I love that you were so honest with your experiences :). I have been hesitating about taking italki lessons for a long time and it's great to hear about how it went for you. Great video
I took a hoard of lessons before i found 2 that i really love (one for really technical grammar lessons and one for casual conversations). It def takes time, but they exist! Cynthia from Mexico is just amazing.
I haven't tried italki yet, partly because it is difficult for me to find uninterrupted time for lessons and partly because of cost. (In the past I also had other groups for online speaking practice.) I appreciate the honest discussion of finding the right tutor because I think that is very important. As a side note on being nervous about going to Spain and speaking Spanish, I went twice (and once to Mexico) having only studied Spanish in high school. I basically didn't speak much Spanish, which I plan to remedy before going back someday. My husband was so nervous at one point that he responded to a question in Spanish with "No hablo ingles", then quickly walked away due to the embarrassment. I think you'll do better than that!
hahaaaa that is so funny and relatable, I can totally see myself doing something like that 😆 yeah tbh if I can find a community of native speakers to insert myself in (lol) I may eventually not feel the need for italki (at least until I want to test prep or something). it is great, but definitely a much bigger financial commitment than anything else I’m doing for languages!
I total understand your struggle! I am try my hardest to get back at a b1 level by the end of this year. My grammar is A2 but my understanding is B1 sooo…its an interesting combination. Advice that might work: Have (2-3) different teachers. 1) Teacher that has a low level of English (forces you to speak it) 2)Teacher that teacher grammar/concepts. 3.) teacher for culture content (very optional) It’s important to play to their strengths… Hope this is of some help
italki is one of those things that I've been like "hmmmmm I kinda want to try it but I also kinda don't" about for a loooong time. Two of the biggest reasons I haven't tried it yet are 1) I'm super cheap and 2) the process of trying to find a good fit for me out of the sea of teachers seems so daunting. It was really interesting to see you navigate that issue as well, and it's good to see that you found someone that seems like a good fit by the third teacher. Also, it's so funny to me how people get so embarrassed/shy to let someone know that they are dissatisfied or don't want to continue, even though it's a super normal part of any paid service. I'm super terrible about this myself -- when I got my perm, when it turned out WAY different than I wanted, I was so focused on hiding my expression so the hairstylist wouldn't see that I didn't like my hairstyle. Like, I'm literally paying her (and quite a bit, at that!) for a service -- why am I so nervous that she'll find out I'm not in love with it?? Rationally it makes no sense, but I do it every time.. 😮💨
same!! i honestly wasn’t sure I was ever going to do it because of the cost, but i decided to try it out & im asking for italki gift cards for my birthday 🤣 I’m planning to buy a lesson pack and then see how I feel from there. my cheapness has been temporarily overridden by my lack of motivation to find language partners 😅 yess it’s so funny but so true, it’s so hard to do even tho it should be the norm 😬
I really feel this video. It's definitely hard to find a teacher you 'vibe' with. There are some tutors that I enjoy taking lessons with but I feel like I didn't really learn much? Whereas some tutors, I leave the lesson with abundant knowledge but I did dread their lesson beforehand. Some lessons depending on my energy and hence anxiety levels are just hard to get through. Trying new tutors can be time and money consuming... I currently have 2 community tutors I use for convo practice, I have to stop taking lessons with one but even then it's hard to figure out who I want to drop. There's so many factors involved including price, how much did I enjoy that lesson, how comfortable did I feel talking to them, do I dread their lessons, did I learn a lot etc.. I'm in the midst of wanting to try another tutor as well...
I think it's really hard to find a good teacher as a beginner. The better you get at your target language the more compatible you are with people who speak your target language in general and this makes iTalki go better. It's a little bit of a catch 22 but maybe you can find someone you like. I was trying to use iTalki to help my Korean but I just don't think it's useful because teachers just want to switch to English to make sure I understand. If I trully didn't understand their Korean at all I wouldn't say I understand. I get where they're coming from but really - I almost want to make a new account and say I'm from Germany or something and pretend I can't speak any English.
yes, I have been surprised by how prone people are to switching to English! i expected most teachers to be very strict Spanish-only. to her credit, the first teacher was very strict Spanish-only.
I was disappointed with italic- one teacher cancelled for our first lesson; another time I confused the time difference and the teacher was totally unsympathetic. The admin was not very helpful. I still have a credit there from the cancelled lesson so not sure what to do.
I use Lingoda and italki for Spanish - overall I like having the structure of lingoda and also having other students to bounce ideas off (well also reassuring myself that I am at the correct level!), I find there’s less awkwardness than with italki as you know exactly how the lessons going to pan out (regardless of the teacher). I currently only use italki to practice writing skills as this functionality isn’t really in Lingoda- even then I still find it somewhat awkward
it’s definitely a trade-off, you get a lot more flexibility with italki but that can lead to feeling dissatisfied if things don’t work out with a teacher. I’m glad both are working out! i am definitely keeping lingoda in mind for future
I love that you were so honest with your experiences :). I have been hesitating about taking italki lessons for a long time and it's great to hear about how it went for you. Great video
thanks so much!! and yes lol i feel like learning french and spanish is basically cheating 🤣
I took a hoard of lessons before i found 2 that i really love (one for really technical grammar lessons and one for casual conversations). It def takes time, but they exist! Cynthia from Mexico is just amazing.
Se te entiende bastante bien tu Español. Soy de Chile
I haven't tried italki yet, partly because it is difficult for me to find uninterrupted time for lessons and partly because of cost. (In the past I also had other groups for online speaking practice.) I appreciate the honest discussion of finding the right tutor because I think that is very important. As a side note on being nervous about going to Spain and speaking Spanish, I went twice (and once to Mexico) having only studied Spanish in high school. I basically didn't speak much Spanish, which I plan to remedy before going back someday. My husband was so nervous at one point that he responded to a question in Spanish with "No hablo ingles", then quickly walked away due to the embarrassment. I think you'll do better than that!
hahaaaa that is so funny and relatable, I can totally see myself doing something like that 😆
yeah tbh if I can find a community of native speakers to insert myself in (lol) I may eventually not feel the need for italki (at least until I want to test prep or something). it is great, but definitely a much bigger financial commitment than anything else I’m doing for languages!
I total understand your struggle! I am try my hardest to get back at a b1 level by the end of this year. My grammar is A2 but my understanding is B1 sooo…its an interesting combination.
Advice that might work: Have (2-3) different teachers.
1) Teacher that has a low level of English (forces you to speak it)
2)Teacher that teacher grammar/concepts.
3.) teacher for culture content (very optional)
It’s important to play to their strengths…
Hope this is of some help
thanks, that would be a great plan!!
italki is one of those things that I've been like "hmmmmm I kinda want to try it but I also kinda don't" about for a loooong time. Two of the biggest reasons I haven't tried it yet are 1) I'm super cheap and 2) the process of trying to find a good fit for me out of the sea of teachers seems so daunting. It was really interesting to see you navigate that issue as well, and it's good to see that you found someone that seems like a good fit by the third teacher.
Also, it's so funny to me how people get so embarrassed/shy to let someone know that they are dissatisfied or don't want to continue, even though it's a super normal part of any paid service. I'm super terrible about this myself -- when I got my perm, when it turned out WAY different than I wanted, I was so focused on hiding my expression so the hairstylist wouldn't see that I didn't like my hairstyle. Like, I'm literally paying her (and quite a bit, at that!) for a service -- why am I so nervous that she'll find out I'm not in love with it?? Rationally it makes no sense, but I do it every time.. 😮💨
same!! i honestly wasn’t sure I was ever going to do it because of the cost, but i decided to try it out & im asking for italki gift cards for my birthday 🤣 I’m planning to buy a lesson pack and then see how I feel from there. my cheapness has been temporarily overridden by my lack of motivation to find language partners 😅
yess it’s so funny but so true, it’s so hard to do even tho it should be the norm 😬
I really feel this video. It's definitely hard to find a teacher you 'vibe' with. There are some tutors that I enjoy taking lessons with but I feel like I didn't really learn much? Whereas some tutors, I leave the lesson with abundant knowledge but I did dread their lesson beforehand. Some lessons depending on my energy and hence anxiety levels are just hard to get through. Trying new tutors can be time and money consuming... I currently have 2 community tutors I use for convo practice, I have to stop taking lessons with one but even then it's hard to figure out who I want to drop. There's so many factors involved including price, how much did I enjoy that lesson, how comfortable did I feel talking to them, do I dread their lessons, did I learn a lot etc.. I'm in the midst of wanting to try another tutor as well...
I think it's really hard to find a good teacher as a beginner. The better you get at your target language the more compatible you are with people who speak your target language in general and this makes iTalki go better. It's a little bit of a catch 22 but maybe you can find someone you like. I was trying to use iTalki to help my Korean but I just don't think it's useful because teachers just want to switch to English to make sure I understand. If I trully didn't understand their Korean at all I wouldn't say I understand. I get where they're coming from but really - I almost want to make a new account and say I'm from Germany or something and pretend I can't speak any English.
yes, I have been surprised by how prone people are to switching to English! i expected most teachers to be very strict Spanish-only. to her credit, the first teacher was very strict Spanish-only.
I was disappointed with italic- one teacher cancelled for our first lesson; another time I confused the time difference and the teacher was totally unsympathetic. The admin was not very helpful. I still have a credit there from the cancelled lesson so not sure what to do.
Oh no! That’s disappointing. Maybe third time will be the charm? 😬
@@joreneelanguages thanks, maybe!
I use Lingoda and italki for Spanish - overall I like having the structure of lingoda and also having other students to bounce ideas off (well also reassuring myself that I am at the correct level!), I find there’s less awkwardness than with italki as you know exactly how the lessons going to pan out (regardless of the teacher). I currently only use italki to practice writing skills as this functionality isn’t really in Lingoda- even then I still find it somewhat awkward
it’s definitely a trade-off, you get a lot more flexibility with italki but that can lead to feeling dissatisfied if things don’t work out with a teacher. I’m glad both are working out! i am definitely keeping lingoda in mind for future