently can you speak? Do you need to have a pause to remember some words? And so on.
Of course, there are also many language tests on the Internet that you can take to evaluate your progress.
Nice. This is a big help for people who love working on foreign country. I wonder how long will it take to understand another languages? If i try, is it possible that i can learn and understand foreign languages in 3 just months?
Maybe it will take half of the year to at least understand some basics of a foreign language. And maybe a year to speak fluently.
Hi Dexter,
it depends on 3 things how fast will you learn.
1.Your mindset. The most important one. (Do you believe in yourself? Are you ready to make lots of mistakes and go out of your comfort zone?)
2.How much time do you study every day/every week? The more you study, the faster you learn usually.
3.What kind of techniques do you use? If you are talking with natives, you will learn the language quite fast.
If you have the right mindset, you invest enough time and use the right techniques, it’s possible to become fluent in 3-6 months. But of course, it requires lots of commitment.
Hi! I am new here. I wonder what is the best language to learn? Spanish? I tried learning Nihongo. I actually learned hirangana and katakana. One problem I encountered is I don’t have someone to talk to in Japanese. I hope you can make a recommendation. My top option is Spanish and Japanese.
Hi there,
you can practice both languages inside Italki with native speakers and other language learners.
My #1 recommendation for learning Spanish is Baselang. It’s an incredibly powerful resource. I hope there would be a similar service for other languages as well but I have found only this one for Spanish.
Hello, thank you for your quick reply. I started looking at Italki and Baselang. it is really interesting. I will browse more. I hope this will increase my learning curve very fast. I will get back to you when I made progress thank you.
Sounds great! You’ll learn Spanish and Japanese for sure when you put in the work. I recommending taking a Baselang membership for one month and take as many lessons as you possibly can. Practice it every day. You’ll most likely be amazed how much progress you can do it one month.
Hi in my opinion actually all languages are good to learn but focus first on what you think would be useful or learn first a language that you will be using in the soonest time. This would be a great help for you and Mr. Roope will help you all things you need to learn.
That’s true. Some experts say it’s fine to practice several languages at the same time while other one say it’s better to concentrate on one.
Johan Tekfak (the founder of the best French learning podcast Francais Authentique) always said that it’s much better to concentrate on only one language if possible. I have studied sometimes 3-4 languages at the same time and it’s completely possible. However, I still agree with Johan Tekfak that studying only one language at a time is very effective.
For my own ability in learning, i cant afford to learn different language at the same time cause it really distracts me. Better to focus first on one language before proceeding to another one.
Then focus on one before moving to next one 🙂
Artificial instant immersion stuff is definitely effective, but I’m wondering if having actual native speakers is superior. I suppose that would be the huge advantage of this product. Anyhow, anything that isn’t a live interaction with another speaker has to be faker.
I disagree that is would be fake. It depends on your attitude. You can find great friends through this website. I recommend trying
The forum can put all your struggles with language into perspective. Imagine a class of several hundred million. When you come to the forums and read that someone else asked the same language question you’ve been asking yourself the past few days, you realize you’re not that bad.
There are people ahead of you, who’ve been though it all and found ways to overcome difficulties. There are people behind you who are still looking for guidance and direction. When you come to the forum and read a language question that you actually know the answer to, you realize you’re really not that bad!
Hi Vj,
good points. Learning any skill takes time and efforts. That’s why it’s good to learn from those who have already walked the road before you. The old wisdom says, “If you do what other successful people do, you will eventually get the same results like they do.”
Success or learning skills isn’t rocket science. It’s repeating certain actions and habits day in and day out. 🙂
I just downloaded it. But I thought there were some free tutorials, guess I was wrong. This is a good thing to learn a new language since you’ll be talking to a native speaker/ fluent speaker. However, I’m just concerned with paying you know. I’m thinking of attending a class in our country than doing it online.
Hi Pandooh,
it’s completely free to use Italki. If you want to use community tutors or professional teachers, then you need to pay. However, all the other stuff inside the community is completely free. You can connect with other language students without paying a single penny 😉
Let me know if there’s something you want to know more about Italki. I believe it will be very helpful if you want to learn a new language.
Oh really? I connected to some teachers and that;s what I found out. LOL. The minimum amount is $2. However the exchange rate for that in our country is large enough. So maybe I’ll just try connecting with someone free.
Yep. There are thousands of language students on Italki.
I have studied there Spanish and French for completely free. Then I also received paid lessons for learning German.
Such a great website. I am learning everything from this site. Thank you Mr. Roope you are helping us to learn more and easier. I know this will need time and efforts to learn everything but this such a stepping stones for us to build more languages. Imagine a person who can speak different languages. Really amazing.
Hi Jemuel,
I’m so glad to hear that you enjoy my content and find it helpful.
Languages Are Easy started when I was thinking about things that I can do well. I realized that I know a lot about language learning and people could benefit from my knowledge.
Exactly now we are getting important lesson and ideas from your knowledge and thank you for sharing it to us.
I want to improve my English language as well as learning French. I am a writer writing in English as a foreign language. However, I always fail to write an idiomatic language. My spoken English is stilted. I have been thinking to learn French since a long time, I once even enrolled for French language class, however, I had to drop because I did not have time to attend the class. I have never used italki. I think I can use this program to brush up my English as well as learning French.
Hi Vinaya,
yes, you have a great opportunity to practice English and French on Italki. There are so many language students and native speakers who would be willing to practice with you. I believe you’ll like Italki like I do. 😉
A question just popped up in my mind. When you are using iTalki, you pay for lessons. What if you want to join as a language teacher. I am a native Nepali speaker. Every year hundreds of thousands people visit Nepal to trek in the Annapurna mountains and climb Everest when they are in Nepal it helps them if they already know the language. Is there any programs for language teachers?
You can become a community tutor or a language teacher to earn money for teaching Nepali. It could be a great way to earn money online. Here are more instructions how you can get started.
If you want to know some details about teaching on Italki, I recommend contacting their support because I don’t have personal experience of it so I don’t know exactly how it works. I have just taken lessons as a language student.
Thank you very much for responding. I will follow the link and make sure to ask this question to the admin of the program.
PS: I have been following your language blog as well as your online revenue site since some time and I find your articles very useful and informative.
Thank you very much for great resourceful articles.
Alright great! Thank you very much for the positive feedback. It gives always motivation to do this more 🙂
This is so helpful friend for you and this is one of the most recommended method of learning. This method is simplified because all you need is a computer and Internet connection no need to attend any classes. You should pursue and continue learning those languages to help you to be more productive in life.
There are a lot of online teaching program that uses skype nowdays. Majority are from asian countries. Some are taking up online courses especially for the english languages. One of the markets here are for the parents who has kids ages from 3 to 7 years old. Their parents are willing to pay higher than usual based on their country. I, myself, was about to apply to this online program, to be a contributor, or in short, to be a teacher, not just to earn but to help as well.
Hi Dyangr,
yeah, there are many that kind of websites. Which one of them were you considering for yourself?
I used Italki since last year. I had professional English partner that time and I did a lot of progress on it. I stopped Italki this year because I had a job full time in fast food chain. I wished I could use it again in other language this time.
I’m glad to hear that Italki has helped also you to learn languages. Probably you’ll have more time and opportunities in the future to use it. All of us have 24 hours in a day so it’s all about priorities and how we choose to use that time.
I simply got approved as a specialist British instructor on iTalki. The system is perfectly thought out, structured and has features to ask simple questions of the city about dialects.
You will find articles written on vocabulary by the city of educators. The atmosphere seems friendly plus much more of the community than a great many other language learning sites. I anticipate teaching English, specifically business British on iTalki.
Sounds great! I am happy that you have now an opportunity to teach English on Italki. I believe that you’ll have great moments when teaching English there. You’ll get to know many people from all around the world and learn yourself also at the same time while earning money.
Wow! This is amazing for both people who wants to learn language and wants to teach their own language. I should definitely try this. I always find ways to learn new language. It is hard to find now a tutor and the place is also the problem. Seeing this Italki, I think my problem is solved.
I believe Italki will be great for you. Before finding Italki I had always wanted to find that kind of website but I didn’t know it existed. I was so happy to use it and learn Spanish, French and German.
Picking a gender of your language partner- gender of language also helps a learner on where he or she comfortable with and this is a unique feature in language learning.
Choose if you want to practice with a native speaker or the other learner -of course it is better to learn with a native speaker and i prefer to cause it will help you develop deeper about other languages.
Choose where your language partner is from and where is he/she living – Of course you will choose the person who know both sides, your language and the specific language you want to learn cause it will help you for explanation on how those words are used and expressed.
As what i have noticed, this method have unique features compared to others and i think this will be very helpful to start learning new languages.
Yeah, Italki is awesome. I haven’t earned any money even though I have promoting them a lot but I can do it for free because their website helped me so much with learning Spanish and French.
Say goodbye to skype groups, I didn’t know such a site existed! I had heard of Cambly, but I did not know it had competition like Italki.
I haven’t heard of Cambly before and it seems like it’s focuses only for teaching English so it’s quite limited compared to Italki. I’ll give a closer look and write an article about it in the future.
I really do want to enhance my Spanish Communication skills so I could use it in the BPO industry. They pay language premium for people who know a second language other than English. It’s nice to know an offer like this is available. Native speakers can correct your sentences really helps.
Yeah, being able to speak multiple languages opens more doors in the work/business world!
Wow this is so exciting!!!!!
Thank you!!!!
You’re welcome 🙂 Another ones are Hellotalk and Speaky. I’m just writing an article about Speaky. I was surprised their community is already!
Hey. It doesn’t end at just being exciting. Its wonderful and a genius idea. How much more exciting and easy can learninga new language get thats better than this? I think this mediums are the best way for learning believe it or not.
Wow, @Roope I must confess that this looks wonderful. It’s something like GermanPod101 but it looks a lot better when compared to GermanPod101. I’m seriously lost of words to appreciate such invention like Italki.
Yeah, Italki is awesome. Are you going to use it also?
Personally, I regard Italki to be an exceptional community among the hundreds of online communities in that it educates anyone to learn a second language quickly and even makes it possible to speak fluently within a short period of time and without spending a dime. Italki is found to be a community whereby one can come across native speakers to interact with and learn further easily without buying published manuals or tutorials from anyone.
Good points!
I’ve seen so many good things about Italki all over the internet. I’m a super nervous speaker so the idea of talking one on one with someone is terrifying to me regardless of language! I think I’m going to have to have a look through the site and see if anyone stands out as particularly non-intimidating 😉
Italki will help you because you can talk your target language with friendly people from the comfort of your own home.