I agree with Jura.. Skype or MSN should do fine. :)

Hi, it's easier to arrange a time to talk on skype.

This applies only to Italki. At the bottom of your screen, there should be a bar that shows "People" and "Groups". If you have your settings so that you can receive chat from your language partners, the "People" tab should show a count of those partners that are currently online. You can click on "People" then the name of the person you wish to chat with. They may answer or not. Most of the time they don't answer, they are away from the screen. If you don't have the bar at the bottom of the screen, then your browser probably is not able to handle Italki chat. The browser that my company provides is like that. I had to download Firefox to enable chat. I have to express an opinion while I'm on the subject. The chat boxes in Italki are too small. If the person I'm chatting with writes in Chinese characters, I can't recognize them, even when I know them.