Bottom line good place to find language instructors

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Bottom line good place to find language instructors

Postby outcast » Sun Jun 12, 2022 4:19 pm

Hello everyone! So I (for those that remember), disappeared again due to very heavy work and returning to the US after three years overseas.

I still have tons to do (two full jobs), but I also have a unique opportunity to have sufficient disposable income, yet also (a little) bit of free time. I want to master Mandarin Chinese speaking in the next 1.5-2 years. As such I am willing to make a big investment of 3-4 sessions a week,and pay up to 50 dollars an hour, if the tutor has the credentials and history of results to back that fee up. We are talking about up to several thousands of dollars that I am willing to put down for this, but I want a true high level instruction experience (I have learned Chinese to old HSK 6 level by a combo of self-study, regular level classes, and a 1 1/2 year stay in China with immersion and attending classes at a regular level program.

What are the sites or places I would most likely find such expertise in oral fluency? I would just like some tips on the best websites; however, if someone has a specific recommendation for a tutor of high caliber I will most welcome it too.

ps - you can throw Korean language in there too! I would be a bit less demanding here and only maybe 2x a week.

Thank you!
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Axon
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Re: Bottom line good place to find language instructors

Postby Axon » Sun Jun 12, 2022 7:04 pm

https://keatschinese.com/chinese-langua ... se-online/

I'm not affiliated with this school in any way, but I used to work right near their Kunming branch. I visited to buy some study materials and take a trial lesson. I was extremely impressed with their organization and the quality of my one-on-one class at the HSK 6 level. Although I was assessed below HSK 6 and didn't continue with classes, I still remember how professional the teacher was and I would not hesitate to take classes there again. Of course I can't speak for the quality of online classes that I've never taken, but my experience in person was very positive and hopefully that's a good indicator.

https://www.italki.com/teacher/9510894

I've taken lessons with this teacher and found him to be really excellent as well. He has a deep interest in Chinese culture both ancient and modern and a great way of identifying and addressing vocabulary weak points. We talked about the Empty Fort Strategy and the development of Chinese historical representation in domestic and international video game markets.

Edited to add:

https://www.allsetlearning.com/courses/ ... rse-online

This company wrote the Chinese Grammar Wiki. No experience with them, but perhaps that's enough said? Their one-on-one course is still under $50 per hour.

Another thought regarding price: You may find a great teacher who fits your learning style at about $20 or $25 per hour. In that case, a useful way to invest your remaining budget in yourself would be finding other teachers who you could pay to analyze and correct recorded monologues that you send to them. This is extremely common in the Chinese IELTS and TOEFL prep world.

Edited again to add:

https://www.outlier-linguistics.com/blo ... nd-outlier

I've heard the name GoEast a number of times as well. Outlier Linguistics publishes a lot of thoughtful information on Chinese learning, and while they don't offer courses themselves, the fact that they endorse this school enough to have it on their site is a strong indicator of confidence.
Last edited by Axon on Mon Jun 27, 2022 7:41 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: Bottom line good place to find language instructors

Postby zenmonkey » Mon Jun 13, 2022 1:25 pm

Another vote for italki.com

I've used both community tutors and certified teachers for German, Tibetan, Hebrew, and Persian for myself and Spanish, English for exam prep for my daughters.

My recommendation is that you clearly define how and what you want to cover, describe this to one or more teachers and see how adaptable they are to your needs. I've had to let teachers go because they did not understand, or want to follow what I set up as my needs and they wanted to use material or methods that greatly differed form what I had shared.

Generally speaking, for non-FIGS, remote learning you should be able to find an excellent teacher for less than $50 and hour.
I paid $50 an hour for face to face, 1 on 1 sessions for German, in country, at my office.

For Chinese, you have many other sites like Verbling, TutorMing, etc. Just google them. But I cannot recommend as I have not tried any of those.
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Re: Bottom line good place to find language instructors

Postby leosmith » Wed Jun 15, 2022 11:29 pm

outcast wrote:I would just like some tips on the best websites

I would definitely ask here. Also, since you seem most interested in conversation, I recommend you focus on vocabulary/grammar from actual conversations if possible. These may be a good starting point for you, although they are only intermediate.
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