r/LTL_Chinese

So I made plans with some friends in Chengdu to go out this weekend, one canceled saying she felt too tired for a night out. I replied with these messages, back home it would be totally normal for me to tease my friends calling them lazy in a jokey way (so we can laugh about the situation and it's not awkward) but then my friend didn't reply since then and I wonder if I was accidentally super rude and it didn't come across like a joke at all 😭

I moved to Chengdu with no idea that I was going to be able to speak Chinese. I started at level zero, basically with no ability to speak or read a single Chinese character. I couldn’t even understand someone speaking a single Chinese word to me at all. Meeting Alex老师 at LTL Chengdu has definitely changed my life, how I live here now, and shaped my viewpoint on the ability to speak Chinese. I personally think it’s one of the hardest languages to learn, and I was pretty nervous about it, with a little bit of doubt in myself as well. I was able to start understanding within 1.5 to 2 months and have been able to speak pretty full sentences within 3 to 4 months.

Alex is very patient and makes learning Chinese approachable, practical, and truly fun while making sure my personal learning needs are fully met. She designs lively, relatable lessons that make every minute of learning enjoyable. From the very first lesson, I already felt so positive about how my Chinese-learning journey was going to be. I truly value my time with Alex every single day because her personality is not only sweet and funny, but she’s also very determined when it comes to helping you improve. She never rushed me, patiently correcting my pronunciation and grammar mistakes with warmth and encouragement, which quickly erased my fear of speaking. She really cares about getting to know you better over time and honestly, she truly feels like a friend of mine at this point.

Nowadays, now that I’ve been in Chengdu for 4 to 5 months, I yearn to speak with the locals, go out by myself to shop, eat, and explore, and I can read a lot of things off street signs, restaurant menus, online purchases, etc. Who knew that learning to read Chinese characters would not be as intimidating as I first thought? She broke down the learning process by simply teaching me the most commonly used Chinese characters for daily life first and using fun, easy-to-follow methods to help me remember them. It’s exciting to be able to understand what people here are saying to me, and as a dancer, it’s a huge plus to finally know what’s going on in dance classes now haha. This is something I never thought I could achieve so quickly.

Alex is more than just a language teacher, she helped me feel confident and at home in Chengdu. She deeply understands the struggles of a foreigner learning Chinese from scratch and always creates a relaxing, supportive learning environment. Thanks to Alex, I’ve not only gained practical Chinese skills but also fallen in love with the process of learning the language and connecting with the local culture. I’ve also earned myself a friend who makes my life in Chengdu so much richer and more fulfilling! Thank you so much, Alex老师, for all you do 🥹

Shout out to PanPan, Unicorn, Ying, Cora, and Alan for helping me practice my Chinese with them! They always come up to me to converse in Chinese so I can improve faster and become less shy about practicing my Chinese with anyone, including strangers. LTL Chengdu is such a great environment to immerse myself in the language, culture, and socialization before going out into the “big world” (aka Chengdu city haha). So much love for this school!! 🩷📝

I've been at LTL (Shanghai and Chengdu) for half a year now and so far I can definitely recommend this school to anyone who wants to study Mandarin! I have a lot of positive things to say so i will try to make it as organized as possible.

Organization:
Mojca was very quick to respond and the application process went smoothly. Check your Documents for the Visa Application though, since my first ones had incorrect information on them.

Management:
I had some problems with my Homestays (First in Shanghai due to miscommunication , second in Chengdu due to lack of cleanliness in the apartment). Both times the schools were very quick to react and changing Homestays was no problem. In Shanghai they reacted a bit too quick, which led to more additional problems with my homestay since I didn't get the chance to talk to them first before the school did. So if you encounter any problems with the Homestay talk to them first before you tell the school about it because LTL takes these problems very seriously and wants to eradicate them as soon as possible. It turned out very good in the end and I'm grateful for their quick response and good advice, just keep in mind that sometimes you can fix these issues yourself, without having the school get involved.

Location:
Both the Shanghai and Chengdu school were very central, with lots of restaurants and other interesting places around them, which was very convenient.

Shanghai School:
I made some of my best friends in Shanghai and I would love to go back someday. Both of my teachers, Kristen and Jason were very kind and made my Chinese progress from absolute 0 to HSK3 in 5 months. They didn't just teach me the words in the book and the grammar but additionally taught me more frequently used words, other alternatives and put me to the test in regularly making me use those words and structures. The lessons were very easy to follow and made me learn a lot about chinese culture and history. They were very helpful whenever I had problems (whether that might be setting up an account on a platform, ordering coffee for the first time,...) Especially Kristen went out of her way to help us and even accompanied my friend to the hospital. Jason on the other hand was very involved in freetime activities, often accompanied us to eat and taking us to his leisure time activities, such as archery. I loved this and me and my friends always had a lot of fun while having a chance to connect even more! These activities are definitely a great opportunity to make friends. It was hard to say goodbye to them and I hope I'll see them again!

Chengdu School:
When I first came to Chengdu my teacher PanPan and I became friends immediately. She is very quick to pinpoint my weaknesses and helps me to erase them very quickly. She is also very assuring and gives me a lot of motivation to study. Classes with her always feel very comfortable, even though she pushes me lot, especially when it comes to writing characters. The wellbeing of her students is very important to her and she makes sure everyone is included! She also regularly goes out with us and plans fun trips, even taking us to travel to another city and organizing the entire trip. We all had different interests but she made sure that everyone got to see the places they wanted to visit and do the activities the showed interest in. (Which was only another demonstration of her great organization skills).Making friends in Chengdu felt as easy as in Shanghai, thanks to her. I want to go to University in China and Panpan helped me look up a lot of universities, their requirements and even called one of the schools! She isn't only a teacher that wants to help, she truly is a friend that wants to see you succeed. Even when not at work she spends time with her students and simultaneously teaches a lot about cultural differences, how to bargain prices and a lot of words people use on the internet that otherwise might confuse people that only work on the HSK books. Because of that, it has also been a lot easier to communicate with Chinese people roughly my age because I understood more of their inside jokes and references. All of the Chengdu teachers are amazing, that dedicate a lot of time and passion to their students and you can tell they all enjoy doing their job. They helped me gain a lot of confidence in my chinese speaking and even taught me Sichan hua! (The local dialect). It was a bit of a struggle at first to understand the locals here but after their explanation of pronunciation and how certain letters are used differently I've become way quicker at understanding it.

In total LTL is a good school that I would definitely recommend to other people who want to study chinese efficiently!

I think Lily Cui is an excellent teacher. I’m really glad to have met her, and it’s lovely that she can speak a little German.

She teaches Chinese extremely well. I find all the topics we talk about really interesting. I love chatting with her very much, and speaking Chinese with her is wonderful oral practice for me.