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Most Studied Languages

Chinese (Mandarin)
140 teachers

English
93 teachers

French
10 teachers

Spanish
8 teachers

All Languages
251 teachers

FAQ Language Student

FAQ Students



What is Lingworld.com?


LingWorld.com is a growing online marketplace where foreign language students find foreign language teachers for learning or practicing the language of their choice.

Do I need an Internet broadband connection?


The lessons will be given online through the Internet and a webcam, so you will need broadband for a better quality communication. You can also use cybercafés which all have broadband connections, and most of the time have computers equipped with webcams and headsets.

Do I need to pay to be a member of LingWorld.com?


LingWorld.com is free to join, and there is no monthly fee.

Can I use LingWorld to practice a language I already know?


Absolutely. A lot of us have already taken a language course, and just need a weekly conversation practice in order not to lose their skills. You can do that through LingWorld, and teachers will charge less for it.

Who is going to be my teacher?


You are the one to choose your tutor using the “Search Teacher” function. You can search and select language teachers according to many criteria, especially academic background and foreign language teaching qualifications.

Can I choose a language tutor anywhere in the world?


Yes that is the principle of LingWorld.com; teachers are actually located everywhere in the world. This gives you access to native speakers for whichever foreign language you would like to study or practice.

How do I get in touch with a tutor?


After you have found the teacher(s) you are interested in, you just need to send them an internal message to establish a first contact; once you have exchanged a couple of messages, you can book a lesson with the one you feel most comfortable with.

How much does a language lesson cost?


Teachers are all free to decide of their hourly fee, so it depends on which teacher you will choose.

Do I need to pay anything else to LingWorld.com?


No. You pay the teacher for their hourly fee, that’s it.

Why is LingWorld.com better than a free service?


Because most people give up when they try to learn a foreign language by themselves from free services. Why? Because 1/a language is live and needs to be heard from and spoken to a real person and 2/you need discipline and follow-up to learn a foreign language, just like for anything else. Learning by yourself from a website or a book has a high chance of not succeeding, as there will quickly be good excuses for not doing your daily/weekly lesson, and most people end up giving up. It is different when you know that you are accountable to your teacher with the next lesson coming a few days later.

Can I make use of the free foreign language services available on the Internet?


We believe you won’t be able to learn by yourself using these services, but combining them with a teacher from LingWorld.com, or asking you teacher to use some of the resources on the net as a base for the course is actually a good idea.

How do I prepare my foreign language lessons?


It depends on your teacher. You and your teacher will establish some work habits. For example, he could email you the lesson outline a few days before each online class. Or he could send you an mp3 recording or recommend a podcast that will be the topic of the next lesson. Or you can request him/her to use a book/method which you know and feel comfortable with.

What equipment do I need for the lessons?


You need a broadband Internet connection, a webcam, a headset, and Skype installed on your computer. We recommend Skype, which you can download for free at www.skype.com as this is the most popular free Internet video system, and your teacher will probably have it. Although there are alternatives like MSN messenger, Yahoo messenger, Google talk and plenty of others, it makes things easier if all members of our community use the same software.

What are Skype, MSN messenger, Yahoo messenger?


They are all free software to make video calls online. You can download any of these software from http://www.skype.com , http://www.msn.com , http://www.yahoo.com respectively, but there is a good chance you will need to install Skype in the end, as most of our language teachers will probably be using Skype.

How do I pay my language teacher?


You make your payment through the LingWorld platform. You can either do repeated payments for each and every lesson, or top-up your account in advance, so you only have to use your LingWorld credit to pay for the subsequent language classes. You can top-up your LingWorld account with a credit card or Paypal.

How do I pay for my lesson if I do not have a Credit card or Paypal.


We highly recommend opening a Paypal account if you don’t have one, as it is the easiest way to pay for anything online. Nevertheless, if for some reason, it is not possible in your country, please contact us at support@lingworld.com so we can suggest alternative ways of payment.

How do I know my teacher is qualified?


Our language teachers’ profiles include very detailed information, not only on their general academic background, but also on the specific qualifications for the foreign language they teach. On top of that, if you really want proofs, you can ask the teacher you are interested in to email you a scanned copy of their qualifications. But in the end the best way to know about a teacher is to take a trial class.

How many lessons do I have to commit to?


You do not have to commit to any number of lessons. Nevertheless once you have found a language teacher you like to learn from, it is in your own interest to continue with this teacher.

What is the Free trial class?


For the sake of our language students, we ask our teachers to be kind enough to grant a free trial lesson when it is the first time they get approached by a new student. To be fair, the lesson can’t be an hour long, and we recommend 20min. There can only be one trial lesson with one teacher.

What will happen after the free trial lesson?


Once you are happy with the free trial class, you will book the following class using LingWorld.com booking system. You will have to pay the teacher for the next class as it will not be free anymore!

How can I learn a language online?


With an Internet connection, a webcam and a headset, you are basically in front of your teacher, and you interact with him/her almost the same way as if you were physically in the same room. Language tuition on the phone was already quite common even before the Internet era. Also, any document can be exchanged by email before the class or in real time from computer to computer.

Any other advantage of taking my language course online?


Definitely. You can study from the comfort of your home or at your office during your lunch break, without having to go to a faraway school or tutor, and save on commuting time and cost; corporations have replaced 80% of their business trips by videoconference.
You can also record your live webcam session and replay it after your language class for revision, to hear your teacher again and practice.

Do I pay the teacher before or after the class?


You and the teacher decide on that. In any case, if you want to be extra cautious about payment, we offer an escrow system where your funds are taken from your account and not yet credited to the teacher’s account. You can then release the funds after the language class. Note that in any case only small amounts of money are involved, in the 10 or 20 US$ range, and LingWorld will resolve any payment issue.

Are my bank details safe with Lingworld?


We do not see or keep any of your bank details. Account top-up processing is done by Paypal, and you get redirected to the Paypal website during payment. Paypal, the leader of online payment, uses the highest commercially available encryption system (SSL 3.0 128 bits key) for communications between your computer and their server, and is completely safe.

What teaching method will my teacher use?


Various language teachers will use various foreign language teaching methods. In some cases, you can also suggest a method which you like and has a good reputation and ask your teacher to use it as a framework for the course.

What languages can I study on LingWorld.com?


You can learn any language on LingWorld, and the list will grow with new teachers joining us. If for some reason we do not have the teacher for the foreign language you would like to learn, just write to use at support@lingworld.com and we will find the right language tutor for you.

Why are the tuition fees lower than in my own country?


For two reasons: 1/ Thanks to the Internet, you can reach native language teachers in countries where the cost of living is lower, and language tuition fees are lower. And 2/ even in your own country, LingWorld.com teachers will be able to teach from their home, therefore spending less time and money on commuting, which in turns allows them to charge less.


You like? Recommend us!

New Students & Teachers

Michelle Bagwell
English Teacher
United States

Cheryll Ting
Chinese (Mandarin) Student
Philippines

Chester Eguia
English Teacher
Philippines

瑾 倪
Chinese (Mandarin) Teacher
China

Adena Raub
English Teacher
United States

Testimonials

Sue Wright (N. Orleans, US)

Learning Chinese language online was surprisingly efficient! I am still a beginner but what I learnt made my trip to China so much more enjoyable...

Brian Scott (Boulder, US)

It is so good to have a real language teacher on the other side of the webcam; I tried all these free interactive programs but you really need someone to

Misuki Asano (Osaka, Japan)

I can practice my English with my conversation partner here. I still take my English class in Japan, but I get extra hours on Lingworld and much cheaper.