Verbling

What Verbling is

Verbling is an online marketplace for private language lessons. A learner picks a teacher, books a free trial, and then takes 1-on-1 lessons over live video inside Verbling's own browser classroom. The teacher FAQ describes it as "an online language-learning platform that connects language learners with qualified language teachers for private sessions through live video chat." The home page says Verbling has teachers "in over 70 languages," taught "by over 10,000 qualified tutors," and elsewhere that "Our community has over 2,000 expert tutors, all with prior teaching experience." The Enterprise page adds that "Over a million students from around the world love Verbling's integrated platform."

It serves two readers: individual learners who want a personal teacher on their own schedule, and companies that want to buy lessons for staff through Verbling for Enterprise.

Languages

The home page lists English, Spanish, French, German, Mandarin, Portuguese and Italian up front, then "Other." The Enterprise FAQ publishes the full list of supported languages: Afrikaans, Albanian, Arabic, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Basque, Bengali, Berber, Bulgarian, Cantonese, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Igbo, Indonesian, Irish Gaelic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Kurdish, Latin, Latvian, Malay, Mandarin, Norwegian, Pashto, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tamil, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Vietnamese and Zulu. Teachers can apply for languages not yet listed, and the FAQ says Verbling "will introduce new languages on a rolling basis."

Finding a teacher

The teacher search lets learners filter "by language, accent, skills, and more." Each card shows the teacher's hourly rate, country, the languages they speak with a level (Native, or a level such as C1, B2 or A1), how many lessons and students they have taught, and their rating. The English results show the range: one teacher works only with doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals preparing for the Occupational English Test, another lists IELTS and OET speaking practice, business English and lessons for kids, and others focus on conversation, grammar and pronunciation. Several mention qualifications such as CELTA, TESOL or TEFL in their own profiles. Popular teachers show thousands of lessons; one English teacher lists 17,060 lessons with 1,626 students.

Prices and the free trial

Teachers set their own prices. The teacher FAQ says: "Teachers set their own hourly tutoring rates individually." Prices appear in the currency a visitor picks from a switch in the header, and the pages quoted here show Swiss francs. The home page states "lesson prices starting at CHF 4.12" and gives starting rates per language: English from CHF 12.37 per hour, Spanish from CHF 6.60, French from CHF 5.77, Italian from CHF 8.25, and Japanese and Korean from CHF 14.84. The starting figures change over time: the home page has also shown English from CHF 12.51 and Japanese from CHF 15.01. Teachers on the English search page charged CHF 8.34 to CHF 30.85 per hour.

The first lesson with a teacher is free. The search page offers a "Free 30-min Trial," and the home page's second step reads: "Once you've found a teacher, select a time that suits you and add it to their calendar. Get to know the teacher and discuss your goals totally free of charge." After the trial, learners book individual lessons when they want them; the home page promises "Book lessons when you want to learn." Lesson packages also exist: the home page has advertised "15% Off Lesson Packages."

The classroom

Verbling runs its own video technology. The teacher FAQ says "All Verbling lessons are conducted using Verbling Video, Verbling's own video chat technology," and "All communication with students is done through Verbling's messaging system." The Enterprise FAQ lists what the classroom includes: "video- and audio-chat, messaging, flashcards, collaborative textpads, image and PDF markup, file management, cloud storage, learning tools and widgets, and more!" It adds that no external downloads are needed, "with the exception of a couple extensions developed by Verbling to allow for screen-sharing and recording of lessons."

Students use the latest Chrome or Firefox on a computer, or the Verbling app from the App Store and Google Play. The Enterprise FAQ asks for an internet speed of about 1 MB/s in each direction and notes that firewalls may need to allow WebRTC traffic. Learners can follow existing courses or ask a teacher to build a curriculum around their goals.

Verbling for Enterprise

The Enterprise offer is "a language-learning service for businesses or organizations looking to improve their team's communication in a new language." Staff learn on the same platform with the same teachers; Enterprise is "an administrative layer added on top" that lets an organization administrator "maintain an organization's plan, make payments, invite and manage membership, generate reports, analyze progress, set access controls, and more." The process is to set up the organization and invite members, with admin approval; pay for a plan; then let the team book 1-on-1 lessons at their convenience. Lessons are "hour-long video-chat sessions." The page lists "Login using SSO" and "Provisioning via SCIM API," dashboard statistics and reports to "monitor ROI," "Customer support 24/7" and "99.99% uptime in the last year." The home page also mentions "group lessons with Verbling for B2B." Signing up is a contact form; Enterprise prices are not on the page.

Teaching on Verbling

Teachers apply through a form. Verbling requires "previous experience teaching their target language to speakers of other languages," documented in the resume section with a reference letter or other proof. A formal teaching certificate "is preferable and will increase your chances of admission," and the FAQ is firm that "Candidates that don't have a certificate or a verifiable teaching experience will not be accepted." Native speakers are not required, but applicants need "a very good command (C2)" of the language they teach. Applications are reviewed within 2 weeks.

Teachers set their own rates, teach an unlimited number of private sessions and adjust their availability on a calendar. New earnings become available "every Sunday or Monday, depending on your time zone," and can be cashed out "using various methods including PayPal, Wise, Payoneer, or Verbling Credit." Teachers need a computer with camera and microphone, Chrome and a strong connection.

Who Verbling suits

Verbling suits adult learners and older students who want a personal language teacher, the freedom to compare teachers through a free trial, and lessons booked around their own week. The long language list makes it useful for less commonly taught languages such as Igbo, Pashto, Basque or Zulu. Professionals with a specific goal, such as the OET for healthcare work or IELTS, can find teachers who specialize in it.

It suits companies that want individual lessons for staff with SSO, SCIM provisioning and progress reports, and experienced, certified language teachers who want to set their own rates. It is not a structured course with a fixed syllabus; what each learner gets depends on the teacher they choose.