Italki Review: Italian Lessons

italki differs from the other services in our review of online Italian lessons. While those services offer you self-directed lessons, usually designed like a game, italki does not create any lessons itself. Instead, it serves as a hub to connect you with Italian tutors who can create an Italian curriculum just for you.

Community Tutors are usually just as good as Professional Teachers

On italki, you can choose between two types of teachers: Professional Teachers and Community Tutors. Professional Teachers have formal training and can give you a structured plan to reach your goals. Community Tutors are there to help you with conversation practice. You need to know that Professional Teachers can set lesson prices from $10 to $80, while Community Tutors can charge from $5 to $80. Also, Professional Teachers can teach more types of lessons (Business, Test Preparation, Kids) than Community Tutors, who can only offer General lessons and Conversation Practice. Only Professional Teachers can list their work experience, education, and certificates on their profiles. That said, functionally, we don't see a huge difference between the quality of the lessons you'll receive from one type of teacher or the other. Plenty of Community Tutors are rated just as well by students as the Professional Teachers, so don't rule them out.

New AI personalized program creation tool

italki has just rolled out a cool new AI feature that helps you create a personalized learning program. When you sign up, you start by sharing why you want to learn Italian - we chose "brain training". Then, during the learning program creation process, the AI offered specific goals aligned with that, like keeping the brain active, boosting memory, or supporting a learning disability through language skills. Then, we got to set our learning pace and duration - like 2 hours a week for 10 weeks, or 3 hours a week for 7. (To put it in perspective, studying 19 hours on italki is theoretically like doing a semester of university-level language learning.)

Lessons based on interest

The AI even helps you choose the focus for your first lesson based on your interests. For instance, if you indicated during sign-up that you were interested in art, it might recommend starting with reading and understanding articles about Italian art. Once you're done setting up, italki shows you teachers that match your preferred lesson time and focus. Then, all you have to do is pick a teacher and start your first lesson.

Teacher profiles include introductory videos and teaching materials

italki will show you personalized teacher recommendations, or you can explore popular teachers. italki teacher profiles give you a comprehensive overview of what to expect from a lesson. Arsena, for example, has four years of experience and makes learning Italian (and English, and Albanian) interactive and fun. She prepares lessons for each student, involving listening, writing, reading, and speaking exercises. She also uses a variety of teaching materials, like text documents, video and audio files, quizzes, and presentations. You can see this information in the "Me as a Teacher" and "My lessons & teaching style" sections. You can also check out the teacher's ratings, the number of students they've taught, the total lessons they've given, and their attendance rate. For example, Arsena has a perfect attendance rate and a 5-star rating from 406 students. Profiles also include brief introduction videos by the tutors to help you get a feel for their personalities and accents.

Lessons are between 30 and 90 minutes

Once you've found a teacher on italki that you like, you can easily schedule lessons with them. First, click on the "Book now" button. Then you choose the language you want to learn and the type of lesson - Arsena, for example, offers 30 minute trial lessons for $15, and general Italian lessons or Deep Italian Conversation lessons for $17 each. Next, you decide how long you want the lesson to be. (Every teacher offers 60-minute lessons, but some also include 30, 45, or 90 minute options.) You also pick the date and time for the lesson, which will be shown in your own time zone. Once you've made your choices, you select the tool you'll use to communicate during the lesson. Finally, send a lesson request and wait for the teacher to accept it. You can pay for each lesson individually or buy italki credits to use for scheduling lessons.

3 trial lessons before you need to make a choice

At italki, you can dip your toes in the language-learning pool with three budget-friendly trial lessons from different teachers. You'll get to try various teaching styles and materials, helping you figure out your learning preferences. It's best to let teachers know about your language skills and goals before starting to make sure they can design the lesson for your needs. italki stands behind their service with a satisfaction guarantee, even offering a refund if the trial lessons don't hit the mark. We've reviewed another language tutoring platform similar to italki (though not in this review of Italian online lessons), and, spoiler alert: it wasn't as impressive. They take all the dough from the trial lesson fee and a whopping 33% commission from other lessons. italki, on the other hand, doesn't charge tutors anything for trial lessons and only takes a humble 15% cut from regular lessons. It's clear to us that italki is the more fair and likable of the two.

Save on service fees by buying credits

italki credits are the virtual currency you use to buy lessons on the italki platform. You can either pay for each lesson individually (which incurs a small service fee) or preload your student wallet with italki credits to streamline the payment process. There's a slight benefit to buying italki credits in bulk because you'll save a bit on transaction fees, but the difference is minimal. Remember, if you cancel a lesson or if a teacher declines your request, you'll get a full refund to your italki student wallet. However, be aware that if your account is inactive for more than 12 months, any italki credits you've purchased will expire.

Save on lessons by buying Packages

Lesson Packages are bundles of lessons given by a teacher, often at a discounted rate. For instance, Arsena offers a package of Italian conversation, reading, listening, and pronunciation lessons at 5% off if you buy five lessons. These packages are paid for upfront and are valid for six months. You need to finish all your lessons before they expire. Once you've bought a package, you can't change the teacher or the length of the lessons. If you need to extend or terminate your package, be sure to talk to your teacher first. To schedule your lessons, you'll need to follow the instructions provided on the website. One of the benefits of buying a package is that since you're committing to a set of lessons, it can help you stay focused and consistent in your learning.

Free resources and exercises

Under the community section of italki, you'll find a bunch of free resources. This includes podcasts, exercises, and a platform for asking questions. The exercises are created by tutors and might involve filling in missing words or responding to prompts. Be sure to set the language filter to Italian so that you only see exercises related to your studies. In the questions section, you can ask or answer questions about Italian culture, grammar, or anything else you're curious about. This is a great way to learn from and contribute to the italki community.

A great choice for Italian lessons

Looking to learn Italian for work or school? italki could be your perfect match. Here, learning Italian isn't just about memorizing words for "cat" or "nose", but where you take the reins and set your own goals. Need business lingo or academic jargon? Your tutor won't waste your time teaching you how to say "elephant". They'll zero in on what matters to you. This means with italki you're not just learning Italian, but learning the Italian that's useful to you. We recommend italki as a great choice for Italian lessons because, no matter your skill level, your lessons will be tailored just for you.

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On the italki website