Sunday, December 5th
2021 Korean Lesson Reviews
italki
- Nearly 400 Korean tutors to choose from
- Hourly rates range from $4 to $60+ hour
- Trial rate on first lesson for as low as $1
- Fantastic way to get speaking practice, along with personalized homework, grammar lessons, and other instruction
Korean can be challenging to learn, especially because most of us don't have anyone in our circle of acquaintances we can turn to for practice. That's where italki comes in. This service lets you connect with community tutors (people without credentials in language instruction) and professional teachers (those who do have them) for face-to-face Korean lessons via video.
Browse profiles of nearly 400 tutors
It's fun to browse the listings of almost 400 tutors on italki. Play the intro videos to get a glimpse of their personalities, see how well you're able to understand them in English, and decide if they might be a good match for you. You can click the little heart next to their names to keep a list of favorites. While there are some filters you can use at the top of the page, such as other languages they speak or whether they're a professional teacher or community tutor, we never found them to be very useful. We'd love to see italki add a filter for ratings, completed lessons, or teacher's time working on italki - but for now, you'll have to figure that out on your own.
Teachers and tutors with lots of experience
While there are a lot of tutors on italki who are brand-new or have just a few dozen completed lessons, there are several that have been around for a long time and have over 1000 successful student sessions in their ratings. For example, Unju is a professional teacher we found with 14+ years of language teaching experience in both the US and Korea - and nearly 5,000 completed lessons on italki alone!
Costs
- From $4/hour to $60+/hour
- Discounted rates on your first lesson
Profiles offer great perspective on each instructor
When you click on a tutor profile, you can get plenty of information about how they teach Korean, their background, and what types of lessons they can provide. Going back to our example of Unju, she gives a trial lesson for $10, Survival/Beginner/Intermediate/Advanced Korean classes in 50-minute sessions for $22, and she even offers Korean for Young Learners (grades K-5). You can see how many lessons Unju has taught in each category; not surprisingly, her most popular ones are the Beginner classes with more than 2,700 completed lessons.
Easy-peasy online scheduling for your time zone
Scheduling is extremely easy. Helpfully, italki uses the time it detects on your computer and automatically adjusts to show you lessons in your own time zone. Just click on the calendar of any tutors you're considering and immediately see their availability. When you find an opening that works for your timeframe, you can book it online in just a few clicks. Going back to our new friend Unju's calendar, we were able to get a lesson with her the next day, and there were more than 30 open time slots in the upcoming week.
Thousands of five-star reviews
italki gets lots of praise, both for the company itself and for individual tutors. You'll have a hard time finding anyone here with less than a 5-star average. It's fun - and reassuring - to read through student reviews of teachers and see just how effective and comfortable it can be to take Korean lessons live with a one-on-one instructor.
One-on-one lessons aren't for everyone
And yet, if you feel overly embarrassed when you make mistakes or feel some social anxiety working directly with another person, learning Korean through italki might make you feel uneasy. It's definitely a personalized way to learn, but could be a little much for some students - even with the kindest, most encouraging tutors on the planet.
You'll need a good internet connection + some privacy
The only other reason italki might not work for everyone is the need to have a reliable, fast internet connection, in a setting that allows for speaking freely. These aren't Korean lessons you can study discreetly while commuting to work or in a hushed library!
Best Korean lessons for conversational fluency
Beyond those two small downsides, italki gets one of our highest recommendations for helping people learn Korean. Most platforms can teach you how to read, write, and maybe even recognize the language, but they have a hard time getting students to a near-native fluency level when speaking. Unless you happen to live in a community with lots of Korean-speaking people who are willing to talk with you, there's no better way to get your verbal language skills up to speed than italki.
More Korean Lesson Reviews
The 8 Best Korean Lessons
Where Can You Get the Best Korean Lessons Online?
The language is surging in popularity: just look at the number of K-Pop songs on Spotify and the K-dramas on your favorite TV streaming services and you'll see what we mean. Spoken by 72 million people in North and South Korea plus another 3 million throughout China, Japan and the US, Korean is anything but a dead language!
However, it's not easy to find somewhere to learn it. Sure, you could try and watch a familiar movie with the audio set to Korean, use Korean subtitles, or look for a dusty textbook somewhere, but that's probably not going to help you master the language in a meaningful way. And, unless you happen to have a Korean-speaking community or a university near you, in-person lessons aren't going to be an option either.
Korean Lesson FAQ
Continued from above...
Lucky for you, there are lots of ways to get effective, affordable Korean lessons online. It doesn't matter if you're learning the language for travel, business, or just for fun: you'll have no shortage of options to get the type of instruction that's right for you. Do you want an app that can be used for bite-sized lessons on the go? Video clips with native speakers? Live lessons with your own private tutor? All of the above? You guessed it: there are Korean lessons that deliver in all of those ways.
How can you tell which Korean language program is your best fit? While some of that depends on you - how much time you have to study, your learning goals, your budget, and so on - there are several factors that you should look for as you decide which service to choose for Korean lessons:
- Sample Lessons. The best way to know is to "try before you buy" . Many Korean lesson platforms give you a sample lesson, either on their main page or through some kind of (limited) access to their program. You may want to steer clear of companies that require you to pay for trial access.
- Type of Instruction. The days of learning from a used textbook and dry lectures are over. Today's Korean lessons are delivered in many ways, from animations and slideshows to live video calls with instructors who can help you with conversational skills. Think about your preferred way(s) of learning and choose Korean lessons that match.
- Value. While you can use many services for free, you'll often get the most out of their platforms with a paid subscription or one-time cost. If you're considering a membership, what features will you be able to access? How much content is offered? Will you be able to continue to use the Korean lessons as you progress through different levels of fluency?
- Refund Policy. Once you've paid for your Korean lessons, are you able to get your money back? Some companies give you 30-60 days to really put their program to the test, while others offer no satisfaction guarantee whatsoever. If you really like a provider that doesn't have a refund policy, you may want to choose a month-to-month plan first instead of paying for an annual subscription.
To help you in your language studies, TopConsumerReviews.com has evaluated and ranked the top options for Korean lessons today. We're confident that you'll have all of the information you need to find the right program for you!
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