Learning Chinese: Language Partners Vs Tutors

Learning Chinese: Language Partners Vs Tutors
Mar 30, 2018 By Fred Dintenfass , eChinacities.com

Learning Chinese, like practicing the Kama Sutra, is not something you can do on your own. The never-ending characters and the confusing tones, which most foreigners can neither say nor hear properly, mean our earnest attempts to communicate in Chinese often fail. If you're trying to study on our own (that's just daft) or you're lacking individual attention at your university or language school, you may think of turning to language partners or private tutors for help. But which one's for you?

Language partners

Language partners have the obvious advantage of being free. You're both helping each other learn a language so no cash need be exchanged. You can also therefore be more casual, talk about more taboo stuff, and cancel and change lessons without feeling too guilty.

If you're a native English speaker looking for a Chinese language partner (yǔbàn (语伴), however, think twice before posting an ad. A friend of mine posted an ad on a notice board at his university, and a mere 45 minutes later he'd received so many calls that he had to switch his phone off entirely and take down his signs. It was another week before the calls stopped coming in.

Other Chinese learners who speak English fluently but are not native speakers, however, will have more trouble finding a language partner. In this case it's probably a good idea to stick an ad on a university bulletin board and in a few online classifieds. That said, some Chinese people want to learn languages other than English, so you may be in luck.

When you meet your language partner for the first time, it's best to suggest you speak English for the first hour and Chinese for the second. If you don't set rules at the start you may find you're speaking more of one language than the other. It goes without saying that you'll get way more out of your hour if you come prepared with a story, vocab, questions or a topic to discuss.

Other than these regular meetings, language partners can be enormously helpful in everyday China life, accompanying you to buy tricky things or open a bank account, for example. My language partner has made calls for me and gone apartment hunting with me.

In return I helped him prepare for a visa interview and suffered some of the most cringeworthy hours of my life at various parties he organised. (Like a party where he abandoned us to fight with his girlfriend, broke up with her, and then proposed to her on stage on hour later. While her classmates shrieked with excitement she ran away. And that was only the beginning.)

A Chinese language partner can also teach you about China and Chinese culture – inviting you to meet their families their friends – and give you an insight into China life beyond your expat bubble.

Private Chinese tutors

If you lack the time for a language partnership or just want someone more professional, you're better off with a private tutor. Chinese tutors (fǔdǎo lǎoshī | 辅导老师) are often students in the midst of learning to teach Chinese as a foreign language, part-time Chinese school teachers, or just regular students wanting to make some extra cash. A reasonable price for an experienced tutor in Beijing is around 30 RMB an hour. I'd say 50 RMB is on the high side but certainly not unheard of, and in most cases the higher charging tutors are worth the extra expense.

As you're paying for your tutor, you can obviously expect a professional service where the tutor provides learning materials and prepares lessons. Unlike formal classes where you usually follow a set syllabus, however, you can ask your tutor to prepare lessons on the topics you're most interested in.

Either way

Most people will meet their tutors or language partners at cafés. Keep in mind, however, that while you might not think twice about spending 35 RMB on a cup of coffee, your Chinese counterpart, although they won't say so, might think this is an awful lot of money. Be mindful of this and meet in a park, a library or somewhere like McDonald's where you can loiter for hours after paying just a couple of kuai for a soda.

In time, language partners and tutors can become more than just learning aids. Solid multicultural friendships can grow out of the hours spent drilling tones and vocab or simply chatting. So shop around until you find a suitable fit – and be careful about giving out your phone number.

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Keywords: learning Chinese

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