Even(?) at Livemocha . . .
At Livemocha every member is supposed to correct another community member’s writing submission, but there is an expression, “qualified” tutor, in the following sentence:
“You can get a submission reviewed by a qualified tutor when you buy a Plus.”
It can be said that there are both “free tutors” and “qualified” pay tutors on the site.
In a free market, if consumers do not have a detailed knowledge of the goods or services they are going to buy, they have to pay a lot of transaction cost to get what they really want.
PS
For my part, I am really enjoying paying the transaction cost.
Yutaka, I’ve been reading your comments and the comments of others. I understand the concern about quality. I wouldn’t want a tutor who just has conversational fluency in a language. I know of one site where there are tutors/teachers who only have a B2 level in the language they are teaching. I wouldn’t want to do that. I’d feel I wasn’t offering a good product, but then there are piano teachers who are not concert pianists…
Maiteeさんへ
すぐれた芸術家が必ずしもよき教師ではないということについては同感です。ピアノ教室の経営者も喜ぶ考え方だろうと思います。また、教師の側からは、「人気のある先生がよい先生であるとはいえない」という意見も当然出てくるでしょう。生徒からは、・・・。
Maiteeさんへ
フォーラムでのMaiteeさんのコメントには、いつも感心しています。LingQには不可欠のメンバーだと思います。 Ich drücke Ihnen den Daumen.
ありがとうごさいます、ゆたかさん。お気持ちよく分かりま。
さざえさんでございます。
ありがとうございます、ゆたかさん。お気持ちよく分かります。
@Maitee:
“I do not want to take students away from other tutors here”
Given how many students there are here learning English, the only way you will take students away from other tutors is if you are markedly better than the existing tutors - and if you are, then badly LingQ needs you! It’s not a “zero sum”: there are a lot of people who might be tempted to take part in more discussions if there were a wider choice of tutors, offering different specialisms, different days and different times. Also, regular students don’t often swap tutors, they just add another one into the mix from time to time.
Please have a go at hosting conversations when you are in town 