Karin is from Japan and lives in Canada, where she has taught Japanese online for a little over a year. When she moved abroad, she wanted work that would let her go back to Japan whenever she liked. She tried a few online jobs before discovering online Japanese teaching. “Once I tried it, I thought, this is fun,” she says. “And I could earn a real income while enjoying it.”
Today she teaches about 20 students, most of them in the US and Canada, at $60 a lesson. She sat down with Pensight CEO Yuki to talk about the months she taught for $10, how she found the courage to raise her price, and what keeps her students coming back.
13 lessons a day, for $10 each
For her first six months, Karin charged $10 a lesson, and the tutoring site took a commission of more than 20% on top. “I wasn’t confident in my lessons,” she says. “I wasn’t sure I was allowed to charge more than $10, and I was scared students would leave.”
She opened every slot she could. At her peak she had nearly 30 students. Some days held 13 lessons of 50 minutes each, with ten-minute gaps in between, and some weeks ran to about 60 hours. “I didn’t even have time to eat,” she says. “I was just getting through lesson after lesson, almost like a robot.” She saw it as experience at the time, but she knew she couldn’t keep it up.
Raising her price, step by step
As she wore herself out, Karin joined Kotomusubi, a coaching course for online Japanese teachers, starting with its three-month course and later adding six more months. The course covers how to start teaching, attract students and deliver lessons, and later how to find students on your own instead of relying only on tutoring sites. Her coach helped with her mindset and told her when it was time to raise her price.
She did it in steps. She told existing students their lesson packages would go up by about $10 at a time, and she raised her listed price a little each time a new trial lesson came in. It wasn’t easy. “My coach told me, your lessons have value, it’s okay to raise your price. But at first I was really scared,” she says. “I told myself, I’m taking this course to grow my income. I have to do it now.”
Each step built her confidence. “I started to see a different world,” she says. “If your lessons have value, it’s okay to raise your price, and some students will stay with you.” Today she charges $60, six times what she started at, with about 20 students instead of 30.
If you believe your lesson has value, your students feel it too.
Raise your price in small steps
Karin’s approach:
- Tell existing students about a modest increase to their package ahead of time.
- Raise your listed price a little each time a new trial lesson books.
Small, steady steps are easier on you and on your students.
Why students choose her
Most of Karin’s students start from zero. They want to hold a simple conversation when they travel to Japan, or watch anime without subtitles. The feedback she hears most is that she is patient. Beginners often go quiet while they think, and some teachers jump in with the answer. Karin waits.
She also follows up after every lesson, so students can see their own progress and stay motivated. “I’m the kind of teacher who cheers you on,” she says. “We can do it together. You can do it.” Learning a language alone is easy to give up on, because it’s hard to tell whether you are improving. Having someone notice your progress makes a difference.
The students who improve fastest, she has found, are the ones who match her energy: they do the homework she sends after each lesson and study new words on their own. One university student in the US started from zero before a short study program in Asia. Within about three months, he could talk about his day, what he ate for breakfast and his weekend plans, and read hiragana and some simple kanji. On a trip to Taiwan, he found he could read the Japanese signs, and his parents wrote to Karin about how much he was enjoying it. “Seeing that growth made me so happy,” she says.
If fear is holding you back
Karin’s advice to her younger self: if you aren’t confident, work out exactly what you aren’t confident about. And if you don’t know how to do something, ask someone who has already done it.
“Learn honestly, and build your confidence. That’s the shortcut.”
Why she doesn’t work alone
The biggest difference Kotomusubi made, Karin says, is not working alone. “On your own, you don’t know if you’re doing it right. Even when you’re doing everything you should, you get anxious.” One-on-one sessions with her coach meant direct advice for her own situation, so she grew faster. And the other members are going through the same things. They share their worries, and they share ideas: what helped a student improve, what students loved. “It gives me ideas I never would have had on my own.”
How Pensight helps
Karin says three things about Pensight matter most to her. The first is fees. On the other platforms she used, the minimum commission was 18%. “Over a year, that can add up to around ¥1 million,” she says. “On Pensight, that cost is almost gone. Even with fewer students, I’ve been able to keep my income, and Pensight is part of the reason.”
The second is lesson feedback. Pensight transcribes each lesson and drafts feedback on what the student got wrong and what went well. The transcripts are accurate enough to pick out exactly what she needs. Before, she spent so long fixing her feedback that she couldn’t finish it in the ten minutes between lessons. Now she sends it within ten minutes.
The third is memberships. Karin has started a monthly column for students on small pieces of Japanese culture, like roasted sweet potatoes in October or Japan’s “autumn of appetite.” Lesson time is limited and goes to grammar and practical Japanese, so the membership gives her another way to share the culture.
What’s next
Karin is about to spend two months working from Japan, adjusting lesson times for the time difference and rescheduling a few weeks to see friends and family. “That’s the way of working I always dreamed of,” she says. “Taking two months in Japan would be hard at most companies.”
Next, she wants to try group lessons. Many people want to speak a little Japanese before a trip, so she is thinking about a three-month course to get ready for travel, split by level.
When she started, the teachers on Instagram earning ¥700,000 or ¥1 million a month felt out of reach. “But once you know how, things move fast,” she says. “I think it’s achievable for a lot of people.”
Find Karin
- [TODO: Karin’s Pensight page / Instagram]
Frequently asked questions
Who is Karin?
Karin is an online Japanese teacher from Japan who lives in Canada. She has taught for a little over a year, mostly beginners in the US and Canada who want to travel to Japan or watch anime without subtitles, and she now teaches about 20 students at $60 a lesson.
How do you raise your price as an online language teacher?
Karin raised hers in steps: about $10 at a time for existing students’ packages, and a little more on her listed price each time a new trial lesson booked. Support from a coach helped her find the confidence to start.
Will students leave if I raise my price?
Some may, but Karin found that students who value your lessons stay. She went from nearly 30 students at $10 to about 20 at $60, earning more while teaching fewer lessons.
How many lessons a day is too many for an online teacher?
At her busiest, Karin taught up to 13 lessons a day and around 60 hours a week, with no time to eat. She saw it as useful experience, but not something she could keep up long term.
Why do beginners keep coming back to a teacher?
Karin’s students say she is patient. She waits while beginners think instead of jumping in with the answer, and she follows up after every lesson so students can see their own progress.
How can online language teachers save time on lesson feedback?
Karin uses Pensight, which transcribes each lesson and drafts feedback on mistakes and strengths. She now sends feedback within the ten minutes between lessons, instead of spending much longer fixing it.
Watch the full conversation between Karin and Yuki on the Pensight podcast.
