Top Six Ways to Learn Chinese: An Experienced Guide to Your Many Options

by Yonatan Hazan

So, you want to learn Chinese! That’s wonderful. Even though some consider it a challenging language, it is incredibly useful. That being said, it can be difficult to learn in America due to the fact that almost everyone around you speaks English. However, you shouldn’t give up hope! There are lots of different ways to go about learning Chinese in New York, I have tried quite a few of them so I thought I would pass my advice on to you. When asking, “What is the best way to learn Chinese?” the truth is that there are many options that all offer very different things, each containing some pros and cons. I’ll try my best to let you know what they are and hopefully help you come to the decision that best suits your specific needs. Let’s begin! Starting from the least to most expensive.

#1: Apps and Media (The Freebies)

One of the ways I hear most people learn English is by “watching the TV show Friends.” I have trouble believing them because even though I’m sure they love watching Friends, the show itself is not a teacher. I’m sure that watching the show, combined with schooling, pop songs, advertisements, menus and a million other westernized, in-english things they’ve been exposed to has helped them learn English. This is why I would say that just watching movies, shows and listening to songs in Chinese isn’t enough to learn the language at all. Apps like Duolingo, Chinese Learn Skill, and Pleco are well known to people taking up Chinese, but these apps are supplementary. They aren’t enough to fully grasp a language. They do, however, help immensely with memorization, learning characters, stroke order, and basic sentence structure. The only downside is the sentences are ones that no person would really ever say in real life. For example one of the first sentences I learned on one of these apps was, “Can you read the newspaper?” Or my personal favorite, “I have a bag with seven nuts, is that enough?” Even though words like ‘bag’, ‘with’ and ‘I have a ____’ is useful, I can honestly say that in my whole year in Taiwan, I never really said anything close to these sentences. This is generally where apps fail you: the cram lots of things to memorize but not a lot of it is useful.

PROS

Free (usually, some apps have in-app purchases for more useful content)
Time invested in lessons is entirely up to you
You have to be very driven and self-motivated (it’s very easy to ignore a notification reminding you to practice your Chinese but harder to not go to a class)
It can be done on the go! (trains, busses, down time)

CONS

Lessons aren’t specific, and cannot be tailored to you
No actual teacher teaching you
Not a ton of useful information about the language
No students to practice with
Complete educational isolation

#2: Public Schools (You Get What You Get)

Learning Chinese in an NYC public school is something that few people get to do in New York. The reason is that almost all schools (K-8) don’t offer it and only a few high schools (9-12) offer it. For example, I attended Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn, NY and the offered Chinese… but only for native speakers who wanted to learn to read or write! The idea behind this policy was that there weren’t enough non-Chinese speakers interested in the class to have a beginner class start from scratch, and there were many native speakers who learned to speak at home but never to read or write and they wanted a place to study. However, my sister went to Bard High School Early College in Manhattan and she took Chinese all four years. She was pretty great at it by the end, but her fluency really cemented when she lived abroad in China and Taiwan (See #1).

Check out a full list of Mandarin immersion schools in New York City.

PROS

Completely free! (my favorite kind of pro)
Large classes don’t offer individual care
Usually only offered in schools with good Chinese programs (you probably won’t have a terrible teacher)
Usually reading and writing is okay, but speaking correctly is less stressed because you speak with a class
You have peers you can work with

CONS

You can only do it in high school and not after
Syllabus structure is tested and helpful and materials are provided
Homework, quizzes, and tests make you focus more on a good grade than actually learning the language

#3: Living Abroad (An Unforgettable Year)

The most obvious answer is to simply go somewhere where people don’t speak English. This forces you to get at least a basic understanding of how the language works and the most common words. It is said that in any language, about 20% of the words that exist make up almost 80% of the words spoken. After living in Taiwan for only a few months, I developed a decent understanding of Chinese syntax and regularly used vocabulary completely out of necessity. You pick up useful, everyday phrases, learn about culture, food, transportation, and small talk. This is honestly the fastest way to learn Chinese and get a strong foundation.

PROS

You get to travel to an amazing place
Homesickness/Culture Shock
Generally, Asian countries are very cheap

CONS

You may not have the financial freedom to just go travel for a few months
You learn the basics very fast through total immersion
You learn nothing if you hang out in English-friendly locations (you don’t learn as fast without necessity)
You gain important experiences and grow
The first few weeks/months will be difficult until you learn how to speak

#4: Specialized Chinese Language School (For the Working Professional)

S.C.L.S.’s are a rather new form of learning Chinese. They are private institutions run more like businesses than schools, and although that sounds like a con, it often plays out to you as the student (or consumer in this case). Because an S.C.L.S. is a private company that only teaches Mandarin to people, they make sure to keep their name as a business in tact by hiring qualified teachers while working to make learning the language as convenient and efficient for you as possible. They do this and do it well because they know that in order for you to pay them for classes, they need to offer something better than a language exchange partner, a Chinese app, or even public classes. The first way they do this is to take all the good things that come from learning for a tutor: The flexible schedule, the qualified teacher, the tailored classes and individual attention, etc.. Then they try to remove the cons such as: possibly getting an unqualified teacher, a much higher price, no peers to practice with an easy accessibility to reading materials, textbooks, and workbooks. S.C.L.S’s will often evaluate your proficiency and place you in a small group or tutor you 1 on 1 if they think that will be better for you. They are more expensive than a class for example, but cheaper than a tutor because you pay for a package of classes, making the first payment expensive but each class itself is cheaper than if you were getting a tutor (especially indefinitely). A very professional S.C.L.S. I’ve had experience with has been Sishu Mandarin. They are conveniently located near several trains and busses in lower manhattan and offer a FREE 30-minute class to assess your Chinese and tailor lessons specifically to you, as well as to pair you with the right teacher. You set your goals with them, tell them what you are interested in learning and their job is to help you achieve that goal.

If tutoring is too expensive an option but you have enough to invest in these classes I would try a package and see if it’s worth doing! This is one of the fewer options that are really great for students starting from all levels: teaching beginners the basics and helping native speakers master all aspects of their language.

PROS

Tailored lessons for your needs and one of the more effective methods of learning in America
Ability to work in a small group or 1 on 1 for individual attention
Flexible time and setting your own goals and deadlines
Cheaper than tutoring

CONS

Costs more than language exchange partners and free options
Isn’t is as effective as living abroad

#5 University/Large Language Schools (Best for Already Enrolled Students)

Private institutions like universities can be very expensive in America. Again, if you decide to attend a university abroad in a Chinese speaking country that can be a great experience and will be much cheaper than in America. You will also learn much faster than if you took these classes in America. Let’s assume, however, that you decide to try to do it in the U.S.A. First off, classes are incredibly expensive. If you aren’t majoring in the language itself, you will most likely find the class to be a waste of time and not worth the financial investment. Prices can range anywhere from a few hundred to a thousand dollars. By the time you finish the class, even if you learn a lot you will have only studied a few months and your Chinese won’t improve significantly. Besides that, your class is now over! Unless you sign up for another class your educational journey ends right then and there. Often times schools won’t accept credit from other schools, so if you decide to switch at some point you might have to pass difficult tests or even start from a beginning level. I would generally advise against taking a class or two at a university unless it is needed for your major, an elective, or because you have extra credits to fill out. I wouldn’t take a class if you are simply trying to learn Chinese. The cons are the same as a public school, but the main pro of it being free is now off the table. However, if you decide to study abroad, I believe the combination of work, school, and living immersed in a country where the language is spoken will really make your Chinese improve the fastest. I had a friend in a language school in Taiwan. We started around the same time and we lived in the same area, but I used a tutor and he went to class every day. Within a matter of weeks, his Chinese surpassed mine at a ridiculous rate. Some schools I know of in Taiwan that specialize in learning Chinese are Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages and 國立中山大學National Sun Yat-sen University. I would honestly not advise this option unless you are majoring in Chinese at an acclaimed university, or are taking a year or so to study it abroad and obtain some sort of certificate or pass a test that makes you eligible for certain jobs or shows a degree of fluency.

#6: Private Tutor (High Quality, High Prices)

After a few weeks in Taiwan, I was getting frustrated due to the speed with which I learned. I decided to higher a tutor. I should say two things: First, that my experience was incredibly positive and I have nothing but good things to say about it. Second, I was very lucky for having such an incredible teacher and not all teachers will be as professional, experienced, or educated as mine was. I found this tutor on a Facebook Q&A page, turns out she was actually a professor at a nearby university and taught Chinese as a foreign language, which is why she came equipped with PowerPoints, audio files, flashcards and a textbook for me to buy off her for a cheap price. I excelled much faster with her than with any of the other forms of learning I had tried before (Apps, living abroad, friends giving small lessons, a classroom, media, and songs). We met twice a week for two hours each class had to stop lessons after about 5 months due to scheduling conflicts. I cannot stress enough how crucial consistency of lessons are: If you are not consistently learning, you will forget! After that, I got a new tutor. She was a student at a different university and was also a friend of mine. We met twice a week for one hour each time and I learned a decent amount and even though she worked hard she wasn’t quite a teacher. She was just someone who spoke the language natively and was also smart, hardworking and helpful. Her lessons were also half the price. I learned a lot from her as well, but not at the same rate as my first tutor. This does not include textbooks, workbooks, calligraphy pens, or calligraphy books. All in all though, if you have the money, DO IT.

PROS

Fastest way to learn
Specify classes to you (if you only want to learn conversational Chinese, you don’t want to learn to read or write, you want to learn a specific area, subject, song or movie)
One on one attention means you pronunciation will develop much more and in Chinese pronunciation is MUCH more important than in English due to how close different words sound to each other and the four tones
Flexible schedule

CONS

You have to get your own materials
The most expensive option, domestically or abroad
You may have to try around with different tutors until you find one that suits you the best
They may not be professional, perhaps just a native speaker who might mislead you or simply be bad at teaching the language, rather than speaking it

I hope this has helped whoever reads this to find the class and learning environment that is right for them! Best of luck out there and 加油!!!

Sishu MandarinSeptember 8, 2019chinese learning, learn chinese, language learning tips