Anyone have any experience with using italki for Chinese practice? I think there's at least one skritter user/lovesick Irishman who's currently using it. I really need regular speaking/listening practice, and the italki prices look hard to beat. Thoughts?

I used italki for several months about 3 years ago. I made two friends who I still keep in touch with today. I never paid anyone for lessons, just casually chatted.

I left because it was too difficult to maintain. I was receiving 10+ friend requests a day and that much more in messages. I didn't log in for a month period of time and came back to over 500 requests. Not sure if they've improved that at all or not.

I wouldn't pay for it, but finding a person to chat with should be easy enough.

So were you talking with native speakers? And exclusively in Chinese?

Thanks for the information.

All native speakers, but depending on their English level I was required to use more Chinese. There are definitely native Chinese speakers who can't speak English at all on the site.

I'm hoping to get listening/speaking practice without things devolving into too much English. It sounds like the site is worth exploring, especially when looking for unscheduled conversations. Anyone have experience with those holding themselves out as teachers on the site?

Beside language partners, they have plenty of teachers who are rated by their students. They have one feature which I love. It's called Notebook which you use to write pieces in the language you're learning. Other members will then comment on it.

Hi quimby,

I work in Ireland, but am actually Belgian.

I can highly recommend Grace Cheng. She is an active middle school English teacher from Shanxi, with more than 20 years of experience. She uses the New Practical Chinese Reader series of textbooks but also has an oral Chinese course. She charges only $7 per hour.

http://www.italki.com/T001483415.htm
Skype: grace6655