How to Learn Any Language with the iTalki App?

Language learners often engage in a variety of activities to improve their skills. This typically includes completing tons of grammar exercises, honing their writing abilities, spending hours listening to audio materials such as podcasts, and watching films with subtitles. The iTalki app can help you with the latter purpose.

This is a Chinese platform for learning foreign languages via video lessons that connects five million students and 10 000 teachers. It supports both popular languages such as English, German, Spanish, Chinese, etc. as well as such rare languages as Africaans, Basque, Armenian and others.

Though, a phone number is only one of the options for iTalki registration, if you prefer this method and want to avoid disclosing your personal number, SMS-man will help you here.

How Does iTalki Work? 

On the platform, you can learn foreign languages at any time that is convenient for you with frequency that suits you best. You can also choose teachers yourself with suitable prices and set the lesson length — duration can be from 30 to 90 minutes. And for all this, you do not need to subscribe or follow any strict schedule.

So, what is iTalki when it comes to the main features of the service? Here are the primary ones:

• Huge database of teachers. There are about 10 thousand educators on the platform, both native and non-native speakers, sometimes speaking several languages. To search for a native, you need to put a special checkbox. Every teacher has their own teaching approach and program. The list of languages exceeds 190, with rare exotic languages included.
• Learning in your native language. In the iTalki app, you can find a foreign language teacher who teaches in your native language. Or in English, that is universal. This way of learning is popular among Chinese language students and other Asian languages.
• Free language practice with members of the community. If you are not ready to pay for lessons or want to have some informal chit-chats, you can search for a speaking partner on the platform for free.
• Other skills training in the iTalki app includes: Writing skills — in a special section, you can publish any text in your practicing language, so that community members can correct your spelling and grammar. Listening skills — you can train your language listening ear with thematic podcasts available on the platform. Testing your knowledge — you can check your level of knowledge by completing tests for varied levels of training.

Also, the iTalki community is always willing to share new thematic content with language learners on the forums.

When answering “How does iTalki work?”, we can’t help but talk about the types of teachers on the platform.

Types of Teaching in the iTalki App

During registration in the app, they will ask you to enter some data, including your country, learning language, native language, and time zone. And then you will see the teacher search screen.

What is iTalki when it comes to the types of teachers? It offers two different options: certified teachers and informal community tutors.

• Professional Teachers are usually certified teachers from foreign schools, colleges, and universities. Video lessons with a certified teacher implies a clear structure, homework, etc. It makes sense to buy such lessons if you need to take a specialized course like business English or prefer well-prepared lessons for beginners.
• Community Tutors, on the contrary, have no professional background. Though, compared to free language practice, when you speak with a casual person in the iTalki app, lessons with tutors focus on your needs and goals, and the tutor does his best to help you. It is an ideal option for those who want to practice speaking skills.

In each teacher’s profile, in addition to certification and professional experience, you will also see a brief video presentation. It will help you to understand whether you want to study with this particular person.

Professional teachers usually offer different lesson options at different prices.

So, how is the iTalki registration look like? Let’s explore it further.

Registration Process in iTalki App

Registering on the app is a simple process that requires some personal information such as e-mail and phone number.

To register on italki you will need to:

1. Go to the official website https://www.italki.com/en.
2. Click the “Sign up” button in the upper right corner.
3. Enter your phone number, then click “Send” button.
4. Enter the confirmation code you received on your phone.
5. Come up with a password and complete your registration.

Done! As you can see the registration process is simple and can be done in a few minutes. But what to do if you don’t want to specify your personal phone number? Let’s find out.

How to create an iTalki account without a Phone Number?

When it comes to protecting personal information such as a phone number, a virtual phone number may be the best solution.

The SMS-Man platform is the largest provider of virtual SMS numbers that can be used to register with over 1,000 different online services and applications.

Here is a guide of several steps to purchase a virtual phone number for iTalki:

1. Create an account at sms-man.com with your email address.
2. Top up your account balance.
3. On the “Receive SMS” tab, select your country and iTalki app, then click “Buy SMS” next to the app icon.
4. Copy the number from the “History” section below and apply it to the registration process
5. After tapping “Send” in the app, go back to SMS-man and request a code by tapping ” Receive SMS”.
6. Use it to complete the account activation process.