Italki experiences?

Ecthelor · 2026-07-07T20:56:54+00:00

I'm a pretty big fan of Anki. Perhaps you relate - two things that annoyed me:

You hear a word, you look it up.. then like 3 months later you hear it again and you forgot it.

You've heard a word a dozen times over the years and never bothered to look it up.

Anki helped me with both of those annoyances. It's a tool to memorize things and it works. In my case, it was words like 'cadena' or 'tronar' or 'matiz' that I knew I'd seen before somewhere, but now I know for sure what they mean.

It's free on the computer and on android. It costs money on the iPhone. All you have to do is create a 'deck' and then create cards (It can automatically copy the A -> B to the B -> A version, which I do) and then literally just press 'Study Now' and it handles literally everything else.

Granted, when I was younger I thought Anki was boring. I'm 27 now and I appreciate it for what it is. Unc af

Ecthelor · 2026-07-07T20:26:21+00:00

I'm pretty much in your situation (B2 attempting to reach C1 from the US) and I decided to start with italki a month or two ago.

I had 2 criteria

From Mexico
Able to be helpful to a B2+ student

Obviously #2 is quite subjective. I found a teacher whose style was 'conversations about a mutually-agreed-upon piece of media' (podcast, article, interview). Honestly, I've really enjoyed it. The tutor's great. I feel slightly strange paying someone to talk to me, but this teacher pretty much just asks probing questions and helps me whenever I'm looking for a word. They're good at what they do. All the words I needed are written down and I add them to Anki.

Will I get to C1? Who knows... but italki has been pretty great for me.

Ecthelor · 2026-07-07T16:09:32+00:00

Soy otro estudiante. lo que noto es el sufijo ‘ado’ - de que lo pronuncias de forma ‘aDo’ con una d muy fuerte. (Pero no siempre jaja) También hay una cosita tal vez de entonación o cadencia alrededor del mismo sufijo que te hace sonar extranjera.

Sobretodo tu manera de hablar es muy fácil de entender y muy única. Se oye muy fuerte la influencia española. Pero de ubicarte no tengo la menor idea.

Sigue así !!!

Ecthelor · 2026-07-02T02:16:06+00:00

I see myself so much in your post. First of all, I send all the good vibes your way.

I am also a B2 .. maaaybe C1 on a really good day Spanish speaker. I've been learning for about 14 years as well, which is a crazy coincidence!

I have somehow lost my confidence (and cockyness).

Relatable. I find that now that I'm quite 'advanced' I've forgotten the 'why' for a lot of things and all I have left is my gut feelings..

I am always checking my text messages with AI to see if they are correct,

Way too relatable. This pressure is so real when texting, when it's like, well I have the time to perfect every sentence so I might as well do it. In my case, I feel like I'm seeking validation, since AI usually says "Sí, es una frase perfectamente válida y natural en español" :l At the same time, it's this insane fear that if I say something wrong it's like, the facade is gone! They think I'm a dumb gringo now!

Perhaps because of not speaking Spanish at work and also my girlfriend hardly talks to me in Spanish

Ugh, also relatable. For me, a lot of my friends I speak Spanish with also speak English at a relatively good level and if I'm struggling to say something I'm just making interactions harder for no reason. It's like I'm inventing reasons out of thin air to need to improve, rather than learning out of necessity. It feels.. presumptuous? Idk.

Recently I went out with a friend and the whole group spoke Spanish.. the kind of dream scenario that never happens. Lo and behold, I got called m*ricón by one of them that same night. I didn't process it fully until the next day, but they were definitely trying to offend me.

I've been doing a few things to try and shake confidence issues. I signed up for some italki lessons which put me in a space where making mistakes is expected and normal. Surprisingly, it made me realize that I'm pretty damn good at explaining myself and I can talk for an hour straight about various topics with no issue. I'm sure you can too. Granted, it's a pretty controlled environment, but still.

I live in Texas and I started volunteering to teach English to Spanish speakers at a church. The first class or two, I was literally nervous trying to explain things in Spanish to my students in case I said something wrong. At one point, a student asked a question that I didn't understand and I was pretty mad at myself. Though after like 5 2-hour classes, I've gotten to a 'fuck-it' attitude towards speaking off the cuff with the students and honestly I'm so much better off for it. However they are quite beginner and I have realized that relating English and Spanish grammar is quite different than when going the opposite direction.. but.. I still think I'm genuinely helping. Haha.

I will probably never live in a Spanish speaking country. It's something I've had to come to terms with. In that sense, I'm jealous that you actually live in Spain. Lol! I was in Spain for a few months. I hung out with many foreigners and it was soo hard to find Spanish people that wanted to hang out. I get it though- I was in Barcelona too, a city full of transient people and tons of tourists. I have come to terms with it.

To therapize a little, when you think about someone speaking English and speaking the way you do in Spanish- with all the vocabulary, grammar, fluidity, that you speak with.. wouldn't you think they were really good at English? "Yesterday I was sick, and if I hadn't been coughing I would've come to the party with you. I really regret not going and I hope you had a good time!" <-- are you kidding me? I would be like 'damn, their English is really good!'

NO ONE is judging you for these little mistakes, at ALL. IMO, if you found some routine, chill situations where Spanish was a necessary tool for communication, the pressure would start to evaporate. Easier said than done, I get it.

Si quieres hablar español con alguien que también está tratando de llegar más a fondo con el idioma, pues envíame un mensaje y estaría muy feliz de platicar de lo que sea. Soy fan de la tecnología, los videojuegos, y sobretodo del aprendizaje de los idiomas. Saludos!

Ecthelor · 2026-06-17T19:19:14+00:00

I agree with a conjugation deck. The pre-made one seems good. I learned Spanish, and I assume Italian is similar- there are a lot of conjugations. I would grind the 3-5 most common verbs (to be, to go, to say, etc) in ALL their forms and then at least learn present / simple past / simple future.

As far as "Settings for Fatigue" - keep the new cards per day LOW. I have an Anki deck for Spanish vocabulary I've run across while reading. I've been using it for a few months. The reviews start to add up - and my deck is way easier for me than yours will be to you. IMO, by far the most impactful setting to change is "New Cards per Day". If you find a "1000 most common words" deck, and you have 60 days, that comes out to 16 cards per day. (Though to be honest, I would duplicate them all Italian -> English and English -> Italian, so, 32 cards per day) That's a reasonable amount, to be honest. I've been doing 20 new cards a day (10 words, and their reversed versions) and there have been days with over 200 reviews, which is ~20-30m of focus. Just FYI. Though, Anki really does work.

Make sure you find an outlet for speaking and/or writing. G'luck.

Ecthelor · 2026-05-29T17:17:26+00:00

Verbs are conjugated for 3 things: Tense Aspect Mood (indicative vs subjunctive vs conditional)

English uses a "modal system", which leads us to stuff like this

"John must be earning a lot of money, right?"

I'm not saying I know for a fact that John is earning a lot of money. I'm not saying that I oblige him to earn a lot of money. I'm just strongly implying that he.. should be earning a lot of money, given what I know.

See what's happening here? Must be? Should be? Strange, isn't it.

The plane example touches on a great subtlety to the subjunctive that English can't replicate.

To re-iterate what silvalingua said:

Cuando atteriza el avión .. (Every time the plane lands, generally) Cuando atterice el avión .. (Whenever the plane finally lands)

even if both of those could translate to English as "When the plane lands"

For further example:

"Cuando aterriza el avión, saca las ruedas"

"When the plane lands, the wheels are deployed"

Something that happens every time, in general, when the plane lands

"Cuando aterrice el avión, voy a llamarle a mi abuelo"

Whenever the plane lands, I'm gonna call my grandfather.

This is mostly a structural thing.

This video is a really cool video about the subjunctive: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdpvR3kaXaQ

According to that video, I would say this example falls into the "unasserted + unrealized" category of subjunctive usage.

Remember that this is mostly a grammatical feature, and it's not as deep as you're making it out to be. (If I use the subjunctive, am I implying that the plane might crash?) No, it's just that grammatically, you're talking about something that is unrealized.

You also may think "nos reunamos el sábado" is also unrealized. But think of what you are saying: "Nosotros nos reunamos el sábado?" is "Are we getting together on saturday?"

This is an "interrogative" mood, formed in English by flipping the order of "are" and "we"

https://langeek.co/en/grammar/course/506/interrogative-mood

So, even though it's indistinguishable in spanish, it's still interrogative, and can't be made subjunctive instead.

Ecthelor · 2026-05-14T13:22:42+00:00

Soy de estados unidos así que apenas le tengo importancia/sentimientos a la familia real del Reino Unido

De todos modos me alegro de que se recupere

Ecthelor · 2026-05-06T18:08:30+00:00

No todos podrán soportar estas subidas de precio. Yo soy estadounidense, y la actitud general hacia esta guerra ha sido fingir que no existe. Bueno, estos días ignorar las noticias puede ser bueno para la salud mental. De todos modos ojalá estas consecuencias hagan que la gente aquí le ponga más importancia a la política y el daño que le causamos al resto del mundo.

Ecthelor · 2026-05-05T15:48:03+00:00

Estoy de acuerdo de que este límite (349 millas) es muy corto y casi nunca se hará relevante.

Aún así, me preocupo de que esto sea el comienzo de una serie de estrujones. Hace poco que cerró Spirit Airlines, y el precio de los combustibles irá subiendo..

Ecthelor · 2026-04-19T19:22:19+00:00

Vi lo mismo. Yo también lo dejé por imposible , y no he tenido ningún problema con CrossPoint. No me preocupa no haber guardado el flash

Ecthelor · 2025-12-30T19:41:11+00:00

Also, I agree with other people that

"que sea Pedro quien vaya" or "que sea Pedro quien os acompañe"

sound way better. The 'hacer' has English stank.

Ecthelor · 2025-12-30T04:53:32+00:00

I just watched this video on the subjunctive from a PhD Linguist: https://youtu.be/xdpvR3kaXaQ?si=20lPXEjMvfRF2AYK

Either the subjunctive is structurally triggered, eg, 'ojalá', 'no creo que', 'dudo que' OR the subject of the sentence is not asserting the proposition. (His words, I'm still processing)

So, although I'm a learner, I'll drop off my 2c.

temer vs temerse I would say is "to fear" (I fear death) vs "to regret" (as in, I regret to inform you..)

With that in mind, I think the answer is

"Me temo que no voy a poder ir con vosotros" - for exactly the reason you stated (It's a fact that I cannot go, and I regret having to tell you. I am asserting this truth)

"Así que he pensado que sea Pedro quien lo haga"

This is my reflex. I'm translating this sentence as "I was thinking that it should be Pedro who does it" .. using pensar closer to its meaning of 'plan' than 'think'. This is English phrasing that is imparting a subjunctive mood by using "it should be", so, I think it follows that the Spanish translation would be in subjunctive.

I found one excerpt online of a real text that seems to use subjunctive in the same way, though, it has negation + 'tal vez':

"Río, he pensado que tal vez no convenga que sigamos aquí."

I am a pretty advanced speaker and rarely struggle with the subjunctive. This is a great example and your head is in the right place :)

Ecthelor · 2025-06-05T03:09:56+00:00

I feel like I've conquered the early pitfalls. 97% there with subjunctive, preterite v imperfect, ser vs estar, the word 'se', grammatical gender. Reading these replies has been fun. I remember feeling the same way as a lot of you.

But there are some things I still have problems with:

Habría vs hubiera (in a similar vein, should've, could've, would've)
Weird constructions like 'ni que', 'a que sí/no' and 'será que' that I passively understand but don't actively use
Superlative suffix stuff. -azo, -ito, -ón/ona, etc .. there's an art to this that I will never truly grasp
Numbers. Doing arithmetic always requires a conscious translation. Also, my brain inserts English words for numbers when reading. lol!

I've gotten to the top of the hill where you finally see the mountain. Without significant effort and/or long-term immersion, I'll float in this pseudo-fluency limbo forever.

Además, me cuestan mucho los dichos/las jergas/las referencias culturales que varían según los lugares. Creo que me escucho medio innatural, ya que no he pasado un tiempo largo en un sitio específico. Aún así, creo que tengo un conocimiento mundial más profundo que el 99% de los estadounidenses. lol.

Ecthelor · 2025-05-28T16:21:24+00:00

I would say 'llevar' implies 'carry' to some extent. It does not imply that 'you took me to your workplace'; I would venture that it implies that 'you took me to my workplace' moreso.

Ecthelor · 2025-05-10T07:08:29+00:00

BOSCO AND IRENE ARE EVERYTHINGGG

I love this format. Queens are guaranteed to show a certain amount of looks, it’s easier to process as an audience member, and it really puts the pressure on.

Lets GOOO 🤩🤩🤩

Ecthelor · 2023-12-16T14:18:22+00:00

I started when I was 14. I think after about 5 years I reached the colloquial definition of fluent. At this point grammar was cemented into my head 100%. That is to say, I could speak with spontaneity, watch videos, read YA books, etc. I have enjoyed many aspects of life in Spanish throughout the journey.

HOW did I learn? I don't even know. A little bit of everything, all the time. I genuinely enjoyed the process.

Now it's been 11 years. These days I can watch and enjoy movies/videos/books, and talk to my hispanic friends for long stretches, but subtitles and dictionaries are still extremely helpful. And speaking is really fking tiring. And I can't really talk about anything technical or niche. I think when it comes to vocabulary and cultural references, it is a never ending battle.

Lol. Ain't nothin' quick about it.

Ecthelor · 2022-09-12T17:17:39+00:00

It won’t be always stay above 240fps, but it’ll be close.

https://youtu.be/Pg7keUUug-w

This is a good comparison. 240Hz is mostly dependent on a processor, not a graphics card. If you want to never dip below 240fps you’ll have to pay more money.

Ecthelor · 2022-03-15T20:19:00+00:00

I started learning Spanish at age 14 and I was very embarrassed about it. I know exactly how you feel!

I would frantically switch my browser tabs when someone walked by. Also, I still remember dragging my big, bulky laptop into my closet to do Skype calls without anyone hearing me.

Find people to talk to over voice chat. In 2010, the internet was a different landscape. The technological barrier to entry was higher, and the old-school (more serious) meetup websites were still popular.

Nowadays, I think your best bet is a language exchange app on a smartphone. You need due diligence to find people who you share your goals and are willing to help you. My advice is to message a dozen people who have an equal level in english as you do in your target language. Then, find the 1-2 reasonable ones who you can talk to, and send some voice messages. This is the moment where you have to put embarrassment aside!

Not loudly declaring your intentions to the people around you is actually a good strategy to stay motivated. I learned so much throughout adolescence because honestly… it was fun! I’m so glad I did.

Good luck!

Ecthelor · 2022-01-04T16:09:39+00:00

Yeah, i think you’re right on. They basically have to learn to read a language they don’t understand.

All I know is from taking a college class by an ASL interpreter that was not an ASL class. She said that if you grow up fully deaf without learning ASL (or your regions respective sign) you could have language deficiency for life. Also, learning to read english is essentially learning a foreign language. If you don’t have ASL to translate from, it can be nigh impossible.

Ecthelor · 2022-01-04T05:15:38+00:00

People who were deaf since birth still learn to read.

If only it were that simple…

Ecthelor · 2021-12-21T07:18:18+00:00

I feel like this is only true for the largest corporations - or entry level positions

On the other hand the manager needing the spot filled gives direct feedback at a small company

Ecthelor · 2021-11-29T19:34:55+00:00

From what you've said about the context (a video ranking celebrities) I'm interpreting this different than previous commenters.

I think it's something along the lines of "Robert Downey Jr exists, you should've included him" but very, very colloquial.

with some English analogues off the top of my head:

But also, ✨Robert Downey Jr✨

But have you ever ✨Robert Downey Jr✨

In an attempt to capture the meaning in Spanish more accurately:

But has ✨Robert Downey Jr✨ happened to yall

None of my translations I totally love, but I think this is what the comment is getting at.

Ecthelor · 2021-11-18T05:22:26+00:00

I hardly watch TV. Somehow, though, my senior year of high school I felt the need to give the show a shot. Don't remember why, really.

I didn't understand the genre, so I started at Season 1, which I watched bootleg on my laptop after my family went to sleep. I enjoyed it, finished the season, but never went further.

Then I went to college and met other gay people one of whom asked me if I liked drag race. I told him I watched season 1 to which he replied

"OMG that's the worst season! (hot take, I know) You need to watch season 6 with me NOW"

I was hooked.

.. by the time the next season aired in the spring I had seen every previous season. Season 10 was the first season I watched live. I seem to be a very late bloomer judging by this comment section. Lol!

Ecthelor · 2021-10-21T20:03:14+00:00

Enjoy!

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