One can choose online language lessons taught by a professional teacher, who provides structured learning plans, or a community tutor.

[5] In 2007, Kevin Chen and Yongyue Jiang cofounded italki as an online language exchange community.

[6][7] At the start, the site was focused on building free features for the community.

[13] In 2012, italki raised angel funding from independent investors.

[19][20][21] English is the most popular language being studied, followed by Spanish, French, Chinese, and Japanese.