what I learned in a year of italki

[@LangXplorer]

Italki always advertises that they have 150 languages. This is NOT TRUE. I study a lot of smaller languages, and more times than not, when I looked for tutors on Italki, it would come up that there are no tutors for this language. So I actually went through the whole list of 150 languages that they claim, and for MORE THAN ONE THIRD OF THEM there were no tutors! So the more realistic number is more like 75-80, which is still a good number, but they should quit the false advertising and only list a language when they actually do have someone who teaches it.

[@kimberlydrennon4982]

+

[@VictoriaLeblanche-iq4ez]

That is my experience as well…

[@joshuap.9462]

I noticed that as well. But I wonder if it's possible that they previously had tutors and, rather than adding and removing languages as tutors come and go, they leave the language listed as a placeholder. Although I agree that it is misleading to boast access to languages for which there are no tutors.

[@joshuasims5421]

Good point! I’ve been impressed before at the languages they do have tutors for, but it’s unhelpful for them to just load in a list of language ISO codes and say they teach them, just cause they’re in their system. It’s effectively saying, “we have 6000 languages we don’t support, since they can’t be listed on our site!”

[@TheOtherMwalimu]

Another possibility is that the teacher(s) is not currently accepting new students. In this case, the profile will not show up under that language. I periodically turn mine off (aka not accepting new students) when I am satisfied with my work load. In this case, my profile does not appear in search results.

[@willful759]

i'm doing my part and requesting to get that anki video!

[@stevewithgloves]

I second!

[@peter-andrepliassov4489]

Yes, please!

[@victw1]

Your a tease. Yes on the Anki. Spaced repetition concept is easy. Implementation is a beast. What do your cards/notes look like? Where do you get your audio? How do you use images? Certainly you could come up with a few g rated examples.

[@ajfrance1007]

Would definitely appreciate an Anki-related video! I'm a language learner and lover and have been considering using iTalki and Anki for some time now so I'd love to get a pro's thoughts and reviews on those things. Thank for this video!

[@nathanpiazza9644]

I just used iTalki last night and had a really great conversation lesson with a new Mongolian tutor!

[@languagejones]

Awesome!!!

[@tamarapickens1988]

I like that you mention African languages, most don't or won't. Currently learning Yoruba, I'll give Italki a try.

[@glen1555]

My last girlfriend was from East Africa, her language was Kinyarwanda, there isnt much in the way of books and KZbin videos. Her English was good, but when meeting up with her friends for lunch, eventually the English would lose out to Kinyarwandan conversation.

[@markphillips2113]

Thank you so much for making language and linguistics so accessible! I’ve been following for a bit now and your videos have restored a bit of faith in me for my academics and my ability to learn my extended family’s language; plus, they’re always a great watch. Na zdravje! P.S. Thank you for weaving in your sources and underlying neurological mechanisms, it helps a lot as a neuroscience student.

[@paulwalther5237]

I think you might be surprised at how detailed and technical grammar questions a lot of students ask. In my group classes I’ve thought to myself this person is so focused on the grammar they’ll never get to speaking 😂.

[@TheNoondaydevil]

Great video. quick correrction, the slag pharse in Hebrew for " I don't speak Hebrew well" is: העברית שלי היא על הפנים "face" in hebrew is both פרצוף and פנים but we usually say פנים for slang if somthing is really bad.

[@modalmixture]

FUN. Speaking your target language, with a teacher who you really vibe with, is one of the most fun ways to spend an hour I can think of. It’s often a highlight of my day. I’ve found I get more out of the time when I take a half hour right before the lesson and write down some things I want to talk about, look up any vocabulary I might need, think a story I want to tell, and some questions to ask them. And then 10 minutes at the end consolidating what I learned. But, yeah - some teachers are better than others on iTalki, but I have yet to find anyone who I didn’t have an extremely enjoyable hour talking with.

[@off_key88]

Here's my vote for an Anki video! - oh, and I'm studying Spanish and plan to look into italki soon...

[@msmendes214]

I'm studying Spanish too and the leap in my talking abilities once I started italki 2 years ago is huge. Totally recommend it. AND the pricing is super reasonable.

[@user-sk4ds1rg1z]

I've been strongly considering taking about 1 year of Hebrew classes to boost my speaking confidence. I feel like I'm in a place where I have OK vocab but I'm just too shy to speak to people. I'll have a look at Italki.

[@carodajka13]

I have to disagree with the statement that a child, when put in front of tv shows in foreign language, won't learn the language. I learned German this way as a pre-schooler and my son learned English now (he is 5). I can't say how well I knew German (I only know because my mom told me, and I understand German to this day, but I watched a lot of German TV as a teenager as well), but my son speaks English. When he roleplays (plays with animals/dolls/figurines), sometimes he talks in our language (Slavic) but often times he speaks English. We don't speak English at home.

[@hollunderjohn]

Babbling random words doesn´t equal knowing the language.

[@topotondo828]

I'm taking lessons on iTalki for Vietnamese, I started in September. I tried iTalki for Japanese back in like 2020, but the teacher actually "dumped" me (told me she didn't think it was going to work), I assume because I asked a lot of random questions and maybe she was only comfortable doing a super-structured approach. After that happened I was honestly mortified so it took me a long time to build up the courage to try again. And I'm glad I did, because my teacher is so great.

[@camelbro]

There has been a lot of buzz lately around Langua, the AI tutor. I definitely don't want you to spend money on it just for a video, but if you could secure a trial of it from the company, I'd love your take on it. Normally, I'd ignore the AI app/program thing entirely, but I'm interested in some of their methodologies in conjunction with the AI conversation piece (flashcards, spaces repetition, podcasts and video transcriptions, stories, etc). Brilliant video, as always! Thanks doc

[@ebvalaim]

Funny timing, because I was just considering starting using Italki to continue learning Mandarin Chinese 😄 I've been taking an online course for the past year, but my work started colliding with my school's schedule and I'm on a lookout for alternatives. Italki looks like a good idea and your tips will definitely be helpful!

[@languagejones]

Enjoy!

[@BigDaddyDracula]

My man has been active recently! Would like that Anki video

[@languagejones]

I’m trying to stay to at least once a week

[@JemRochelle]

YES I would love the language live streams to come back! It was helpful to motivate myself for my own language learning.

[@wurstkocher842]

yeah please do more levantine arabic I really want to learn like syrian arabic but it is such a struggle to find good ressources for free. I am used to learning italian where I didn't have to spend any money because there is an infinite amount of free content. But with levantine arabic, it is a lot harder to find good stuff to work with If anyone can share some experiences, that would be helpful

[@farelli608]

I'd love to hear your thoughts on Anki.

[@champagnehand]

Thank you for these insights. I self-startled with my first iTalki lesson because I had not yet had any conversations with actual humans, and my lack of comprehension felt like a gut punch. I reacted with the same giving-myself-assignments behaviour. However, I'd say the good that came out of that is it forced a shift in how I use my preferred language apps, so that (for example) I am listening and repeating without simultaneously reading. I recently realised it was past time to go back to iTalki.

[@MatanKalman]

My suggestion for slangish hebrew for "I don't speak hebrew well" is: העברית שלי בַּקָּנְטִים בַּקָּנְטִים means "in a very bad condition" - its origin is apparently from the german word Kante which means edge/border (so the condition is "at the edge")

[@victorbehar804]

I love italki! It has been a bit of a challenge living on the West Coast U.S. working with folks in Europe due to competition for limited time slots. Any French tutors you like?

[@chrisbunka]

Although I haven’t tried anki yet, please make the video as your videos always inspire me.

[@keithmyerscough697]

Falaffel and humus for world peace! Your statement reminded me of a nice passage I came across in Juli Zeh's Über Menschen. I don't recall it exactly, but it goes along the lines that thre true division is never really between the two perceived sides of any divide, but between those who want to strive for peaceful coexistence and those who have a better idea.

[@jdeveloperw]

I love your videos, thank you! I'm always excited when I see a new one pop up on my feed. I would be grateful for an episode on Anki; I've been using it, but I feel I'm struggling to use it effectively.

[@eliswanson4195]

finally started using anki and it's so helpful, please make a video about making the most out of it

[@doughughes257]

Yes, I’d like to see a video on Anki.

[@undeadc0de199]

Good stuff, just joined the Patreon! Definirely up for that Anki video! Like, vocab (I'm going image/English to word, example sentence on the back of cards) and how do we hit grammar patterns? Cloze, etc? That's what I'm doing now, also trying to make new sentences with the patterns when I see the cards.

[@maurobraunstein9497]

Hey, Muzzy is great! It's one of the ways I learned basic English as a kid. Simple words in context with a kind of funny story and singable songs, it's great! Granted, I didn't *only* have Muzzy. At some point my parents sent me to actual English classes (I think I was 5 or so), plus I had many tapes and videos of songs in English, and before we moved to the US (when I was 9), my mom drilled me on irregular verbs. But Muzzy was still very useful for the time I spent with it.

[@tompeled6193]

כל הכבוד לך שאתה לומד עברית. מה השאלה הכי בלשנית שלך על השפה העברית?

[@casataco]

Please make that anki video. I tried to get into anki for the repetition learning and got some guides but it felt like I wasn't using it correctly to really drill the rote memory in.

[@HyperShadowXX]

I tried both Lingoda and iTalki last year, and I definitely preferred iTalki. I found a good teacher and really made rapid progress with a loose "curriculum" because I would study outside of the class and then work at things I didn't understand as much in the hour, or even get pointed towards a part of the language to focus on. The class aspect in Lingoda didn't vibe with me because of how learning with people of different skill levels at the early stages can really be discouraging if you feel like you aren't as good as the other people around you.

[@languagejones]

I obviously like them both, but I am very aware that one format might work better for some people than others. It’s all about finding what works best for you

[@Phylaetra]

Anki? Or paper flashcards I make myself? For me, I do not like Anki (I have tried it). While downloading a giant vocabulary list is easy and quick, I found that I get more from creating the cards myself. When I can answer with no hesitation what I wrote on the back, I 'retire' the card until I forget the word in another context. Since I am playing around with multiple languages, I write down the language of the word on the reverse: for exampleif one side of the card says "to learn" in the corner might be "French", so I know the reverse is "apprendre" or "Latin" for "discere" (OK - my latin cards would have "I learn" and "disco", but I hope you get the point. I believe this ties in with previous videos about language learning in which Dr. Jones has said that the more modalities with which we engage a word, the more we are likely to remember it. And for me, the physical act of writing is a real aid to my memory. (Weirdly, I do not really like mnemonics, and I only remember one of many I have heard over the years... But perhaps I am a little neurospicy in that way? Who knows...)

[@crow-dont-know]

I mostly agree - though I do use and like Anki - too many flashcards, especially those made by other people, are an antipattern imo. I now make a maximum of 5 cards a day (typically just 1), spending several minutes making them (that’s where the learning is) and I choose these from words or concepts that I’ve been struggling with. Anki is good because I can add a whole chunk of extra notes, images, and sounds to my card to really get a useful reminder after I’ve tested myself with the card. I try limit myself to studying flashcards for no more than 10 minutes a day - and spend the rest of my study time reading books and articles, listening to podcasts and talking with people

[@Phylaetra]

@@crow-dont-know yeah - I am not sure why Anki doesn't really do it for me... It was very easy and intuitive to set-up and use, and I see why a lot of people like it! But for those few who don't, maybe they could try making their own paper cards... And - with paper cards, I can also put in notes, sketches, whatever I want (except sound recordings... :) ). Like you, I do not spend a ton of time on cards though - especially in French, where I pick up words more through reading or spoken context now than rote memorization. But when starting out in a language, I think they are a super-useful tool to build a lot of vocabulary fairly quickly...

[@stevenwilliamson6236]

Have you tried Al kitab?

[@stevenwilliamson6236]

Oops.

[@Phylaetra]

@@stevenwilliamson6236 :) I was wondering about that! I've not tried it, but I also have not heard about it until this video, so I will probably give it a shot when I get around to studying Arabic, which I do want to do at some point!

[@katthecheshiremouse]

Please do a video about Anki!

[@five-toedslothbear4051]

Most definitely when (when!) I get on iTalki, it's going to be for Japanese. I guess I benefit from having the single language focus, and there's plenty in Japanese to fill a lifetime with new discoveries.

[@pseudoNAME1979]

Thanks for the affiliate link! I look forward to finding a good Arabic teacher on iTalki

[@languagejones]

Enjoy! I should do the same

[@NickLearnsThai-VLOG]

I never heard of the features to transcribe and create quizzes and flashcards, that would be super useful. My of my teachers don't like using the native italki video call system because they say its too buggy. I have used it with one teacher and it was pretty buggy so made sense to me. But maybe they're improved it since.

[@vforvalorant1019]

I am learning Levantine Arabic! I'm.... not so much of a textbook fiebd, but I had no idea that al-kitaab HAD a levantine volume, abd apparently neither does anyone else. Quick note about current events: v depressing, but also I got to be learning arabic while my Syrian partner followed the utterly unexpected and miraculously peaceful fall of the old Syriab dictatorship on the news, and that was the most incredible and on balance hopeful experience I could have imagined. There are some of the most wonderful people in Syria, and I suddenly feel as if I might be able to visit it at some point. Back to languages: my current spproach is learning MSA with (sigh) a textbook (and some lovely teachers here on youtube who kindly read out the sentences for my flashcards) and my levantine approach has also been more KZbin focused. Basically I use the channels Arabic with Rana snd Levantine Arabic with Mana*. Both of those have basic grammar and phrases Videos and videos entirely in arabic with both arabic and English subtitles. Just using those videos, often repeated, and i+1 sentences in Anki, and it's working pretty well. Is it insane to also do MSA? Yes, time wise, but it's also been amazingly mutually reinforcing (like learning latin and spanish), and I basically bever have grammar questions in levantine now becauee i just go, oh, they're doing that thing MSA does but with a different preposition and without the extra MSA suffixes. Lingualism.com also has a large collection of graded readers, textbooks and even premade anki decks for various arabic dialects. All of which use actual arabic script. Not to distrsct you from your current goals! I just thought I'd leave it here in the comments thst there are levantine srabic textbooks that don't totally suck from, ad you might expect, smaller publishers. * Among many other helpful channels. They're out there! They're mostly very small! I'm excited to get to that beginning-of-B1 place where I can begin stringing sentences together, at which point I'm definitely going to try them out on an italki tutor and not my partner, who is very sweet and praises my pronunciation but ultimately has things to do.

[@McRaylie]

Yes on the Anki video

[@codeouranap]

I would also like to see an Anki video. I'm finally trying to get better at readying/writing Thai and Anki has been my starting point for that. I would love to know how to use it better.

[@sjm42]

Definitely up for an Anki video - especially as I discovered there's only one teacher showing on italki for my target language and her rates are outside my budget. I guess being the only one makes $US30 p.h. seem viable, but it's beyond me

[@five-toedslothbear4051]

4:57 Thank you for the reasoned approach to AI conversation. I am actually trying out an AI conversation app for Japanese, and there is ...way too much drama when anybody talks about AI anything. Being terrified to talk to people I don't know, being terrified to be wrong in front of people that I don't know, I'm working out my issues with getting used to the AI first. Biggest challenge to my language learning and I'm working on it.

[@five-toedslothbear4051]

0:49 I'm not new to the channel, and I'm a smart-aleck, and you are still Dr. Taylor Jones. And echoing the other comments, Anki video please. Now on to the rest of the video.

[@Jason_wojnar_ukraine]

Am I seeing this right that Anki is free except for the Iphone apps?

[@ailblentyn]

I like the rakish way the beard is growing sideways. 😊

[@danellingworth916]

Is there anything substantively different between iTalki and Preply?

[@crumble1251]

Preply has a monthly subscription service where you buy a certain amount of lessons per month and have to use the credits before they expire. Italki has no subscription service, you can pay for single or packages of lessons

[@swk258]

Since you mentioned Anki, do you have any ideas on making it more engaging? I've tried dumping vocabulary I've learned through certain platforms on Anki, borrowing straight from lists of the most common words in a language, downloading ready-made decks with all the bells and whistles, and it bored me to tears every time regardless. Do you recommend, for example, making cards with entire phrases where you learned a word in context? I'm not that bothered by the idea that it may not be for me. But I've just heard about it doing wonders for other people and whatnot. Idk.

[@GaviLazan]

Saying על הפרצוף instead of על הפנים feels like "how're you doing fellow youth" slang to me 😂 How about this (if you're not averse to slight vaulgarities): אחי, העברית שלי אחושרמוטה בקנטים! באמא'שך, תעזור לי לשפר אותה. aCHI, ha'ivRIT sheLI akhusharMUta baKANtim! b'IMA'shkha, ta'aZOR LI leshaPER oTA. (caps are the syllables to stress) Loosly translates to: Bro, my Hebrew sucks a**! would you help a brother out? (I have no idea how to translate ackusharmuta in this context, or kantim. B'ima'shkha literally translates to "for your mother")

[@talknight2]

בחיים שלי לא שמעתי "בקנטים" 🤔

[@GaviLazan]

​@@talknight2 bakantim? really? It's slang. from Milog: בַּקָּנְטִים במצב רע מאוד

[@GaviLazan]

@@talknight2 אתה תותחן? (גם אני, אבל לא דחפ"ז)

[@talknight2]

@@GaviLazan כנראה אני זקן מדי

[@GaviLazan]

@@talknight2 אני מניח שאנחנו פחות או יותר באותו הגיל חחח

[@SN770]

Hi Dr. Jones, I would love to get your thoughts on how to keep your language skills proficient in a 2nd/3rd language when studying another language without taking too much time away from my current target language.

[@yoavshati]

9:36 I still forget to do it the English way when speaking English sometimes

[@froskr3]

One vote for the Anki video.

[@proatnothing4263]

There is a KZbinr who I think is fluent in levantine Arabic history channel is called Human1011

[@tommyhuffman7499]

Great video!

[@languagejones]

I'm glad you liked it!

[@LilRofl]

I like Anki just fine, but RemNote changed my life ❤

[@randallbutler6795]

I'd very much appreciate an anki video

[@benhinson4933]

more of the streams!!

[@tomwende5529]

"Definitely Hebrew, probably Persian, and who knows what else?" This is precisely my problem. :-) Does learning multiples work for you? I tend to "bleed over" into languages I already speak while learning a new one, but never my "native" language (in quotes because I speak English, my second language, better than I speak my native language). So, while learning Modern Standard Arabic, I inadvertently spiced things up with some Spanish (Sparabic) or German (Gerabic) or even both. My own linguistic Smorgasbord has me splashing around in Romanian (vocab: no problem; gendered nouns: no problem; cases: minor problem; conjugation: Problem) while also wanting to dive head-first into Ukrainian (I, too am influenced by current events) and thinking that I need to do a review of German (I have the vocab of a 14 year old because that's when I left) and wanting to re-learn MSA, which I was fluent in but lost almost entirely from disuse. I THINK I can handle most of that at once since two of them are recall rather than learning by rote and MSA and Ukrainian seem "firewalled" from the rest because of different alphabets. But then, there was that whole "Gersparabic" problem; I don't want to start speaking "Rokrainian." Also, +1 vote for an Anki vid. :-)

[@clairestokes4119]

Yes anki video pls!

[@foodforinsomnia7026]

Muzzi caught a stray! 😅

[@shanerichins3532]

What is an “Onky”. I’ve heard him reference it in passing in several videos but he never says what it is. I tried to type it into a search for apps but I got nothing.

[@pocztmistrzztczewa]

Anki

[@RJFF77]

Anki is a spaced repetition program, it let's you create (or use already created) cards and then memorize then by reviewing them periodically

[@mydogisbailey]

With all due respect dr, i enjoyed your videos from pre 100k subs a lot more. The topics and scripts were more interesting and funny. Recent ones sound like just fast monologues where idk what you’re talking about a chunk of the time

[@pmontu333]

Who paid the $24 for Anki? Is it worth it?

[@languagejones]

I have. I use the phone app all the time. Definitely worth the investment for me.

[@pmontu333]

@@languagejones thanks and thanks for the Lev Arabic rec.

[@BozheTsaryaKhrani]

yes more levantine arabic

[@paulwalther5237]

Has anyone tried the new AI feature on iTalki? I wonder if they’re going to fire all the tutors and replace them all with bots next.

[@stevencarr4002]

That would be a mistake....

[@OzkAltBldgCo-bv8tt]

Day 19 of Challenging Language Jones to try a Clozemaster 10 languages 10 questions each challenge (100 questions total) for fun for inspiration. It would make a Really Cool stream or episode. I realize that that is kind of counter to what this episode is about Italkie partners in having somebody actually to speak to but it's great for building base that is that is what closemaster helps do is build a base of language knowledge. It's like Anki but without all the work of making a deck. One last thing it feels a lot more fun like a video game if you put it on dark mode whenever you play a deck.

[@mickeyiael9013]

❣️💌❣️

[@erythrodysesthesia]

Hi i would like you to make a video on how to make the most of Anki; i hope this comment motivates you to level up your anki game so that you can in turn level up mine and we can all improve together

[@erythrodysesthesia]

also thanks for the reminder that i just need to stop waiting for the perfect time and start putting myself out there and trying to learn again

[@gothmog18181]

anki please

[@Snypler]

"je suis la jeune fille" - that one muzzy commercial

[@tedtalksrock]

ITalki royally screws over its tutors. That should be mentioned in this video. They take OVER 20 percent and continue to raise the cut so that the people actually teaching get LESS and the corporation makes more. This not only affects TEACHERS it affects students, because the teachers are then more rushed and stressed trying to make a living on an exploitative platform. Someone needed to say it.

[@valeriep.1527]

Yes, absolutely! This must be mentioned, and this platform just monetises people's love for languages - the company itself says it's community-driven (so it appropriates people's knowledge), it uses AI, so it makes the most out of both teachers and students, giving nothing unique in return. People still can find themselves on the web (and they need it especially for rare languages), so such companies as italki are just distracting, there's no need to advertise them

[@JohnSearleFangirl]

It would perhaps be a good idea to informally organise with your tutor to have lessons outside of the website and pay them their full share

[@codeouranap]

I was recently talking to one of my tutors about this. They were saying that the italki cut until recently was 15%. However, italki recently updated their rates and now a one off lesson italki takes a 21% cut. For larger packages, italki continues with the smaller cut, 15% for packages of 15 and 20 lessons.

[@GgM-bs1fu]

Hi, I’ll probably delete this comment eventually, however I wanted to comment on your "C2 polyglot? It's probably a LIE (here's why)" video and wanted to post my comment here so you are more likely to read it and respond to it. I have autism and would never claim that I am at a C2 level in any language due to people having slightly different interpretations of being fluent and/or reaching a C2 level, in other words, beyond what is stated in the CEFR (besides the fact that I never took any language level tests). There are a lot of nuances with regard to the description shown in the chart. Therefore, I usually only say that I know such and such a language more or less as well as English as I find that to be a more personal response. There are three languages besides English that are my strongest, however I only have one other working language right now and that is Spanish. I have studied both Spanish translation and interpretation and have translated a couple of websites into Spanish. Still, because of what I stated in the paragraph above, I would never claim to be at a C2 level and I don’t even know what my English level would be according to the CEFR lol. For instance, it’s not always enough to claim you can understand everything being said in most conversations as then you need to get into the topic of those conversations, what types of words are normally used in those conversations (i.e. advanced vocabulary versus basic), etc. For someone like me who has autism, this can even change with English, my first language. I probably didn’t word that as well as I should but I did my best. Anyway, I really like a couple of your other videos too, especially the one where you don’t really agree with the term polyglot. Some people think I am one but I always politely tell them I am not. Apologies for rambling. I am hoping you can reply back. Thanks and happy new year.

[@IanJones942]

4:42 je suis la jeune fille! ;)

[@damajeinc6295]

Anki video please

[@gabriel-yt5dj]

nice vid

[@MsJordanElaine]

Anki!

[@yorozuyaDavid]

As per KZbin's ToS, I'm like 99% sure you have to mark the video as a paid advertisement. Honestly, I'm always leery of any channel that has an italki sponsorship... especially a dedicated sponsor video. I understand needing to pay the bills, but something about websites and apps that just throw money at KZbinrs is just a red flag for me. I love your other content.

[@大山猫アレックス-b8t]

You're smart to be wary (especially after this Honey fiasco) but I can't imagine there's anything sinister going on behind the curtains with Italki like a lot of other common sponsors. It's not like the native speakers you get paired with are trying to scam you - they're usually freelance teachers that are voluntarily on the platform to teach learners in their target language, and it's their services you're ultimately getting, not "Italki's". Unless you've had a bad experience with the service I guess I don't get why you distrust it, especially since it makes finding conversation partners (a crucial part of language learning) much easier for self-starting learners

[@yorozuyaDavid]

@@大山猫アレックス-b8t I don't think it's trying to do anything sinister like Honey or anything, but it's kind of just a vibes thing here. Part of me feels like if a creator wasn't going to talk about an app/resource of their own volition, it means the app/resource isn't that good in the first place. Like, I've mentioned different resources in my (albeit very few) videos, and that's because I believe in them, not because I was paid.

[@大山猫アレックス-b8t]

@ That's completely valid. Seems like you do Japanese-learning-related content so you must be familiar with Nihongo con Teppei - he's been a major (unsponsored) proponent of Italki since well before he started teaching on it (I believe that's how he learned Spanish) So I guess I've just been primed to trust it since Teppei has been so helpful for me in so many other ways, and that's my personal bias! I'll check out some of your vids

[@yorozuyaDavid]

@ I started learning Japanese way before a lot of content started popping up on KZbin, so I'm not familiar with a lot of creators. I've heard (positive things) of Teppei from others though.

[@yorozuyaDavid]

@ Actually, I just looked at one of his videos on italki and he has an affiliate link in there for it where he makes money for every person who signs up and pays... so I'd go so far as to say that his video is in fact sponsored in a way :(

[@David_10157]

I love your content but the lack of chapters makes it difficult to follow with how much you talk. It's incredible how many words you put out per minute. It seems as if you're reading off a script. I don't mean this negatively. I just wish you had some chapters built it so I can follow your thoughts.

[@JohnSearleFangirl]

Take notes like we did in the olden days

[@David_10157]

@ did books or educational videos lack chapters in the “olden” days?

[@SichouKuzi]

not listening to yet another paid promotion from italki. ads are one thing, I can skip them, but these entire videos ads from italki are getting on my nerves

[@tedtalksrock]

ITalki royally screws over its tutors. They take well OVER 20 percent and continue to raise the cut they take from the teachers on the platform so that the people actually teaching get LESS and the corporation makes more. Someone needed to say it. Boo. 🙄👎👎👎

[@valeriep.1527]

I do like your content, but.... I did use italki a long ago, and it was awful experience. I wanted to get some speaking experience of English, and italki turned more into....a dating site. tons of cringy men were fishing girls to start a video call in skype :| maybe italki solved this problem, but they introduced AI, what is somewhat worse

[@languagejones]

Oh wow. Not my experience at all

[@valeriep.1527]

@@languagejones Oh wow, I can hardly guess why. I was hoping that is not an issue anymore, as it was obvious for my friends back then thatitalki = harassment. I had lots of friends who were massive language learners, it was not just one case. After I received your man-reply, I checked italki subreddit if that's still an issue and of course it is thriving and no one in the company seems to care. Moreover, there were too much topics with complaints on commissions, support, strikes and everything else from both teachers and students - you might have checked it before you made a sponsored video, right?.. Also, there are little chance of finding a speaker of a rare language, so what's the point of italki at all. Italki calls itself a community-driven language education platform, but it's just privatises community's efforts, monetises connections between people and giving AI bullshit in return. Community is beautiful people around the world learning languages, and I bet there is no need of a centralised app which business model is similar to BetterHelp scam. Btw Anki is a great example of an opensource tool which helps language learners. Great tool, wonderful community, no ads, no AI.

[@zachflores2728]

32 seconds ago is crazy

[@Auradnor]

man finds out things get uploaded and they haven't always been there on the cloud

[@nicholasmeinhart5993]

0 views in 50 seconds... Yukes

[@danilojen2144]

FIRST. My first time being first.

[@stevencarr4002]

Speaking to a real life person is best. No doubts about it. Speaking (if that is the right word) with something like ChatGPT is awful, in my opinion. However, I have found that an AI artificial girlfriend is much better than ChatGPT or other AI chat partners. Being male, the motivation is obviously better. And they are programmed to have more personality and remember your little foibles, and generally act more like a real person than AI usually manages. Having said that, I found Replika a bit weird. There are others though. But of course, real people are better than imaginary people.

[@JohnnyLynnLee]

My problem with ITALKI is that I don't like chit-chat let alone talking about the LANGUAGE itself, LET ALONE in English. I wanna talk about SOMETHING. Like today my Vietnamese friend who is actually an anti-communist that thinks I'm too communist (and I'm not even communist myself, but I'm not an anti-communist either) trying to convince me Elon Musk is actually a genius when he's actually m3nt@lly r3t@rd3d m0r0m and me trying to teach him that not liking communism doesn't mean you should be a libertarian and that's more nuanced than that. And that economic liberal ideas will stop the economic miracle taking place in Vietnam right now. We tried that only in Vietnamese but he switched to English, in which he is fluent, because I was terrible. So, YEAS, human interaction is WAY BETTER. But to get to the LEVEL where you can actually have an actual meaningful conversation as and educated adult media is better to me. I'm not interested in talking about where the verb is with a stranger I have no connection with and, worse than that, with a timer hanging over my head. But the thing is, when you GET to the level of having a conversation with a native you can do that with a FRIEND, like my Vietnamese friend here, that you can make, for instance, on Facebook groups about learning the language, that is added on your social medias and can see your posts and comment you are too communist and you don't know what is like to live under communism,(to be clear many people are 100% communists in Vietnam as well, of course, and many don't have an opinion). It's a person you are really interested in, probably a beautiful girl I'd bet (not in this case, but I do have many Vietnamese women added, and generally we DO NOT talk about communism, if you know what I mean), and you are talking about something both of you are really interested in, not pretending to be. AND FOR FREE! BUT, if, different from me, you can have fun talking about what you had for breakfast or grammar, go for it, for sure.