When it comes to learning a language, without doubt, the fastest way is with a personal language tutor. This is not to knock the many YouTube videos and apps that are now available, however, they are simply not able to adapt themselves to your learning needs, hone in on the elements you find more difficult and give you a stern disappointed look when you don’t complete your homework. The question is, where do you find a great language tutor and how much should they cost?

The best way to find a tutor is through a simple google search. You could use websites like FirstTutors.com, however, these websites generally take a commission from the tutor. As such, if you contact the tutor directly, you are likely to pay less. Make sure you find a tutor who you will enjoy spending time with as spending time with a tutor you don’t like can put you off learning languages for life! Whoever you choose though, make sure they have plenty of references, and that they have a DBS certificate. Also, if they don’t offer, ask for a trial lesson and test their knowledge. A good tutor should know their language inside out, and be able to explain it succinctly without using confusing jargon.

Now for the price – good tutors will charge anything between £20 and £50 a lesson, with the higher rate generally the result of their experience and qualifications. Be wary of anyone charging lower than £20 because a good tutor should be charging at least £20 for a thorough, well-planned service.

Once you have settled on a tutor, think about what you really want to get out of the lessons. Do you want to learn a few phrases for a short holiday, or do you want to achieve fluency in order to get a job abroad? Furthermore, if you want to improve your listening skills, what would you like to listen to? Is it going to be more useful to listen to audio related to business? Lots of students prefer to leave it up to the tutor to decide, but the more ownership you have over the content of your lessons, the more chance the tutor has of finding material that really engages with you.

Whatever your goals, it is well worth coordinating your lessons with a formal qualification. This helps motivate you and direct your studies. Add to this, it gives you something tangible for all your hard work that could lead to a promotion or a new job.

As a final note, make sure your tutor sets plenty of homework. Getting your money’s worth from a personal language tutor should be as much about putting in the hours during and after the lesson.

I hope this article has been of some assistance, and if it has inspired you to start learning with a personal language tutor please leave a comment below. Furthermore, if you have any questions about this article, please feel free to send me a message.