Chinese Lessons

[Mattholomew]

I'm interested in finding a professional, experienced, and relatively inexpensive Chinese language tutor. Plenty of people have offered to teach me Chinese informally, but it's something I'd like to invest some time and money into and don't want to half ass it.

So...do these services exist in China per se? And if so, what's the typical going rate for a decent tutor? And if anyone happens to live in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province (it's a stretch, yes...) that can answer this question I'll be very, very grateful. Otherwise, if you have some general advice/information regarding Chinese language tutors please share them!

Cheers

[con's fly is open]

Hire one? Doesn't your school offer free lessons?

Barter: swap language lessons. There are a billion folks there who speak Chinese like a native, a couple hundred thousand who speak English like a native. You've got your pick of nearly every English-speaking local you meet. Hook up with your favourite Shenghuaren once or twice a week, and swap lessons over laundry/coffee/beer/dinner/hookers. Odds are he'll even pick up the bill.
Perks of China, dude. Cheers!

[ChinaGurl]

Just be careful, the Dude.

If you're going to swap language lessons, you might find yourself with a Chinese 'teacher' who is more interested in practicing their English than teaching you Chinese.

I would offer, simply because you're the Dude (btw, how's that rug working out for you? Tying the room together?) but a) I don't live in Jiangsu and b) I'm outta here before the end of the month.

My advice: Try to find someone among the foreign teaching staff who's been there a while. See if they can speak Chinese and if they're willing to teach you. If that's not possible, get yourself a group of friends who only speaks Chinese. Hang out with them as often as you can. You'll learn super quickly.

I think that Chinese lessons for foreigners outside of big cities is an as-yet untapped market.

Hmmm.

[Raoul Duke]

Dude, you've gotten some good advice. I particularly like ChinaGurl's advice to try the Chinese teachers at your school...otherwise, that deep into SuBei the pickings are pretty slim. Maybe the goats will talk to you. SuBei is a lot like my native Oklahoma...it's a nice place to be from.

Your town is also close to the Shandong border, and Shandong is full of riff-raff. Even the foreigners there are sub-par.

But seriously, one challenge you will face is finding a good book. Most of the stuff sold in small XinHua/WaiWen stores stinks on ice. If you can, have some sent from home. A hint on book shopping...look for extensive use of pinyin. A lot of the commonly sold CFL books rely mostly on Chinese characters. Isn't life weird and difficult enough already?

Dude, I'm in Suzhou. Hop a train sometime!

[George61]

I think it's time to resurrect the map. I will investigate the situation. For once, Raoul is right, look for a Pinyin book...it's a lot easier to read. And, surely, your school has at least 1 good-looking female teacher who could teach you Chinese in exchange for you teaching her other things? (culturally speaking, of course!)

[Mattholomew]

Thanks all- these are good ideas. Since I've posted I've actually made a couple of arrangements- I'm taking lessons from a Chinese girl with a few of the other foreigners. These lessons are more situational Chinese (i.e., what to say to the copy machine lady, how to order a certain thing in a restaurant) than basic Chinese, which I'm most interested.

I've also agreed to hire one of the English teachers from my city- she speaks Chinese very well so she'll teach me some of the basics.

My school doesn't offer free lessons, and my Chinese colleagues always look stressed out and underslept so I don't really feel good about asking them to take me on as a pupil.

Thanks though- and yeah, I'm still looking for the Chinaman that pissed on my rug

Cheers

[Lager]

Asian - Americans man. Please!