Recently, a question was posted asking about how to find Mongolian tutors in Sydney, Australia. This question doesn't really seem to have any value to anyone beyond the OP, as this is a very uncommon situation. I looked through any documentation we already have, but couldn't seem to find anything. What's your opinion on this?
3 Answers
I think it's better to provide more detail than less.
If there's a website dedicated solely to Mongolian tutors in Sydney, by all means recommend it.
If there's a website dedicated solely to Mongolian tutors, but world-wide in scope, then mention that.
If there's a website dedicated to language tutors in Sydney or Australia, then that's useful too.
If there's a website about language tutors world-wide, like Italki, then mention that.
If there's a general classifieds site that is dedicated to Australia that has a reasonable number of ads for language tutoring, such as Gumtree (example search with 97 hits), then consider that as well as a last resort.
However, if the community prefers I turn it into a generalised question, such as "How do I find language tutors in my city?", I'm willing to do so.
How to find a tutor (or class) ought to be on topic. Asking for a list of tutors or classes should not.
Finding the right scope for such questions may however be a bit difficult, and may depend a lot on the particular region and language.
"How can I find a Mongolian tutor in Sydney?" may be more appropriately scoped than "How can I find a Spanish tutor in Houston?" But then again, perhaps not--it may depend a lot on the answers we receive.
As such, I'm in favor of permitting such questions, with the option to revisit if a problem ever arises.
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Is it common, or uncommon, for Houston residents to want to learn Spanish? Unlike, say, California, this non-American would assume that the average Texan is likely to be a monoglot, and even if they wanted to learn another language, wouldn't be interested in Spanish. Jul 31, 2016 at 4:34
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Most Texans, like Californians, are at least semi-bilingual, just like residents of every US state that borders Mexico. But that's really beside the point of my answer. My answer is more about the availability of tutors (there are literally hundreds thousands in Houston).– FlimzyJul 31, 2016 at 10:15
Asking a general question about the process for finding a tutor is fine. Resource lists such as tutor lists or referral websites should be off-topic.
But I think asking about specific languages or locations is too narrow in scope.
I would only be more specific when there is some difference (in technique only) when searching for a tutor on a more localized basis (language or location). In the example, only if the process for Mongolian would be different from other languages, or Sydney (or Australia) would be different from other locations.
