Excellent
Based on 281 reviews
Honesty, pricing, process and quality scores appear once 5 customers have rated them.
We want to take the agony out of booking your language course. We designed our site to help you easily compare thousands of courses at once. If you want to spend hours searching every language school site yourself, that’s one option. If you prefer an easier way to find a good deal, we can help. At Language International, we want to make your experience a lot better and put the fun back into planning your language course.
Language International (languageinternational.com) has 281 customer reviews on Folks Told, with an average rating of 4.5 out of 5.
281 approved reviews, newest moderated first
Rohini R.
HIGHLY recommend going to Wirachoca Language School in Cusco. I had an unforgettable experience with wonderful teachers and staff at the school. My homestay was phenomenal. With all of the options in Cusco, for Language Schools, this is the best one!
Joseph R.
Unprofessional. This is company does not shoot straight. There is something clearly wrong here. They have neither a reliable phone number or address that I could establish. They also are awfully sneaky by urging you to pay and reserve your booking, then -- and only then -- telling you not to book your travel arrangements until they "confirm" your booking, whatever that could possibly mean. Online it turns out that many people have had serious problems with them. They are not professional or serious in their conduct and have no reliable presence. They are also sneaky in that you might find a reputable school to study with, but then the booking is through this alleged company. I will not have anything further to do with them, and I recommend others stay away until such time as the company can demonstrate its professional reliability and rationality of practices, which it has not done.
Reply from Language InternationalJul 31, 2019
Hi Joseph, I completely understand your frustration and confusion in this case, and we of course want to make sure you feel secure when booking with Language International. I have tried calling you to help clarify the situation and maybe give you some peace of mind. I left you a voicemail. I hope you received it. To clarify, we are an agency. We do not operate the schools we work with. That is why you received the email that said "Please do not make travel arrangements until you receive a booking confirmation." I have already been in touch with the school to inform them about your interest in booking a course, but sometimes, there can be complications. I don't expect there to be any issues especially since you're booking the course so far in advance, but I do still understand if you prefer to cancel. We send the automated email recommending not to make travel arrangements because there can, occasionally, be complications with our partner schools or courses can become fully booked. As indicated, however, this shouldn't be the case with your booking since you are booking so far in advance. I'm very sorry that the process was not more clear from the outset. If you like, I can still proceed with your booking and confirm everything with the school. Of course, if you prefer to simply cancel or book with the school directly, I completely understand. Again, I sincerely apologize for your confusion and the delay getting back to you.
Ahmed S.
I think everyone's comments are not good Is there another reliable site?
Reply from Language InternationalJul 17, 2019
Hi Ahmad We’re sorry to receive your negative feedback. However, we were hoping you could share a bit more about your experience so that we can adequately address your concerns. We appreciate every kind of feedback and use it to improve our service. Did you end up booking a course with us? Which student advisor were you working with? Please note, Language International strives to maintain the highest level of customer service for our students. For 10 years we have helped students realize their goal of learning a language, and we are constantly working to improve all the aspects of the booking process from request to finalized course. If you can please contact our customer service team, we would love to hear more about your experience and offer you a discount on your next booking as a thank you for sharing your valuable feedback.
William L.
Avoid this company. Select the English Course, paid the fee then received emails asking for additional materials fee (already paid) and a registration fee that was not mentioned on their website. The email also said if I didn't pay the additional fees they would cancel my enrolment and keep a portion of the fees already paid. This is nothing more than exploitation of vulnerable people. I recommend you avoid Language International at all costs
Reply from Language InternationalMar 14, 2019
Hi William, This is Mathis. I'm the head of the student advising team here at Language International. This is incredibly disappointing. I am so sorry that you were asked to pay for additional school registration and materials fees after having already paid for your course through our website. We want each student’s experience with Language International to be perfect, and we clearly missed the mark here. Additionally, I am so sorry to hear that you received an email saying that a portion of the fees you paid will not be refunded if you don't pay these additional fees and decide to cancel. This just sounds terrible. I can assure you that this is definitely NOT our company policy. In very rare circumstances, schools make mistakes when entering their prices in our system. It sounds like this school may have missed entering their registration fee and materials fee. However, in cases such as this, we always make sure that our students get a 100% full refund in case they decide to cancel. William, I'd like to personally look into your case and investigate what happened, but I could not find your name in our system. Could you send an email to your Language International student advisor and quote our conversation here, so that they can connect you and me directly? Alternatively, you can get in touch with one of our student advisors here: https://www.languageinternational.com/about-li Sincerely, Mathis
Takeshi T.
I had a terrible experience. The website says the school accepts one week program for those who'd like to include English lessons during a vacation and I applied for it. After ten days, they said they decided that they don't accept one week program the day before because there's no academic value and also said to change the course to two week course. Of course my vacation and flight ticket is fixed and I booked a hotel near the school. I sent back to them but they just say if I don't extend to two week program, I should cancel the school. The agent says that he made multiple calls to me in Japan but it was two calls at the same time while I was in an important meeting. The agent whose name is Yaroslav just insists that there's no value for one week course and he's just an agent dealing with many schools. If he's just an agent, I think he's not the one who should judge the value of the course and he should be responsible for the information they post on their website.
Reply from Language InternationalAug 30, 2018
Hi Takeshi-san, This is Yaroslav from Language International. This is definitely a disappointment; I’m so sorry to hear that you have already booked your flights as well as a hotel near the school, only to find out that ELS cannot accept a 1-week enrollment. Additionally, I sincerely apologize that it took the school several days to get back to you with a response -- and a negative one at that. We want each booking with Language International to be perfect, and it seems we’ve missed the mark here because the school couldn't fulfill your course. I know it is a big inconvenience to have to rebook your flight and hotel. I really wish the school director at ELS could have accepted your enrollment request for a 1-week course. However, every student must receive approval from the school director before ELS can confirm a booking for a non-standard duration (less than 4 weeks). In your case, the request was denied, despite our best efforts to convince the school to make an exception for you. That's also the reason that we inform each of our students to wait until they receive an official booking confirmation from the school before making any travel arrangements, especially when we know that there's a chance the school may not be able to fulfill an enrollment. This warning was on the confirmation page that you saw after registering for the course on the Language International website -- and once again in the email that I sent you the day after you registered for the course. Needless to say, your credit card will not be charged for any course fee. Please don’t hesitate to let my team know anytime you have a concern - it is the best way we can improve. I’m at your service if you need anything further.
Frank
My course in Chiang Mai 07/05-10/05/2018 was very good organized. Two teachers helped me refreshing and improving my English. The location of International House was super, silent and airconditioned classrooms and a good restaurant. It was a good time! Frank (Germany)
Terremoto2017
I got contacted by one of your agent asking me if the school I run delivered courses in Milan. At first it seemed to me like a good opportunity to increase my visibility. Then they sent the agent agreement that states the following: 2.1. The School agrees to pay Language International and Open Abroad a commission rate of 45% on tuition fees, 100% on registration fees (if applicable), and 100% on housing placement service fees (if applicable) for all types of courses (“Commission”). That means that my school gents visibility through their website and for every student deciding to do a course in my school they get a 45% commision. Giving them a 45% commision wmeans my teachers have to work for free. Let's say I sell a 30-hour course at 1350 Euros, I have to pay them more than 600 Euros for their commision fee. Maybe I didn't get it properly and I hope they'll answer here since their sales reps stopped replying to my e-mails when I voiced my perplexities.
Reply from Language InternationalJan 11, 2018
Hi Terremoto2017, I am so sorry to hear that you had a negative impression about Language International. We want each interaction with Language International to be perfect, and it seems we've missed the mark here. We are constantly expanding our network of partner schools, with the goal of having the world's largest network of language courses. That's why we reached out to your school. I understand that you have received a sample agent agreement from us. We do accept different levels of commission rates. Your school does not have to offer us a 45% commission. I apologize if this was not clear in our first emails. We understand that different schools have different cost structures and marketing budgets. We work with over 3,000 language schools that offer us anywhere from 20% - 50% commission. Depending on the commission rate, we then adjust how much we invest in online advertising for your school. I also understand that you did not receive a response to your email when you asked for a clarification on how we work. We have a policy of responding to all of our emails within 1 business day, so I am very surprised to hear that you did not receive a response from us. Do you mind sharing your school name or email address, so I can double check our system to see why you did not receive a response from us? Finally, we would very much love to speak with you to clarify how we work. Once again, I am so sorry to hear that you had a negative impression about Language International. We look forward to the opportunity to speaking with you soon and to explore a future collaboration! Please don’t hesitate to let my team know anytime you have a concern - it is the best way we can improve. I’m at your service if you need anything further. Sincerely, Matthew
Jeff
The review above was obviously written by the company. They say that the company works for free - except for the commission they get paid. I guess they are in the language business - semantics. I booked and paid for a course in Zaragosa Spain for 2 weeks 2 weeks before the start. They couldn't confirm the course until a week later and didn't give me the details of the place to stay until the week before. when they finally told me where I would be staying, they said it was 15 minutes from downtown. It turned out to be a town in the same province. There were 4 buses going into town a day. Walking was possible - it would take 3.5 hours!!! Thei job is essentially to rebook students through their valuable " contact". For a nice fee "commission". They are 2 steps away from the actual situation and lie glibly. Fortunately I checked it out myself and avoided a big mistake by booking my own stay. Stay AWAY!
Reply from Language InternationalFeb 8, 2017
Jeffrey, This is definitely a disappointment; I’m so sorry to hear that you weren't satisfied with the booking. We try to do our best to get everything with accommodation and course sorted out as quickly as possible, but sometimes delays are inevitable. Please note that nearly all language schools do not confirm accommodation until one week before the start date. This is a widely common practice. All of our partner schools are unique and are specifically tied to their local communities and cultures. We have over 2,800 partner schools. Unfortunately, we cannot get to know every school and local intimately, so we rely on our partners to find the best options. We do the best we can to impart the student's requests and needs when we send bookings to schools, but not all requests are possible. Additionally, I sincerely apologize for the confusion about how our company makes money. We do earn a commission from the students that we send to our partner schools. However, this commission is not an additional cost that students pay, but rather, our partner schools pay us this commission for the work we do in online advertising and helping students to find suitable courses. We guarantee that our students will pay the same price through us that they would pay if they were to book a course directly with one of our partner schools. While we want each booking with Language International to be perfect, it seems we’ve missed the mark here. I apologize. I know it is a big inconvenience to have to rebook your accommodation, and I wish I could have provided your the details sooner. As an apology, you will receive a $50 USD gift certificate. This will apply to your next booking with us for any course of 4 weeks or longer, anywhere in the world. Please don’t hesitate to let my team know anytime you have a concern - it is the best way we can improve. I’m at your service if you need anything further. Sincerely, Matthew
