Because you’ll hit a ‘wall’ at some point. Apps and videos are great for practice, particularly for characters, vocabulary and grammar patterns. However, when you learn through Apps and videos, your speaking and listening tends to be weaker, and you can’t get clarification for things you don’t understand. We find students who learn from Apps and videos tend to have a wider vocabulary bank but struggles more at using them in the correct context.

In addition, as you progress, what you don’t understand earlier also becomes a bigger problem as knowledge are built on each other. Having the support and guidance from an experienced teacher helps you overcome this.

If you are serious about learning and want to make the most of your time to make good progress, taking classes is a better option especially for a language like Chinese.  Learning in a group class also gives you the benefit of learning with others and keep to the motivation going! 

In addition, as you progress, what you don’t understand earlier also becomes a bigger problem as knowledge are built on each other. Having the guidance and support from an experienced teacher helps you overcome this.

Private tuition also allow for maximum flexibility to work on your weaknesses and tailor the pace and content entirely to your needs.

If you are serious about learning and want to make the most of your time to make good progress, taking classes is a better option especially for a language like Chinese. 

In short, because we believe learning should be enjoyed, not endured; because we believe in the power of application (not regurgitation); we believe in the importance of practical content; and we believe that a relaxed and safe environment to make mistakes are vital to learning.

Our lessons are personalised, we pay attention to each student’s goals, strengths, weaknesses and target timeframe for fast and sustained progress.

Our teachers all have a strong command of English, enabling us to make the complex and nuances clear and easy to understand.

Our focus is to help you truly learn – so we challenge you to apply, not blindly regurgitate, to understand the ‘3D’ meaning of words, not just its meaning in a single context, and to immerse in cultural field trips within each course as well as our language meetups to build confidence!

In Central London, just 6 minutes walk from Blackfriars and Southwark Station, and 12 minutes from Waterloo Station.

For every 1.5 hour lesson, at least 1.5 or 2 hours outside should give you good progress. Space this over 20 mins each day will make it easier and also help you remember more too!

Everyone has a different definition of basics! But if you want to be able to do basic greetings, introduce yourself, your job, family (and asking others), and to order simple food and drinks, it is achievable in 3 – 4 months. (our Beginner 1 course covers all the above).  Obviously how fluent you are would depend on how much work you put in yourself, but to function at that basic level, it takes much less time than you may imagine.

Good question (though not an easy one)! It depends on the intensity of your study, for example, someone who has time for 4 hours a week and immerse themselves in the language on a daily basis (e.g. through watching TV programmes, reading books, listening to podcasts etc) will achieve fluency faster than someone who can spend only 2 hours a week. 

As a general guide, if you do 1.5 hour lessons per week, plus 1.5 to 2 hours study outside of the class as advised by us, you can expect to achieve reasonable fluency as our learning map outlines.

While Chinese classes may be pricier compared to languages like Spanish or French (as they are more popular in Europe and with that, the price can be lower), our group courses work out to be £15 an hour which is a brilliant, great value choice. Our prices are also competitive with the market rate.

More importantly, our students tell us time after time they learn better and more effectively with us. The best way for you to see that is probably to attend our trial lessons, and then only commit if you like us!

We also offer 2 ways to make payment easier:

1) Pay in 4 instalments – 25% now, and then 3 further payments of 25% every 2 weeks thereafter.

2) Pay by credit card or PayPal.

What you need is based on a combination of your objectives, target timeframe, your learning history, how familiar you are with the language now, your strengths, weaknesses, interests, your availability and budget. Contact us for a 15 minute chat and we can talk you through the options!