Cost of Polish lessons, courses (private)

I'm going to learn polish. Could anybody afvise on prices for the private lessons and courses?

Where are you learning it? UK? Poland? USA?

In Poland language private lessons cost about 25-40 zł per hour or 45 minutes. In Warsaw, the prices are higher.

i pay 30 an hour if that helps

Yes, I'm going to learn polish in warsaw. thanks for answers.

skype internet connection.
£12.50 for 60, £17.50 for 90 minutes, one to one.

Material e-mailed as pdf files to be printed or listened to/mp3.

Excellent method for people living outside Poland.

IKO is a Warsaw based language school that gets good feedback.

Oct 30, 09, 20:16 - Thread attached on merging:
Any french conversation courses in Warsaw?

Hi everybody!
I'm curious if there are any courses or cultural meetings, or any other events, where people gather to speak french? As I understood, there is no French Cultural Center in Warsaw.

No. Skype is a dreadful platform for learning on - the quality can be very, very poor - and for language teaching, I would expect a dedicated platform, not something like Skype.

I use skype everyday and rarely have problems, maybe its your connection speed or comp?

To be honest, it's the fact that there can be problems - it's just not a professional platform to use. There's also the fact that the client shouldn't have to have particular software.

I agree you can't choose the codec by yourself in skype, and its quality is random.. teamspeak and ventrillo are way better.

Hi all,

Not sure I can quite agree about some of the comments made re Skype. As some have mentioned, the quality depends on many factors but, overall, Skype is easy to use/set up and widely available. I find that the build in audio solutions available in many web conferencing programs are inferior in terms of sound quality/delays/echos etc.

Skype certainly has its faults and can be a bit of a memory hog – e.g. when playing games and speaking to teammates – but, for the purpose of online learning, I still rate it quite highly.

Best,

Monika

It's also owned by eBay which has a long history of unethical practices. Skype has also had their fair share of controversy, especially concerning privacy. Insisting that clients use it is quite frankly business suicide - and I would strongly recommend that anyone considering online lessons (which are, in my opinion, a total waste of money!) investigates to see whether Skype is really something that they wish to use.

If I was paying for online classes, I would expect a dedicated platform for learning without any variables as to quality - I would expect it to be perfect 100% of the time. 'Schools' (and I use this term loosely!) using Skype quite frankly reek of profiteering - and I would be very dubious about any 'school' using Skype as a platform. As I say - clients shouldn't be forced into downloading software that they may not want or need.

I also find it very hard to believe that the quality over Skype is good enough to catch Polish properly.


This is something found in virtually all online platforms - and this is why I'm a strong believer that people certainly shouldn't pay 60zl for online classes. 40zl, maybe - but 60zl is ridiculous given that there's barely any costs to the teacher or the school.

While you are entitled to your opinion, I find the tone and inflammatory nature of your remarks unnecessarily hostile .e.g. your use of ‘ridiculous’.

Other posters have mentioned similar amounts for an hour of tuition and, indeed, some online schools/private teachers charge considerably more.

Perhaps a less superficial judgment is in order – surely the quality of the tuition/materials are of more relevance than the method of delivery? Just sitting in the same room as the teacher does not, in itself, make the lesson superior.

Food for thought before another overly vicious post perhaps?

If it works then the quality on skype is orders


If you look around really close then you will see that there is very little cost to a lot of things we buy on a regular basis. Nike shoes used to cost over $100 when they were made in the US or Europe. Then they moved the production to Vietnam, paying the workers peanuts with salt ans the shoes are still over $100.

As for the 60zl for Polish lessons - what's the big deal? He charges whatever the market will bear, and I assume he does not force people at gun point to be his students.

It is ridiculous. You can get a Polish teacher in many places (especially in Poland) for less than 60zl an hour - and in fact, it's quite possible to get a good Polish teacher for 40zl an hour online.


Those other posters are simply doing what you're doing - hoping to attract gullible expats with money to splash. This forum certainly isn't a true reflection of what the marketplace is actually like.


The materials and delivery can be world class - but over a medium such as Skype, the quality will inevitably suffer. For 60zl an hour, you can get tuition face to face easily - even in the UK! But while we're at it - I could supply exactly the same service for 40zl an hour, if I so wanted.

I simply do not believe that the quality of the internet or phone provides an effective learning experience - particularly with something that isn't guaranteed like Skype. Language can be terribly subtle - and internet transmission just doesn't have the quality needed.

Clearly you have an axe to grind about VOIP but I simply cannot agree – sound quality is very much relative to one’s bandwidth, hardware, ram etc.

Many well established companies use business VOIP and SMEs use Skype. An ever increasing number of schools offer traditional and virtual online learning using such technologies.

Are we to understand that you have tested all the variables (connection speed, sound card, memory) and can confidently claim that all these companies and organisations are wrong? Should we all bow down to your superior wisdom?

In fact, this boils down to little more than your personal preferences – just because you have an aversion to VOIP, it is rather shortsighted to assume that everyone’s experiences/PC set up are identical.

And this is exactly my point - while it may be fantastic for some setups, it isn't guaranteed. If someone has computer problems, they'll lose money


These 'schools' aren't using business VOIP solutions though, are they?

SME's using Skype says a considerable amount about them - it's not a bad option to have 'just in case' - but it's certainly not reliable. Any business relying on Skype (with all the privacy issues combined with unreliability) is effectively entrusting their business to an eBay owned company - look at the amount of hassle that eBay and other sellers have had with PayPal to get an idea for how eBay treats their customers.

As for schools using such technologies - this is nothing but a profit raising exercise dressed up in 'convenience'. Online learning can never replace face to face learning - if it could, why do students still go to physical lectures? Even the famed Open University has summer schools - for that precise reason.

Also, being dependent on the internet is not a good business model - especially in Poland, but also in many other countries.


I can confidently state that VOIP solutions aren't reliable enough in terms of quality to be used for language teaching. I've never met one person who has independently promoted such systems - all the people who are enthusiastic tend to have a biased opinion.


The funny thing is that I don't have an aversion to it - I just think it's inferior to face to face learning and certainly isn't worth 60zl an hour for Polish lessons. For 30zl an hour, certainly, it would be a good deal - but 60zl an hour certainly isn't.

Can I ask - do you offer technical support to those that might have problems with your online lessons? If you do, then that's certainly commendable.

I don't think Skype's the best and the most professional tool out there, main drawbacks? It's a p2p technology which means that if you want to tutor anyone who lives a little bit further away from you gonna suffer a delay. The other thing is that you can't take seriously an application that uses your bandwidth if it pleases so - Skype uses tunelling to connect people who are behind NAT. So whatever connection you have, you can still be burdened by other people using yours if you are not behind NAT you're just gonna be a man in the middle for somebody - and jeopardizing students bandwidth without his knowledge, with fee included that's a little bit over the top.

Client - server architecture is much more reliable you can choose a server that is located between you and your student. You can choose a codec depending on the bandwidth both of you have. Good codec allows really good quality of sound. Of course skype is idiot-proof anyone can use it - it's the only plus. It might be used for casual conversation if somebody has got a broad understanding of the subject, but to teach the basics.. I don't think so.

Of course skype is used by some companies, but not for language education, for project meetings and such, these things don't require crystal clear quality.

If someone was serious enough to bill somebody 60zł per lesson, he'd be also serious enough to invest some money into a better technology, set up a server and write a tutorial. On the other hand it's probably a pretty smart thing to do, use a freeware software, and sponge people for a home visit price..

I have to say that this level of hostility to newcomers seems very common on this forum – I note that other tutors have been carped at for supposedly 'overcharging, ripping off' etc. students as well.

The tone of the posts directed towards me is downright acrimonious and unpleasant – judgments, snide comments and criticism seem the norm. I could waste time defending myself – as it happens I don’t only rely on Skype/MSN – but it all rather begs the question of why should a newcomer be subjected to such derision by strangers?

By the way, the last aggressive poster should at least make a bit more effort with his insults: ‘sponge off’ and not sponge clients.

Quite how offering a professional service and being paid for it is ‘sponging’ is beyond me – according to one dictionary sponging off is to ‘obtain or accept money or food from other people without doing or intending to do anything in return’.

So illiterate as well as rude, eh?

Come on, most of my post were technical details about skype. And I think these were valuable information for anyone whose using Skype.

I'm happy that there's actually a person who employs modern technology in teaching ( most polish high schools are at the tail end ), but I've got my opinion about certain things. When you join a forum and state various things you are bound to recieve some criticism. I think that the price is over the top if there are lower prices for "home visits", and that's why I said you're a sponge...

I'm happy that you've corrected me ( for free), although I think I'd made many more mistakes in all of my posts ;) But trying to insult me with it, is a rather childish thing taking into consideration that we are posting to an international forum with posters from around the world whose native language ain't english. Nice try anyways..

As I thought would be obvious from my posts, I am not a native English speaker either – hence my job as a (native) Polish tutor.

The difference between you and I is that I did not accuse anyone of basically stealing, cheating, or conning students i.e. taking money off people for services without intending to provide any service.


I am well within my rights to call you ‘rude’ given your accusations – you, on the other hand, have and had no right to accuse me of anything since you know nothing of me.

The posts have not been of a purely technical nature as you claim but rather have suggested that tutors like me are ripping off students, offering a poor or overly expensive service, conning guidable foreigners in Poland etc.

Rather than ask questions people here prefer to jump down people’s throats/make unfounded assumptions/accusations and attempt to blacken newcomer's names without any facts or details. Very low.

Clearly a waste of my time – I see from the replies I have received and the way other newcomers are treated, from what I have seen, that this forum is incredibly hostile and dominated by a clique of rude, narrow minded, bigoted trolls.

Monika

The problem is that you don't seem to understand that if you advertise your product openly, people can and will comment upon it. It's not the best idea to advertise on a public forum if you don't want your product to be examined thoroughly.

And yes, you are cheating and conning people. 60zl an hour for MSN/Skype classes is extortionate when you can get the same thing cheaper online - I can offer (though I don't, too much hassle!) Polish classes online for 40zl an hour with professional teachers, or even as low as 20zl an hour with non-professional teachers that can still teach to a certain extent. I'm based in Poland too - so I know what the score is.

There is a rash of people offering 'Online Polish!' at ridiculous prices - ReadySteadyPolish is another one. All of them have something in common - they're attempting to sell online courses as somehow being superior to face-to-face courses, despite all evidence being to the contrary. The fact that you're admitting that you use Skype despite the bandwidth stealing, privacy intruding nature of the application is just another reason why you're ripping people off.


We have the right to state what we think of your service.


We can easily discuss the technical aspects if you wish. I'm however happier discussing the monetary side of things - I know what it costs to provide these classes (ie, next to nothing!) and I know what these classes are worth (40zl max with a bilingual, qualified teacher). Given that language schools in Poznan in Plac Wolnosci/Sw. Marcin are charging around 65zl an hour for face to face Polish classes, how on earth can you justify 60zl an hour, unless it's to expats with large expense accounts?


We've stated the reasons why your service is a ripoff from a commercial point of view and also from a technical point of view. Why ask questions, when you're confirming what we think as it is?


This forum is home to some fearsomely well educated people. Certainly, just because some people have pointed out that your business proposition is rather poor - it's no reason to throw the toys out of the pram and start using personal insults against people.

I would be very loathe to use your service, given that you don't offer people technical support in the event of a problem and instead resort to abuse whenever you are questioned. Not really what people are looking for in a teacher, is it?

Of course it is obvious, but does it change anything? No it doesn't. And now it shows you can only speak in a tone of arrogance and condescension. Good luck for your future students.

Having read this ongoing debate I can only recommend that PolishTutor gets over herself and quickly. Most of the comments were, while critical, not uncalled for. So if you can't stand the heat then get outta da kitchen.

P.S. What you charge is what you charge and i'm not gonna tell you how to run your business but a person shouldn't ever tell anyone what you charge unless it's to a potential client.

I'm I the only one who doesn't use any English in their Polish classes? I refuse to let my teacher speak English in class, she tried to the other day and I told that'll be the last time we try that- she blushed.

delphiandomine
if you put as much time and energy into your own business as you do pouring cold water on other people business plans, you might have more success in life.

I'm having plenty of success in life at the moment, thank you :) And anyway, one of my hobbies is amusing myself with Polish business offers that are absolutely nonsense in their nature...

Skype is an excellent site. Must be your laptop or connection. Skype wouldnt be a danger to your business interests now would it?

What part of "privacy invading, bandwidth stealing" is that difficult to understand? When you're paying 60zl an hour (15 euro!) - you really don't expect to have to use a software solution that will happily invade your privacy and use your bandwidth!

Nah, I have no business interests in telecommunications, just an interested observer.

Skype has always been ok for me too - but it's not 100% reliable. And given that she doesn't offer tech support nor seemingly offers refunds/discounts for disrupted lessons, would you really want to pay for it?

(hang on, RN is defending a Pole over a Celt?)

Proof please.


You offered some mug a job in telecommunications not so long ago. We havent heard from the poor unfortunate since.