Italki teachers getting pricey?

[suMMit]

Anyone else think Italki teachers/communtity tutors are getting more and more expensive? Seems like five years ago you could find ones for 5 or 6usd/hr. Now it seems difficult to find ones for 10usd or less an hour, and when they start out inexpensive, they are always raising their rates. I have never really had a teacher that did anything that amazing and I don't get the impression they put much preparation in before a class. More than 10 bucks an hour 3 times a week for me starts to eat into rent money. A current teacher raised her rates this week and I asked her if she could keep giving me the original rate, since I've booked classes with her for a long time.  Thankfully she accepted my proposition. Just curious what others think.

[TheWayfarer]

I've noticed this too. I've had an iTalki account for years, and I used to use it a lot. But now I hardly ever do. Not only have the prices gone up, the website has become a lot less user-friendly. Shame, as it used to be a really good.

[becky82]

I used to chat with 小包老师, and his prices still seem fairly cheap.  He makes YouTube shorts too.

[Ledu]

Teachers are found in schools not platforms and even then there are some disadvantages as a method for improving speaking. Why not practice in the wild instead? You can deputize your own "community teachers". 

[suMMit]

On 2/4/2024 at 9:50 PM, Ledu said:

Teachers are found in schools not platforms

Why do you say that? 

 

On 2/4/2024 at 9:50 PM, Ledu said:

Why not practice in the wild instead?

I do. I also think there is a place for both wild and classroom, and I like both.

[Flickserve]

The community teachers got squeezed out by loads of new professional teachers being classified as community teachers. Rates rose accordingly. 
 

I do miss the people who you could just simply talk to. 

[Guest realmayo]

On 2/6/2024 at 6:47 AM, Flickserve said:

loads of new professional teachers being classified as community teachers

why (and when) did that happen?

[Ledu]

@suMMit

 

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That is a righteous, old-school-style, stream-of-consciousness rant, @Ledu. Well done! 

[suMMit]

On 2/4/2024 at 3:01 PM, TheWayfarer said:

the website has become a lot less user-friendly

 

On 2/6/2024 at 6:47 AM, Flickserve said:

I do miss the people who you could just simply talk to. 

I used to like the option to book a slot with no advance notice(maybe it was one hour). If you suddenly found yourself with some unexpected free time and just felt like speaking Chinese for an hour, you could chose from lots of community tutors. Not sure why they did away with that function. Seems like they could have left it up to the individual teacher to decide.

[matteo]

a good point raised by this thread. 

I started with my teacher at 19 USD, she then raised to 20 and then to 23 in less than a year. 

She basically said that the cut italki takes eats away at her margin. 

 

I'm still with her at 20 USD but had to go through a few loops to find a way to pay her that doesn't have fees. 

I didn't mind that cause I enjoy talking with her and finding a replacement teacher would be a hassle, but 20 dollars is the most I'm willing to pay (plus a bit). By the time you convert them in NZD it becomes a pretty high hourly rate. 

Now I see on her website that she's asking 27 USD, which to me is simply insane -  however, if she does it it means people are ok with paying that much. 

 

My impression, not backed up by any hard fact, is that the online teachers market caters heavily to North Americans; they get paid in USD and to them - especially after the recent inflation surge -  10 more dollars don't make a massive difference. Everyone else around the world is not quite in the same boat tho.

[Steve Kane]

I have used ITalki for a long time and I have also noticed the cost of classes increasing lately. I guess it is just because of inflation. One thing I noticed however, is if you book classes with some teachers in the morning (central europe time) then it is usually cheaper than the evening. Just my findings.

[Jan Finster]

When I had a professional teacher outside Italki she charged 15$ per hour. That was in 2019 though. So, I agree a lay Chinese tutor should not charge more than 10$ per hour.

How about contacting the teacher via Italki and after doing some lessons, move to private lessons with him/her outside of Italki? Then the teachers do not have to pay commission.

[anonymoose]

On 2/4/2024 at 6:29 AM, suMMit said:

Seems like five years ago you could find ones for 5 or 6usd/hr. Now it seems difficult to find ones for 10usd or less an hour

 

I mean, I understand if you don't have a lot of money, then paying $10 an hour can be a strain, but there is also someone giving up an hour of their time not to mention the inconvenience of having to be available at that specific time, plus having to endure listening to a laowai speaking broken Chinese for that hour, all for substantially less than $10 after italki has taken its cut. I'm surprised anyone is willing to do this.

 

Have you considered language exchange? Being in Beijing, it should be very easy for you to find language exchange partners which will cost you nothing. Yes, you will have to give up some of your time speaking English, but that's no different to you asking Chinese people to speak Chinese with you for next to nothing.

[TheWayfarer]

On 2/6/2024 at 2:15 PM, suMMit said:

Seems like they could have left it up to the individual teacher to decide.

I think this is the heart of the issue. When I joined iTalki (back in about 2007) is was very different, and much more wild and free. It's become more slick, commercialized, and confining. I agree with you that they should leave decisions up to the teachers, who can choose if they want to participate in certain features or not.

 

When I first used iTalki, the site was mostly for connecting with speakers of other languages to arrange language exchanges. I can't even remember if speakers could offer paid tutoring originally, but the paid services gradually took over more and more of the site, until that's all it is now: a paid tutoring platform. I miss the informal exchanges. I'd help them with English, they'd help me with Chinese, and it was great.

[anonymoose]

By the way, you could also consider Preply. I've not used italki so I don't know how it compares, but there are loads of Chinese teachers on Preply for under $10/hour.

[suMMit]

I just have kind of noticed the prices creeping up over there years and the loss of instant lesson feature, etc. What inspired my original post was a friend, who also lives in China, wanted to know where I get teachers. His first response after I sent him the link was "F*#k, they're all so expensive". Maybe this is because we've lives in China for a long time and these are more like US prices we're not used to. I have to admit I want my cake and eat it too, I don't want to pay a lot and I also don't have time to do exchanges for free lessons. If it was only one lesson a week, I suppose I'd be okay paying more, but I do like 3-4 classes a week consistently, so it adds up.

 

Which leads me to a different question : Which is better with language, quality or quantity? Would you rather spend an hour a week with an amazing tutor, or 3-4 hours a week with an adequate one? Let's say for Intermediate+ where you're not working on the basics. 

 

 

[becky82]

On 2/8/2024 at 12:24 PM, suMMit said:

Which leads me to a different question : Which is better with language, quality or quantity? Would you rather spend an hour a week with an amazing tutor, or 3-4 hours a week with an adequate one? Let's say for Intermediate+ where you're not working on the basics. 

 

 

I'm currently choosing quality over quantity, and just take one class per week.  My teacher helps me prepare for the HSK6, and since she has more of a science background, I can have conversations with her I can't have with other teachers.  She understands the difference between difficult in the sense of an enjoyable challenge, and difficult in the sense of a punishing task.  And she saves the "your Chinese is very good"s for when I trip up and could use a bit of a morale boost.  And while there's homework, she doesn't override my entire study schedule.

 

Quantity has value too though, especially when you have multiple teachers who express things in different ways.  I also think it's useful to have both male and female teachers.

[TheWayfarer]

On 2/8/2024 at 3:24 PM, suMMit said:

Which is better with language, quality or quantity? Would you rather spend an hour a week with an amazing tutor, or 3-4 hours a week with an adequate one? Let's say for Intermediate+ where you're not working on the basics. 

It depends on goals. If I need someone who can explain grammar, structure, points of usage, etc, then I'd want a teacher with experience (quality). But at an intermediate level or above, I think it's better spend time with native speakers just speaking as much as possible (quantity). I study, look up, prepare on my own, and practise with the native speaker.

 

Still, I ask Chinese speakers who aren't language teachers questions, but I take the answers with a grain of salt. Also, rather than asking 'why', I prefer questions like 'Between X and Y, which sounds more natural to you?' or 'Does X make sense to you?' etc.

[roddy]

Italki charge 15%, so your $10 is $8.50. Then they'll lose a bit on currency conversion / transfer fees. Professional teachers *have* to charge $10 minimum. 

 

Three or four hours is a lot of private lessons. Another way to think of it might be that you're taking up 10% of someone's working week (perhaps more if you're expecting prep time), and you therefore need to be giving them 10% of a reasonable income. I don't know what salaries are like in China so I don't know how fair the $10 rate is, but I suspect it's not yacht money.