official italki blog http://blog.italki.com Connect with the italki team Wed, 17 Apr 2013 07:27:51 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 Teacher of the Week: Melissa http://blog.italki.com/2013/04/teacher-of-the-week-melissa/ http://blog.italki.com/2013/04/teacher-of-the-week-melissa/#comments Wed, 17 Apr 2013 07:24:40 +0000 Samuel Bleakly http://blog.italki.com/?p=1277 Hi Everyone!!!

Congratulations to Melissa our new teacher of the week.

A professional teacher with 11 years experience teaching all ages; Melissa teaches French, Spanish, English and Nepali.

In this  introduction video she speaks all of them!

When you’re ready to book a lesson with her, visit her profile by clicking here : http://www.italki.com/teacher/1168195

]]> http://blog.italki.com/2013/04/teacher-of-the-week-melissa/feed/ 0 Polyglot speaks Polish after learning for one hour with an italki teacher!!! http://blog.italki.com/2013/04/polyglot-speaks-polish-after-learning-for-one-hour-with-an-italki-teacher/ http://blog.italki.com/2013/04/polyglot-speaks-polish-after-learning-for-one-hour-with-an-italki-teacher/#comments Tue, 02 Apr 2013 10:54:05 +0000 Samuel Bleakly http://blog.italki.com/?p=1273

This awesome video of Benny from Fluent in 3 Months, (speaking polish after one hour of practice!) features one of italki’s very own Professional Teachers; Ewelina.

Ewelina  has 38 students and 306 completed sessions.

Watch the video and book a lesson with her by visiting her profile here.

]]> http://blog.italki.com/2013/04/polyglot-speaks-polish-after-learning-for-one-hour-with-an-italki-teacher/feed/ 0 Google VOX – Translator Voice Box Announced http://blog.italki.com/2013/04/google-vox-translator-voice-box-announced/ http://blog.italki.com/2013/04/google-vox-translator-voice-box-announced/#comments Mon, 01 Apr 2013 23:51:42 +0000 Samuel Bleakly http://blog.italki.com/?p=1266 Reuters -

Google Inc. of Palo Alto, CA has unveiled plans for a new invention at South By Southwest Music and Arts Festival. Called “Google VOX”, the device will be able to translate languages in real time, eliminating the need for interpreters completely.

Sarah Newtown, a Swedish interpreter for the United Nations was skeptical about the device, “You cannot replace a human being with an automated system, there are too many contextual references that a computer will not be able to decode or interpret.  I don’t think anyone in the interpretation community views this as a serious threat.”

Google Scientists are also determining the possibility of matching the sounds of animals to feelings, allowing your dogs and cats to talk to you through a limited vocabulary.  In theory, the device would yell “HUNGRY” if the dog’s pitch matched that of the sound it makes when it is hungry, and it would also yell “Outside!”  if the dog wanted to use the bathroom.

Google has not given a projected release date.

 

Edit: April Fools.

]]> http://blog.italki.com/2013/04/google-vox-translator-voice-box-announced/feed/ 0 Weekly Facebook Contest: Win $20 of Language Credit http://blog.italki.com/2013/03/weekly-facebook-contest-win-20-of-language-credit/ http://blog.italki.com/2013/03/weekly-facebook-contest-win-20-of-language-credit/#comments Tue, 26 Mar 2013 06:16:23 +0000 Samuel Bleakly http://blog.italki.com/?p=1261 Hi italki,

Sam here again!

This week we are back again with another mini contest on Facebook, where you could win $20 of learning credit.

The contest is pinned to the top of the italki facebook page.  We will be having weekly facebook contests for learning credit on our facebook page.

http://www.facebook.com/italkilanguages

Simply visit the facebook page, and share the video by clicking the share button, then message us and let us know you did it!

Good Luck!

]]> http://blog.italki.com/2013/03/weekly-facebook-contest-win-20-of-language-credit/feed/ 0 Music for Learning French and Spanish http://blog.italki.com/2013/03/music-for-learning-french-and-spanish/ http://blog.italki.com/2013/03/music-for-learning-french-and-spanish/#comments Mon, 25 Mar 2013 00:01:20 +0000 Samuel Bleakly http://blog.italki.com/?p=1248 Hi Guys!

This week we have a special treat for all of our language students learning French or Spanish.

Here are two playlists of songs to help you practice listening and singing:

 

We hope you have fun listening to these.  Let us know if there is a suggestion you have for a good playlist idea.

]]> http://blog.italki.com/2013/03/music-for-learning-french-and-spanish/feed/ 0 One of our Community Tutors Stops by the Office http://blog.italki.com/2013/03/one-of-our-community-tutors-stops-by-the-office/ http://blog.italki.com/2013/03/one-of-our-community-tutors-stops-by-the-office/#comments Mon, 18 Mar 2013 08:07:37 +0000 Samuel Bleakly http://blog.italki.com/?p=1244 Hi guys,

Sam here.

A few weeks back one of our community tutors stopped by the office to meet the italki team.

Here is a picture of her with me:

Camera 360

 

Her name is Irina Xiang She offers speaking practice in Chinese and she’s very friendly.

Visit her profile by clicking her name and book a lesson with her today!

]]> http://blog.italki.com/2013/03/one-of-our-community-tutors-stops-by-the-office/feed/ 0 What’s your Story?: italki wants to hear about you! http://blog.italki.com/2013/03/whats-your-story-italki-wants-to-hear-about-you/ http://blog.italki.com/2013/03/whats-your-story-italki-wants-to-hear-about-you/#comments Thu, 14 Mar 2013 10:00:23 +0000 Samuel Bleakly http://blog.italki.com/?p=1236 blogpost

 

italki wants to hear your stories about italki!

 

Dear italki members,

Have you learned a language on italki?  Have you met cool people, been to cool places, or found love on italki?

We want to hear from you what italki has enabled you to do.

The best stories will be made into illustrations/stories for users to learn language with.

 

Simply reply to this post with your story!

We’re very excited to hear what you have to say.

 

Sincerely,

Sam Bleakly

italki Community Manager

 

]]> http://blog.italki.com/2013/03/whats-your-story-italki-wants-to-hear-about-you/feed/ 2 Teacher of the Week #6 Amera http://blog.italki.com/2013/03/teacher-of-the-week-6-amera/ http://blog.italki.com/2013/03/teacher-of-the-week-6-amera/#comments Wed, 13 Mar 2013 03:15:23 +0000 Samuel Bleakly http://blog.italki.com/?p=1226 Teacher of the Week #6 Amera Eid

This week, we are proud to feature a rising star, Amera Eid as our Teacher of the Week.

Amera teaches Arabic on italki and has an impressive 5.0 feedback rating.

Check out Amera speaking Arabic in this video with Fluent in 3 months:

 Here’s what some of her students had to say about Amera’s class:

“Amera is very encouraging and is patient with me. She always gives me time to repeat or practice my new words and sentences. I feel very comfortable in my attempt to express myself in Arabic. I love my teacher! :-) “ – michaeljarman

“Amera is awesome! I’ve already learned so much in one half hour intro session! Looking forward to continuing more intensively with her.”  - nicklesb

Book a lesson with her by visiting her profile here.

 

 

]]> http://blog.italki.com/2013/03/teacher-of-the-week-6-amera/feed/ 0 Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with our italki mix tape http://blog.italki.com/2013/03/celebrate-st-patricks-day-with-our-italki-mix-tape/ http://blog.italki.com/2013/03/celebrate-st-patricks-day-with-our-italki-mix-tape/#comments Wed, 06 Mar 2013 10:54:03 +0000 Samuel Bleakly http://blog.italki.com/?p=1215 Dear italki,

Sam here,  we’ve made an Irish mix tape for you to enjoy while you celebrate St. Patrick’s day.

Give it a listen and share it with your friends.

Sincerely,

Sam Bleakly

italki Community Manager

]]> http://blog.italki.com/2013/03/celebrate-st-patricks-day-with-our-italki-mix-tape/feed/ 0 Thank you for making italki better. http://blog.italki.com/2013/03/thank-you-for-making-italki-better/ http://blog.italki.com/2013/03/thank-you-for-making-italki-better/#comments Wed, 06 Mar 2013 10:37:48 +0000 Samuel Bleakly http://blog.italki.com/?p=1211 Dear italki users,

We have been getting a large amount of email about the changes that we’ve made over the last few days.

Most of the email has been constructive and necessary, and we want to sincerely thank all the users who have reported bugs through facebook and the support system.

italki is a community and you take an active part in shaping it.

We’d like to apologize for all of the inconveniences the new changes have caused.

We know that there will be many issues with the new version of the site. And we appreciate your patience and continued support as we continually work towards getting things fixed. The main reason for the changes were due to a migration of the specific technology that runs the site.

These changes will allow us to eventually have a much much faster site, after we get most of the blocks out of the way with coding and dns issues.

We understand what you are saying and are having many discussions behind the scenes as to which suggestions we can realistically implement at this time.

If you’d like to have a more in depth discussion, you can always email me at sam@italki.com

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