by Olly RichardsLooking for an honest LanguaTalk review?
LanguaTalk burst onto the scene in 2021, and it's been rapidly growing ever since.
LanguaTalk offers live, one-to-one language lessons with experienced tutors in (so far) 16 languages. What makes LanguaTalk stand out from other platforms is the intuitive interface, and the quality of the tutors.
Unlike other sites which accept almost anyone who applies, LanguaTalk's founders spend hours each week reviewing applications and have years of experience in spotting the most talented and passionate language tutors.
LanguaTalk is based on the premise that the quickest way to success is to take lessons based on your needs and goals. Add a tutor focusing on you, not a classroom full of students, and you've got a winning recipe.
The site aims for fairness, transparency, flexibility and ease of use for the tutors and their students.
They're getting many fantastic reviews from learners and teachers, so let's dive in to this LanguaTalk review and see what this language tutoring site is all about.
LanguaTalk Review: A Summary
The Good
- High-quality tutors
- Lessons are one-on-one and personalised to your needs
- Provides plenty of speaking and listening practice to develop conversational skills and beat the fear villain!
- Work in the time frames that suit you best
- Easy-to-navigate website
- FAQs that cover almost every question in the book
- All customer support is currently done by LanguaTalk's founders, Don and Alex, so you know you're talking to a real person who's motivated to sort the problem asap.
The Bad
- For some of the very niche languages, the choice of tutors is slightly limited
- You can't reschedule a lesson less than 24 hours out, which doesn't help if you have an emergency. However, the site does point out that the policy provides income protection for the tutors, who'd be unlikely to refill the time slot. And sometimes tutors are willing to make exceptions.
The Cost
LanguaTalk tutors are freelancers and set their own prices per lesson.
Most tutors charge between $10 (£8) and $28 (£23) per hour, with prices varying based on language, experience, qualifications and student demand.
Prices are also discounted slightly for multi-lesson packages, and many tutors also offer 30-minute classes.
The Verdict
If you're looking for an experienced tutor who will teach to your needs, then LanguaTalk is an excellent place to start. As the name suggests, it's a great place to talk. Still, many tutors offer help in preparing for exams, learning business language and more.
What Is LanguaTalk?
LanguaTalk is a language-learning startup that offers tutors and learners a platform to connect and begin a language journey together.
Each tutor creates an introductory video and writes a promo and a profile. Anyone can see the videos and promos, but you must sign up for LanguaTalk to read the extended profile and book lessons. It's free to sign up — you're only charged for the classes you take.
All LanguaTalk tutors must have experience in teaching and generally teach their native language. Many of them work through more than one platform.
Still, they're particularly enthusiastic about LanguaTalk because it's so easy to use and charges them less commission than similar sites. Since the platform only accepts around 10% of its teaching applicants, you can be sure you're working with the best of the best.
There's little wonder the tutors seem to love LanguaTalk. But their students seem equally impressed with the quality of teaching and by how easy it is to navigate the website.
You can book trial 30-minute lessons with as many tutors as you like (no questions asked). Your first trial is (usually) free, but after that, trials cost 30% of a standard lesson. The trickiest part of the process is selecting a tutor because they all seem terrific.
What's Included In LanguaTalk?
- Your choice of tutors offering personalised lessons in English, French, Spanish, Italian, Romanian, Dutch, Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Swedish , German, Korean, Greek, Russian, Arabic and Thai!
- Detailed profiles and videos from each tutor help you decide which to choose.
- Tutors set their own rates, and you can filter your search to suit your budget.
- Free or discounted trial lessons.
- 55-minute lessons (charged singly or as a package).
- Screen sharing functions (to review documents together).
- Texting function (your tutor can quickly text a correction instead of interrupting your chain of thought while you're speaking).
- Choose to receive your lesson via Skype, Zoom, Google Meet or Whereby (tutors offer at least two options.)
- Lesson times are shown in your time zone.
- Straightforward booking system – and notifications so you remember to show up on time
- Blog posts and guides on learning languages
- French, Spanish and Italian podcasts
- A comprehensive help section
A Look Inside LanguaTalk
First Impressions
When the LanguaTalk home page appears on your screen, there's no fuss, frills or fancy marketing.
Instead, you get a clear message to “supercharge your learning with a 5-start language tutor” and an invitation to book a free trial. Simplicity personified.
Understated links at the top take you to tutors and reviews. Scroll down, and you'll find more information and links.
The whole website is fast, uncluttered and easily navigated. Every link answers questions or takes you where you want to be.
Logging in is equally refreshing — quick and uncomplicated, with no ads, banners or distractions. LanguaTalk makes it easy to book more lessons, see past lesson records, or find a new tutor.
Booking A Trial Lesson
I couldn't believe how easy it was to book a 30-minute trial video lesson. Select a language, filter for time, price, motivation and age, and you're in.
Up comes a list of profiles, with video and written introductions. The videos give you a taste of the tutor's personality and teaching style, and the written notes provide extra information. Put together, it's easy to work out if you'd be a good match.
Once I'd created a profile, I selected a tutor, and a calendar appeared showing available slots in my time zone. After choosing one, I answered a few questions about myself and chose my preferred video conferencing software.
I confirmed the booking via email and found that the meeting link was already set there in my profile. I booked several excellent lessons on LanguaTalk. The tutors logged in promptly, and the lessons flew by.
Diving Into A Personalised Lesson
First, the tutor assessed my language skills while discussing my goals and preferred learning style. I'm a little rusty in some languages, so my main goal was simply to have a conversation.
Many people get nervous when talking in an unfamiliar language (even me!), but my tutor put me at ease by accepting my mistakes and keeping the conversation going.
Instead of correcting everything, we selected one grammatical area. She then focused on helping me improve that while we talked.
Some reviews mention the texting function. I found it constructive when the tutor types what you should say and corrects you verbally. Using sight and sound helps to cement the concept more easily.
The tutor followed up on our lesson by email, including links to helpful videos and homework exercises. All in all, it was a thoroughly rewarding experience.
What I Like About LanguaTalk
This platform is all about connecting students and top tutors with minimum hassle and maximum benefit to all parties.
The website is easy to navigate, well designed and highly intuitive. All that makes it a piece of cake to find a tutor, book and pay for your session. Sync your calendar, and the lesson automatically appears on the date — and they'll send several email reminders too.
Each lesson is made for you. That means you don't have to wade through too easy or overly tricky material.
You can change tutors if you and your initial choice don't gel, no questions asked.
What's Missing From LanguaTalk?
If you're looking for an app, vocabulary practice or gamification, LanguaTalk isn't the place to go. There are no lessons, games or prizes, no bells and whistles.
LanguaTalk doesn't have a community aspect (at least, not yet,) so you can't connect with other learners.
How Much Does LanguaTalk Cost And Is It Worth It?
Tutors set their own rates, ranging from 11 USD (€9/£8) to 40 USD (€35/£30) per lesson. However, most tutors offer discounts if you buy multi-lesson packages.
LanguaTalk uses Stripe to process payments and accepts a range of credit and debit cards. All prices are set and paid in USD, but in your account they’ll show in your local currency so that you can easily understand how much you’re paying.
When searching for a tutor, set your preferred price range to exclude tutors who charge more than you want to pay.
With all that considered, LanguaTalk offers excellent value for money. Given LanguaTalk's low commission, it doesn't get any cheaper for taking lessons with talented tutors.
As the platform focuses on providing a high quality experience, you won't find tutors under $8/h. So if you're looking for dirt-cheap informal tutors and don't care about teaching experience, you'll need to look elsewhere.
LanguaTalk Review: Conclusion
Talking is often the most challenging part of language learning.
Fluent speakers talk fast, and their pronunciation differs from the careful tones in your app or classroom. Worse, if you miss a word or don't understand a phrase, you're immediately lost and may never get back into the conversation.
It's easier if you read and listen simultaneously, but unfortunately, there are no subtitles in the real world.
That's why LanguaTalk's emphasis on speaking with real people (who are also accomplished teachers) provides such a positive learning experience. And why so many students are amazed at their rapid progress.
Using LanguaTalk helps you conquer your fear of speaking a foreign language once and for all. What's not to love about that?
Olly Richards
Creator of the StoryLearning® Method
Olly Richards is a renowned polyglot and language learning expert with over 15 years of experience teaching millions through his innovative StoryLearning® method. He is the creator of StoryLearning, one of the world's largest language learning blogs with 500,000+ monthly readers.
Olly has authored 30+ language learning books and courses, including the bestselling "Short Stories" series published by Teach Yourself.
When not developing new teaching methods, Richards practices what he preaches—he speaks 8 languages fluently and continues learning new ones through his own methodology.
