I’m N2 with no conversational ability – do you have iTalki teacher recommendations?

11 comments

1. Have you considered HelloTalk? It’s free and you might even get real friends to hang out with when you visit Japan.

2. You have a very specific situation that I don’t fit in. That said, I’ve tried iTalki and I’ve also been on the teaching side for proficient speakers (native Japanese wanting to improve her English).

   iTalki is a good resource as you can rotate teachers to find one or more that fits your needs. I usually call it “rent-a-native speaker” that’s better that language exchange (hard to keep it even), or E/J discords/websites (very mixed bag of results).

   A few things to try

   * Record the session (get permission) to listen to later.
   * Record yourself ahead of time reading a piece of Japanese or shadowing a drama or TedX talk. Play it for the tutor to critique your pronunciation so you can hear it as well.
   * Work with them on one to three paragraphs of something you can speak outloud. It can be a self-introduction, talking about your week, aspects of your job, etc. Have them record their speaking this dialogue for you to shadow later.
   * Simple discussion.

   My student for example over the year or so has written up perhaps an hour of dialogue about herself, her job, her trip, her cat, her children, etc. The immediately useful dialogue were for explanations to English speaking patients about off-base procedures as she’d repeat those often.

   Anyway, something to consider.

3. I had a tutor, it’s not worth it, better find a free native speaker who wants to learn English using a matching site. yes you spend half the time “teaching” English, but what you learn is at least twice as potent as classroom style lessons and a lot more fun.

   Find someone where you can coop a game together, from minecraft to elden ring, you’ll be forced to talk to get by!

4. Personally I’ve been using Tandem to talk to native Japanese speakers who want to practice their english conversation skills as well. It works pretty well. I have a few video chats a week where we spend some times working on my Japanese listening and conversation skills, then working on theirs in English. I like it since it’s completely free and lets you find people who are as eager to learn as you are. The only real downside is that most of the people on the app are not teachers, but for working on conversation, especially normal conversation, it’s very useful.

5. I’ve been doing italki for about a year and I really like it. I like the one on one conversation, focused soley on you and without distraction. I just like the practice. DM me and I can tell you my tutor recommendations if you are interested.

6. How about…

   [Charlie-Brown-987](https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/ubz9cn/%E3%82%B7%E3%83%84%E3%83%A2%E3%83%B3%E3%83%87%E3%83%BC_daily_thread_for_your_simple_questions_and/i67yz51/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3)

   *Edit for the ugly link*

7. Sorry for not answering the question. Just want to say I am in the same boat. HelloTalk is too social for my lifestyle, and Tandem takes a lot of time on the teaching side too. I tried about 10 different teachers on iTalki for conversation practice, but really still not finding one that really help me boost my speaking skill. I really want to know how people look for good iTalki teacher for conversation practice.

8. I use a tutor from Italki every week. My ability to speak and listen is far beyond my ability with Kanji as a result. Happy to point you at my teacher if you’re in the market

9. Its not that unusual, many self-learners (including myself) focus on reading.

   If your pronounciation is bad find a youtube video that will show you the correct jaw/tongue position for each sound and make it a habit. Getting that right in the beginning will pay off.

   Shadow and read outloud until you can make the sounds correctly, there is considerable physical skill required to speak a different language and IMO its easier to work that out solo than during paid tutoring. The common conjugations should all be automatic.

   If you’ve gotten that far pretty much any tutor should be able to lead you into free conversation fairly easily. You can probably go from 0 to maybe 70% speaking ability in 15 hours.

10. I’m actually on the same boat.
    Like, EXACTLY.

    I had tried many tutors but when they saw that I understood everything they were saying, they slowly gravitated from conversación to “do you know this grammar” and not make me talk anymore.

    So I recently found some online group lessons. They are actually targeted towards N4-N3 students. I thought it might be a waste of time, but I was willing to risk paying one month to see if it was gonna be any help. The fact that there are other students forces the teacher to stay at the intended level.

    He usually puts a picture on the screen and we have to make a story with it.

    While my vocabulary is vast compared to the other students, my grammar mistakes are sometimes on par with them because I know how to recognize them but not how to use them. And we take turns talking, so nobody hoards the speaking time.

    Maybe you can do something similar. Look for a class geared towards lower levels. Take a couple of trial classes. It might seem like a waste of time, but looking for the right tutor and method is actually is an investmentだと思うよ。

11. If you live in Japan why not a language school? I get online conversation lessons from a Tokyo based school. You have plenty over there and a lot of them do online lessons too nowadays (so no commute for you).

    Also if you use italki look for profesional teachers with real experience. They are not as cheap but the results in my opinion are better.

    Finally if you live there just try to speak at any opportunity you have. The best way to practice any language is just to try as much as possible with natives. I know it’s difficult at the beginning and there is a mental barrier first that you need to pass. But I’m not even N3 and I try to speak as much as I can about anything and not afraid to make mistakes (that’s also the only way to learn!)