What is iTalki?
iTalki is a marketplace that connects native speakers with language learners. There are hundreds of teachers that provide language lessons online from around the world. Students can use it to maintain their language skills or learn new languages from the dozens of languages that iTalk offers including Spanish, French, German, English, and more.
Like Rype, the learning approach that iTalki believes in is learning from other human beings, instead of software. If there’s any skill that is meant to be learned with other people, it’s languages. The main reason is, this is how we learned our native language. And for most of us, the major incentive of learning a new language is to communicate with other people!
How is Rype different from italki?
Like iTalki, Rype provides professional language lessons online with native speaking teachers from around the world. However, Rype is different from iTalki in several key ways. In this iTalki review, we’re going to share with you some of the distinctive features of iTalki, their pros and cons, and how Rype is different.
1. Paying Per Lesson (iTalki) vs. Simple Flat Price (Rype)
When you take a lesson on iTalki, you’re required to pay per lesson or purchase lesson packages. This type of learning may be favorable for some passive learners, but it’s no favorable for those looking to get real results. Here’s why:
1. Like getting in shape at the gym, learning a language requires consistent sessions over time to see results. Paying per lesson is no different than paying per each drop-in session at the gym. There’s a misalignment in incentive, since you have to think about paying each time.
2. Since you are required to pay per lesson, you’re most likely paying a premium price. This is because a teacher has no real guarantee that you’ll continue to be their student, and their incentivized to charge a premium for the one-off lesson.
3. iTalki does have the option of paying a larger lesson package. But this requires you to stick with learning from one teacher, which comes with its own downsides. Your teacher may not be as available as you need them to be, and it requires you to be completely dependent on their schedule.
With Rype, we’ve done the hard work upfront by setting the price for you. Best of all, it’s a flat price that is simple to understand for everyone with zero hidden fees. There’s no need to pull out your credit card every time you book lessons, and you have the flexibility of switching teachers whenever you want.
2. Anyone Can Teach on iTalki. Rype Teachers are Handpicked for Quality
iTalki has tens of thousands of teachers that can teach to their students. This is great news for teachers that want to quickly get set up and start promoting their services. This also means that there are more teachers on iTalki for language students, but quality isn’t ensured.
At Rype, we handpick every teacher through a rigorous selection process that includes a live 1-on-1 video interview. This live interaction allows us to look for not just qualifications, but also professionality and personality, which is crucial for a successful student-teacher relationship. For every 100 language teachers that apply on our platform, only a handful are accepted.
3. Rype is Built for Busy People
We built Rype, specifically with busy professionals in mind. Being busy professionals ourselves before we launched Rype, we couldn’t find the time to learn a language with other solutions. Rype and iTalki both have teachers around the world, which makes it easy to find teachers in different time zones.
Booking a lesson on Rype takes less than 15 seconds, and lessons can be as short as 30 minutes for people on-the-go. You can see all of our matched coaches in your membership portal.
At Rype, we also added one important feature to make learning even more seamless and convenient for the busy individual. We built an on-demand scheduler, which allows you to schedule lessons according to your time availability versus depending on your teacher’s schedule. All you have to do is tell us when you’re free, and we’ll show you language teachers that’s available at that time, whether it’s late at 11PM or early in the morning at 6AM.
4. iTalki Offers Speaking Practice. Rype Offers a Personalized Language Program
iTalki may be for you if you’re just looking to improve your speaking skills. Rype offers a more personalized and complete language program with resources, assignments, and feedback documents that helps you with more than just speaking. If you’re looking to improve your language grammar or writing skills in addition to your speaking skills, Rype offers a strong program to help you succeed.
5. Rype Offers a Free Trial, No Strings Attached
If you want to experience the difference between iTalki and Rype, you can try Rype for free, no strings attached. iTalki offers trial lessons, but you do need to pay upfront for them. You’ll only be asked to join Rype when you’re fully confident that it’s the right solution for you.
Try out Rype’s free introductory offer now.
iTalki Review: Conclusion
In conclusion, iTalki could be a good language learning solution if you’re looking to take a few lessons here and there. There’s no real commitment, and it’s designed for passive learners, similar to a drop-in gym.
At the end of the day, both solutions offer a simple and innovative way to help you learn a language through the connection of humans. Compared to learning a language through a language school, iTalki and Rype offers better value, personalization, and economics.
However, if you’re serious about getting real results faster, Rype is worth checking out. You’ll work with the best language teachers, learn around your busy schedule, and at a fair price.
Try out Rype’s free introductory offer now.
For visual comparison, you can take a look at our benefit comparison chart to get a full picture of our iTalki review, along with some other solutions.
Hope this iTalki review was helpful to you.
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