SEP 23, 2021 UPDATE: A lot of people ask how my Spanish studies are going. Truthfully, I was only doing it as a short-term project back in 2014, but I do have plans in the future to study it again. Currently I'm working on my Japanese pretty intensely. If anyone is interested in videos like that, let me know.
June 6, 2020 UPDATE: For a while, I think Cynthia wasn't accepting new students, but I noticed her profile on iTalki is currently active, so you might be able to book a lesson with her while she is available. Here is a link to her profile: www.italki.com/teacher/1160526. Even after 6 years, she has been one of the better iTalki teachers I've studied with. I definitely recommend her!
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On Day 16 of my "Summer of Spanish" I tried my first conversation with a native Spanish speaker on Skype.
It was a little embarrassing, but I think that is the point. My focus is on just talking and getting over the fear and hesitation so that I put my energies in to communicating with as much Spanish as I may have at a given time.
This is one of the teachers on iTalki who was very patient with me. I plan to do similar sessions with various teachers 3 times a week.