Article

iTalki Foreign Language Community for Learning Japanese?

italki's front page

italki’s front page

Many of us are in the process of acquiring Japanese as another language. It was by accident I came across italki. I was searching for information on writing kanji and came across a question and answer. After looking around the site, it was then I realized that italki was something I needed.

I’ve had language tutors before. They were helpful, but there are nuisances about in-person tutoring – mainly the drive to the meeting place (I’m kind of lazy). With italki, you can do it all via Skype or Google Hangouts without having to leave the comfort of your room.
italki boasts thousands of teachers and tutors in a lot of languages. Signing up is free, and you don’t have to pay for a thing on the site. If you want professional instructions, you can find a teacher who meets your needs. Or, you can opt for a tutor who might be cheaper. Or, you can bypass it all and find language partners.

My inbox

My inbox

When I first signed up for the site, I got a few emails from people asking me to be their language partners. Some were from people who did not speak my target language (Japanese), but it was nice to know that people wanted to practice their English with me. It was somewhat overwhelming, until I realized I didn’t need to reply to everyone.

My first goal was to find a teacher – someone who can help me get past the plateau I’ve been stuck on for the past year. You can do a trial lesson with a teacher of your choosing at a discounted rate. The trial lets you see if the teacher is someone you want to work with. I opted to try out two teachers and have had the chance to check out one of them so far.

My experience using the site has been positive.  My first Skype lesson using iTalki was relaxing and enjoyable. I thought I would be terrible at speaking and listening, but the teacher I used was very helpful. She gives out homework and uses worksheets she uses at her job – she teaches Japanese to native Japanese speakers. The lesson was fun, and I still remember a lot of what we discussed.

Some other cool features are available on the website. In the community section, you can write notebook entries that can be corrected by others so you can practice writing. There is an area where you can ask questions and people will respond. So if you want to know the difference between two words, you can ask, and a native speaker or one with more language knowledge will reply. You can also write articles on the website and read what others have written. These articles are very helpful.

A list of Japanese notebook entries written by other users on the site

A list of Japanese notebook entries written by other users on the site

There are a minor things that I’ve found annoying on the site, but nothing off-putting. The biggest one is having to buy credits to use on the site for lessons or packages. If you want to buy credits, there is a small fee, and they encourage you to buy more credits at one time because the fee is less when you do so.

The other (minor) issue are people wanting you to chat with them. I’ve gotten quite a few emails (nine in the past six days) of people looking for language partners. You can delete the emails, though, so your inbox doesn’t get cluttered.

The other thing to watch out for, and it’s not the fault of the website, is that some of the Japanese teachers are in Japan. What this means is there will be some wacky scheduling due to time differences. Some teachers have lessons at two a.m. my time because they are on the opposite side of the planet. Haha. Thankfully, I can find reasonable lesson times, and I’ve discovered in my time zone, eight p.m. is my sweet spot. There are native Japanese speakers, and non-native but highly advanced Japanese speakers who live in other time zones. So if you find late nights and early mornings are a no-can-do, there ARE options.

If you are learning Japanese and it’s your first time with online tutoring, I’d suggest reading this article by a Japanese teacher. It is nerve-wracking if you haven’t done it before or aren’t used to speaking to a native Japanese speaker. The tips and useful phrases are solid for your first tutoring lesson.

We all know learning Japanese in isolation is very hard. This site has been a great resource for me so far, and I would encourage you to give italki a try if you know no one who understands Japanese. If you have questions about using the site, leave a comment. I’m still fairly new to the site, but I’m excited to share this resource with you!

Adrienne
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