Private Tutor

Question

I am thinking of finding a private tutor to help with my intermediate conversational Spanish skills as well as grammatical reviews and would like to know the pros and cons in your opinion of getting a Spanish native speaker or someone fluent in Spanish who, however, is not a native.

Answer 1

If you can find a non-native speaker who is truly proficient with a solid accent, I'd say go with that person over the native. Why, you ask? In my experience, the non-native speaker has had to overcome the same obstacles you are experiencing and are therefore better when it comes to teaching to your weaknesses. They recognize your mistakes and know how to correct them because they've had to do the same in the past.

• good post, getting my vote+ - Heidita Oct 22, 2009

Answer 2

Thanks everybody for your help. Gracias a todos por su ayuda!

Answer 3

I attend a virtual classroom in Second Life, with personal tuition from a native Mexican Spanish speaker. It's just like a real classroom, with slideshows, multimedia and, of course, one on one voice chat. She charges from $5 US per hour, depending on the frequency of your lessons. I pay $7 and it's great value, my confidence has soared.

You'll need to sign up at www.secondlife.com (free), and create your Avatar, then just search for Ximenamodotti Carami (in Second Life you can find her profile at secondlife:///app/agent/fba7369f-c8ee-40fe-b267-947ba1098d76/about )

The classroom, you can find at http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sede di Marte/214/71/38 and she has a blog at http://ximenamodotticarami.blogspot.com/

This may sound like a plug, and it probably is, because I can't overstate how much she has helped me. She's also a Spanish teacher in Real Life and, I gather, things aren't going too well in Mexico at the moment, so I'm happy to do her a favour and tell as many people as possible about her online classes.

Have a trial lesson. You won't regret it. Tell her Chas Trapdoor sent you ;¬) (my avatar name)

Answer 4

HI adai, it all depends on the proficiency of the speaker of course. I am a teacher of English and I am the best....jeje, and I am not a native speaker. If you find a tutor who likes his/her job and takes things seriously, makes classes good fun....you will learn faster and more proficiently than with a native who is boring. It all depends

• I agree, you are the best. You speak English better than most native speakers. - Nathaniel Oct 21, 2009
• In the sense of the original question, you are a native speaker, since the reference is to "a Spanish native speaker". - samdie Oct 21, 2009

Answer 5

I agree that it depends on the teacher. Also, I think that native English speaking teachers are easier to understand in Spanish because of their American accent. However, I prefer to have a native Spanish speaking teacher because I feel that I benefit from hearing the true accent.

• Oh! Amyelizabeth! What you said¡! Doncha know that not all English speaking people have American accents. Consider Kiwis, Brits, Aussies, Canucks & etc. - Moe Oct 21, 2009
• Duh, thank you I'm not stupid. Most people living in the US teaching Spanish do have American accents, and this includes all 8 of the native English speaking teachers I have had - amyelizabeth Oct 22, 2009

Answer 6

There are two issues involved: an educated native speaker is, of course, the most reliable for questions of "Is this the natural/common way to say ...?" On the other hand, native speakers (despite knowing what most people say / what sounds "normal", may not be especially good at explaining why something is said in a certain way.

On some level, it is helpful to know that "... sounds weird" or "one wouldn't say ..." but it can also be useful to know why something sounds weird. It should also be noted that sometimes there is no good answer for why something sounds odd; it's just that different languages are different.

• I have found that most native English speakers don't know why things are said the way they are. It seems that teaching grammar goes in and out of style in the American education system. - lorenzo9 Oct 22, 2009