Do you want to learn a new language online through a teacher but don’t know where to start? That’s why I’ve put together this guide. Here are the 11 best online language teaching websites.
Gone are the days when you had to walk around your city. Why, though?
Only to find one language school suitable for your time, money, need, and speed.
Imagine it’s the year 2019. You have a love for languages. So you enrolled yourself in one of the weekend language classes.
Get yourself a coffee, take the usual metro, or car, travel, and then reach your classroom. Sounds exhausting.
Now come back to 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024. Almost everything is online.
This pandemic gave rise to online sessions, Zoom video calls, payment processes, more deliveries to homes than offices, and whatnot.
Honestly, this situation has shown us that everything can happen online.
You get to learn whatever you want. From sitting on your couch, or bed, or imagining any other cozy place. This is the reality of today.
While there are some limitations of online language learning, the advantages far outweigh the downsides.
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11 Top Websites for Private Language Lessons Online
Of all the e-language courses, private language lessons online are the best option.
You can pick a language tutor from anywhere in the world.
You can search according to availability, price, discounts, profile, and more. View feedback and review from previous students, and finally, make an informed choice.
To help get you started on some high-quality and easily accessible programs, let’s check out the top 11 best online language teaching websites for 2022.
1. LingApp
LingApp is hands down one of the best apps for language learning with an overall 1 million users, and serving 60+ languages. Ling App stands out because it displays translations of words, sentences, and buttons in the user’s chosen native language while learning.
Ling started as a love story. German-born Simon Bacher wanted to communicate with the Thai friends and family of his wife, Kanyarat. They couldn’t find wonderful resources to learn the Thai language. Hence, they built these resources themselves.
The Ling App features a chatbot that improves language learning with native pronunciation and audio from speakers in over 60 languages. Users can use mini-games and short quizzes to test their knowledge while tracking progress. The app includes writing exercises to enhance muscle memory and supports natural reading development, creating an interactive language learning experience.
2. Verbling
You can learn a new language as per your schedule and the teacher you are comfortable with on Verbling.
Started in 2011, it grew to one of the most successful online language-teaching websites. Busuu, a popular language-learning app, had acquired Verbling in 2020.
The teachers on this website set their bios and price by themselves. Some even offer the first class free or provide a discount. But not everyone does that.
As a teacher, you can teach anytime and from anywhere and make decent money in the process.
The educators show proof of teaching certificates. If you have experience and wish to teach your mother tongue, you have an edge. This is to get approved as teachers for the platform.
They have their own video calling service. Plus, the trainers can upload any document they think will be convenient for teaching. Their services also comprise a flashcard service.
You can book a class with them at a decided time and set a timer for the same time every day. In this way, you don’t need to schedule a class for the same time each day.
Let’s get a payment thing clear.
You won’t end up paying the same amount you get to see at the start. It’s because Verbling takes about 15% commission for each class. If you set your hourly rate at $20, you will earn $17 (85%).
Talking about languages, they offer 70. It covers English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Arabic, Japanese, Russian, Chinese, and many more.
You can also learn one of the lesser-taught ones, such as Polish, Persian, Indonesian, Romanian, Portuguese, Greek, and Swedish.
As a teacher, you can apply for any language as they introduce new languages regularly.
3. Preply
A unique aspect of this website is that they offer tremendous courses for each language. Students can decide whatever they like to pursue.
If you want to learn Spanish, you get to choose from several programs. For instance, conversational Spanish and Spanish for beginners, advanced, study abroad, travelers, and kids.
Or if you want to go for a specific accent or Spanish dialect, like Mexican, Argentinian, Caribbean, or any other.
If you dream of passing the official language exam, you can also select that. Like, as IELTS for English, JLPT for Japanese, HSK for Chinese, CILS for Italian, etc.
Preply team manually verify and approve tutor profiles. The teachers also set their own rates and select the best timing.
They also pay the tutor a 100% commission fee for the first trial lesson. It varies from 33 to 18% for all following sessions, as per the number of completed lesson hours with students.
In short, more tutoring with Preply means less commission you will pay.
They allow the most well-known languages, like English, Japanese, Chinese, German, Arabic, and French.
But the list does not end here. It also has Hebrew, Dutch, Ukrainian, Urdu, Serbian, Czech, and Danish.
4. iTalki
iTalki is one of the most known online language-learning websites. And a perk, the charges are not that high.
In fact, it’s easier to find skilled language teachers at low prices. Still, it doesn’t mean there are not at all high-charging teachers.
You need to find the right guide for yourself by exploring and reading reviews. You can pick from over 10,000 educators for 1-on-1 tutoring based on your purposes and interests.
It is famous for its flexibility, teacher quality, and what else do you need?
Just like Verbly and Preply, it also gives authority to the trainers to set their own prices for the lessons they offer.
They provide a huge amount of languages. Even those I have never come across, like, Erzya, Hokkien, Kirundi, Xhosa, and Wyandot.
Can you do that if I ask you to name a language from the letter X? Well, now you can!
Apart from the famous languages, you can study Afrikaans, Haitian Creole, Sinhala, and Belarusian, and the list is endless.
And the most unusual ones so far are American Sign Language and Esperanto, an artificial language.
5. Verbal Planet
You can enjoy one-to-one private language classes on Skype by taking classes from native gurus worldwide.
The Verbal Planet has a rating of 4.8 on a trusted review website called Trust Pilot. This rating is pretty high.
The e-learning website has experienced teachers who focus on creating fantastic courses and conversations.
The mentors submit memos of the scheduled lessons. So that they can be ready beforehand. You can track your progress. Pricing is also reasonable.
The interface is convenient to use for both sides. Also, the booking process and payment are seamless.
After every session, the coaches give feedback on the candidate’s engagement in the lesson and the improvement.
This way, you can track your progress throughout. This works better when you stick with one educator. The website does not give false promises.
As of January 2022, they teach 36 languages. Besides widespread languages, one can learn Indian languages like Bengali, Punjabi, and Tamil.
They also cover European and Scandinavian like Danish, Finnish, Irish, Hungarian, Icelandic, and Norwegian. And as for South-East Asian ones, Vietnamese and Thai.
6. Lingoda
Lingoda gives you two options: learn with small groups of 3–5 students or pick up individual lessons.
You are also free to pick any time of the day and night. It depends on you.
Like other online language teaching websites, it also offers officially certified native-speaking teachers. Their lessons include real-life examples and topics that help you practically learn more.
Unlike other learning platforms that offer many languages, Lingoda specializes in European languages. It covers only 4 — English, French, Spanish, and German.
It follows the CERF guidelines, which include six levels from A1 to C2.
The beginner and elementary are A1 and A2. B1 and B2 state that you are an Intermediate or upper-intermediate learner. Last, you are an advanced learner or near-native if you complete a C1 or C2 level of skill.
Lingoda gives various pricing choices. They have monthly, quarterly, biannual, and annual plans. The cost ranges from €6 to €9.5.
7. Rype
There is one special thing about Rype. It provides 30-minute private language lessons online through professional handpicked tutors. The teachers make personalized lessons to fit your needs.
The reviewers assert it is inexpensive. Although, it will take a while to find the right teacher for yourself.
Like any other apps or sites, the tutors here also follow their own teaching system. They provide resources and a touch of their own personalities.
However, something differentiates this site from others. The trainers cannot set their own amount for the lessons they provide.
The candidates buy a subscription for each month. This includes the number of tuition hours they can take per month. And Rype directly pays the coaches, with nobody being involved in the middle.
Skype is the most-used software for classes. And no, they don’t provide group projects.
You can pick 10 languages from this platform. It involves English, French, Russian, Arabic, German, Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese, Italian, and Portuguese.
8. Live Lingua
Everything has its pros and cons, and so does Live Lingua. The platform seems more expensive than any other discussed so far. It is also less smooth than others.
The only thing that differentiates it from any other site is that the lessons are more personalized. You have to tell them the reasons, your preferred accent, and your current ability.
After a quick quiz, Live Lingua will introduce you to your perfect tutor.
They hire top-quality and experienced native speakers who oversee learners. But they have to go through extra training. The users of the website use Skype as the learning platform.
The course options are immense. And it comes with a lot of free resources. The tutors and the students connect through emails, not directly via the app or website.
The rate depends on the type of studies and language you wish to learn. The cost can range from $12 to $39 per hour.
For example, they have the standard program and specialized, and group classes. They also provide exam preparation courses like French DELF, Spanish DELE, Korean TOPIK, German Goethe, etc.
One advantage—nobody’s charging you for the first session. If you learn free stuff, get a lesson and think if the trainer is great for you.
They offer 10 famous languages, from European, Spanish, Italian, Russian, English, German, French, and Portuguese to Asian Arabic, Korean, Chinese, and Japanese.
9. Myngle
The students get to choose the length of the lesson they want. They also have highly qualified educators from all over the world.
Their foreign language teachers submit proof of nativeness to teach the languages. Currently, they offer thousands of training courses and programs in different languages.
The mentors have their own brochures for whatever course they are offering.
So, suppose you want to study French. In that case, you can request a brochure to obtain information on all the available programs in your target language.
This is the only online language learning platform to offer in-company training.
Suppose you are part of a multinational company and want your employees to speak a particular language. Then, you can consider Myngle.
They also get you a generous discount on that. Myngle teaches all the popular languages on the website.
10. Lingoci
This is another e-learning language platform where students from far and wide can choose a language to study. The tutors are good, plus they can choose whatever time they want.
After the acquirers register themselves as students, they get paired with a teacher.
The instructors at Lingoci not only talk about languages but also culture as much as possible to encourage students.
The teachers are highly competent and trained. They give the best education to their students, as described on the website.
The learners expressed good words for their mentors, which is great to see. You can also book a trial lesson there.
They offer Spanish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Swedish, and Dutch.
11. Facebook Pages/Groups
Some groups and pages on Facebook provide unlimited language learning resources. Many of them post several posts a day. Many study materials are available for free, though some are paid.
For video calls, group, or one-on-one sessions, try posting in the group, letting them know you want to have a lesson like that.
Others do charge, though. You should do extensive research, but you will get inside one or another and start your learning journey.
Make yourself a part of the groups from Facebook.com. In the search tab, type online video call language learning groups or one-on-one groups.
You will most likely find groups for all the popular languages. If you search by your target language, you will get the results quicker than the first search.
Once you settle on a group or a page for your target language. Fill out the form with the required answers. If they like them, you’re in!
Final Words
Learning a language is like entering a new world. As you get acquainted with a new culture, and new media, and now you might better understand the country and cultural aspects.
It’s something new, I know.
Speaking to a person in his own language is a worthwhile journey and useful every time.
Many studies about bilinguals, multilingual, or polyglots show they are naturally intelligent. This is when we compare them with monolingualism.
It is not at all bad speaking only one language. But why would you let go of several perks that come with language learning?
For instance, you get to travel and communicate with locals in their own language. And the most important one, it looks fabulous on your C.V.
Now you can’t afford to let go of that benefit, can you?
I hope these 11 best online language teaching websites ease your journey.
Let us know which language caught your attention to learn. How you are beginning your learning journey.
And yes, which website are you planning to use to teach language online? Share your thoughts in the comment section.
HI! I love your article, but at times it’s a little confusing if your audience is teachers or to clients, and I wouldn’t call them “famous languages” or “widespread”, I’d call them widely-spoken or in-demand.
The intent is more important than semantics and synonymous. But thanks for your input. 🙂
I am an Arabic language trainer and teach all topics. I have 6 years experience.