I have yet to see the parent that would begrudge their high school student a few bucks to work on their language learning… 
I have tried some informal communication with native Spanish speakers I have met on other websites but so far, I have been unable to get any useful feedback besides, “your Spanish is great”, which although it is encouraging, did not really help me improve beyond the benefit of the writing practice I would have received had I only written to myself. Unfortunately, a lot of people I have met this way also seem to think I want to read spam that they forward to all their “friends” everyone they “know”. Now I get a lot of spam forwards from people who are to me complete strangers. For now, I have basically given up on the free chatting with strangers (aside from posting here, heh-heh!) and have become much more careful in giving out my email address! Some day I plan to use LingQ more fully but for now, it is a great place to organize my listening and reading (my comprehensible input) materials, activities and time and also keep in touch with a wider community of some pretty serious language learners.
@John: That is exactly what I thought. Thank you for sharing your experiences.
It could be difficult to find a language exchange partner who is looking for the language that you look for and that you can offer. For example Thomas offers English and wants to learn Russian. Ilya offers Russian and wants to learn French. Michel offers French and wants to learn English. It is easy for all of them to do this on LingQ.
I’m offering German conversations. Most of my students don’t offer conversations. And they are not willing to do this. A system like LingQ is a great chance for them to have conversations for a reasonable prize. Maybe LingQ is expensive compared to free systems but I never met a system where you have to pay that is cheaper (1 on 1 conversation).
By the way: 1 on 1’s are perfect for people who are short on time. You have the tutor exclusively talking with you, and you don’t have to share him. I appreciate group conversations as a chance to make contact with other learners, and I enjoy them, but the 1 on 1’s are more effective.
What’s important is for me is the reliability of the tutors on LingQ. It is like business. It is more commitment. I know if I make an appointment it will work. And it is no problem not to continue with a tutor if I dislike him or if there are other problems. Then I simply will not sign up again. Otherwise to make an appointment is very easy. I look on the speaking page for times the tutor is available. In an exchange program I’ve to write and explain. That can be time-consuming.
Yes, you can use all of opportunities that LingQ gives to you. It isn’t obliged you to sign up the tutor or to send your writing if you have no money or just don’t want to pay for. Another opportunity: you can earn points hosting some discussions in your native language or offering your friends to join LingQ and then you can use earned points to sign up the discussion with tutors if you want to improve your oral possibilities in a foreign language.
And one more point from my experience as a tutor. If I haven’t another student in 15 minutes, so our discussion with the signed student continues about 25 minutes. After that I need 15 minutes in addition to analyze your mistakes, to write and to send a rather detailed report with corrected frases and some suggestions for the future work of the student.
For all in all I receive 375 points for 40 minutes of my work and my time! I like teaching that’s why I continue offering my discussoins, but actually I can earn 3-4 times more at my school if we say about money.
Therefore don’t be jealous of tutors, they do their work more due to professional liking than for earning money here!
Evgueny, That’s true. That’s exactly what I think and what I do!
Thank you MissTake.
If you want to have free discussions with native speakers, I’m sure you can find them - even with other LingQ members. But if you want to have them with ‘tutors’ on LingQ, and therefore receive detailed and very helpful reports on your discussions, you have to pay. Surely there’s nothing to complain about there.
There are other website that offer free one on one tutoring…just remember though…you get what you pay for!
I agree with Steve, people that produce a product should be compensated for it. On the flip side of that…you as a consumer have absolutely every right to decide how you will spend your hard earned money.
I happen to think that LingQ is very generous with the content they offer for free. There are many ways to take advantage of the wealth of content offered here at no charge. Unlimited access to the library, questions answered on the forums, ability to download lessons to portable media devices…And Steve, an expert on language learning…offering advice and encouragement at no charge. Sure…there are some premium services that cost money, but you always have a choice whether you want to subscribe to them.
A certain Irish Polyglot is offering to sell me a copy of his guide to language learning using free web resources. His guide costs nearly $40 to download 
And what did you repliy to him?
I’m still thinking up a suitably pithy response. I think the words “grow up” might feature in it.
Steve has a book to sell, but he’s never spammed me about buying it, and he actually finished writing it before trying to sell it to anyone.
… and Steve’s book is freely available in the LingQ library.
Why so much people take him seriously?
You will always have critics of the system.
My advice: It /is/ a community. Find others that are willing to just chat with you for free. Then, spend your money by applying what you learned with a teacher. They will correct you and you will generally save money. Steve still gets his dollars. You get your education. The world spins uninterrupted. Everyone is happy.
Awesome.
Helen, it is not a list of free resources on the web, although that is one of the things you get. ( You could acquire this in less time by googling).
It is a guide to Benny’s Language Hacking expertise. It also features interviews with online language gurus like Moses McCormick, Khatzumoto, and Alex Arguelles, all for $39.
http://www.fluentin3months.com/language-hacking-guide-is-ready/
I am convinced that your book is a much better guide. I really enjoyed reading it. Thanks for the copy you gave me in Antwerpen!!! I forgot to ask you to put your signature inside…
hehe yes it’s the system of Lingq you are not choice accept now then lol
hehe yes it’s the system of Lingq you are not choose accept now then lol
Although I’m well aware that the real value of a dollar can vary hugely depending on the country and/or social class, I’m really amazed by people saying the U$ 20 is too much for an hour of tutored one-on-one conversation with a native speaker! LingQ conversations are completely different of free chatting! You have the support, the advice, the reports, the patience…
In Brazil it would cost about 2-3 times to have a private (in most cases, non-native) tutor. Plus the gas, the time to get there and then to get back, schedule restrictions… What if you don’t like your tutor very much?
Of course, as Steve has already pointed out somewhere else, this discussion has more to do with this insane “for-free” internet culture, which, in my opinion, is unsustainable in the long run. I guess LingQ is in the right path, by providing an excellent service for a very reasonable price, in an amazingly flexible environment, which includes even a lot of ways of not paying for paid services! As Vera pointed out, what LingQ provides is just a smarter kind of language exchange partnership. Instead of trying to find that perfect partner, you simply offer your services the way you like the most, receive credits for it, and spend them the way you like the most! What else you could ask for?
Mark, I loved your comment on parents! It would be a dream having my kids begging me some money to spend on LingQ tutoring … maybe in some years…
Ana,
I am sure your twins will be begging you for money for many things, including education. We are what we are. Some of our tutors are learners, but not all. Some of our most popular tutors are not learners, but just offer their time, personality and expertise as tutors, They deserve to be compensated. I wish we could pay them more. And of course we like to get our little bit to go towards our expenses.
There is no free lunch unless someone else is paying.