There are many great reasons to learn a language. But there are also plenty of great excuses not to! If you find it hard to stay motivated, and your progress stalls over time, then maybe it’s worth considering how a real teacher can help you to meet your language-learning goal? I recently joined Italki – perhaps you’d also like to AND save a few USD with my Italki Promo Code?
I’ve had an international partner for 6 years, but only in the last few months have I made serious efforts to begin learning their language – Dutch.
My weak attempts at learning the language have included:
- Occasionally spending 10-30 minutes per week playing on DuoLingo language learning app
- Downloading PDF textbooks and trying to learn Dutch grammar.
- Watching Dutch language cartoons and shows to try and ‘absorb’ the language
But more recently my motivation has increased. I’ve found that under lockdown I’ve wanted to make better use of my spare time. I realized that I personally needed some ‘skin-in-the-game’ and so paid for a DuoLingo pro subscription. This increased the time I spent on DuoLingo, and I have been spending a few hours a week improving my vocabulary. It’s now over 1200 words!
As my motivation and progress has increased, and my basic vocabulary developed, I realized I really wanted to be able to improve my speaking skills. It feels like an entirely different skillset, and really, is the main goal.
So, I have started to participate in DuoLingo group speaking events. Whilst these are great for getting 10-15 mins speaking practise in a casual setting amongst friendly beginners, I found that I wanted to a pursue a more structured and personal lessons, that would give me lots more speaking opportunities and 1-to-1 coaching.
After some web searching I found Italki, which is a language-learning website which has really reasonably priced ($5 to $20 USD per hour) language tutors who could help improve my speaking. They have community and professional teachers, suiting people who want simple conversation practise or a structured lesson package. I’ve found there to be a broad range of teachers and conversation partners to choose from, with great filtering criteria, including lesson times, price, native speaker etc. I’m currently trying out three teachers whilst I find my favourite!
I joined on my own without an Italki promo code, which meant I didn’t get a sign-up bonus. If you’d like a sign-up bonus you can click on the link below and get $10 USD in Italki credits.
All you have to do is:
- Follow the link below to get to Italki
- Sign up and buy $20 Italki credits to pay for your online lessons.
- Receive $10 USD in Italki credits.