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 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!

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 10 weeks. (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.

Yes, we make payment easier for our private tuition lessons through:

1) Block booking discounts for 10+ lessons,

2) Payment by credit card or PayPal. 

You can come to our office in Central London, 6 minutes walk from Blackfriars and Southwark station, and 12 minutes walk from Waterloo station.

We also cover most of zone 1 to 3 in London. We can come to your office or meet you at a location convenient to you. We have a list of quiet cafés and hotel locations suitable for lessons in most areas which you can choose from. 

We recommend a minimum of 1.5 hours per lesson per week if you want good progress. Having said that, we know some of you have very busy schedules, so ask for an 1 hour lessons if it suits you better.