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Mandarin Chinese

An Honest Review of TutorMing With Image of Chinese City

TutorMing Review – I’m Currently A Student

TutorMing

Rating 4.7
★★★★
★
★

Summary

TutorMing is an online Mandarin school that offers classes 24 hours a day, with qualified teachers, using unique content. I took two classes with them and came away very impressed. I learned new things about Chinese culture, despite having lived in Beijing for a few years. However, it’s not the cheapest option, so those on a tighter budget may want to look elsewhere.

Quality 5.0
★★★★★

From the platform, to the teachers, to the content – everything was excellent

Thoroughness 5.0
★★★★★

There appears to be lots of content across many levels and taught in a unique way.

Value 4.0
★★★★★

There are other options that are more budget friendly.

I Like
  • Lessons are available 24 hours per day and can be scheduled very quickly.
  • The teachers are excellent.
  • The curriculum is interesting and includes lots of cultural information.
I Don’t Like
  • It’s somewhat expensive with 3-months being the shortest plan.
  • The two lesson types are a little confusing (keep reading…!)
  • The homework is really short and not all that useful.
Price

While one lesson starts at $45. By purchasing a bundle you can get the cost of each lesson down to $32 a lesson. While this will cost $3200 for 100 lessons, you have 18 months to complete your lessons. It also comes in increments of $400 for 10 lessons to be used in 6 months, $930 for 25 lessons in 1 year, and $1700 for 50 lessons in 1 year. 

Visit TutorMing

I recently had the opportunity to try out two classes with TutorMing.

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An Honest Review of Living Language Online Course With Image of Man on Computer

Living Language Online Course Review – Not Very Good

Living Language Online Course

Rating 0.0
★★★★★

Summary

UPDATE – it appears that the online course Living Language no longer exists. This review covers the old course when it did exist. You can however find a series of books with this name available on amazon.

Quality 3.0
★★★★★

Though the information itself is useful, Living Language’s presentation reads more like a database than an educational/interactive tool.

Thoroughness 3.0
★★★★★

Again, a lot of the information is there, but it’s scattered. Additionally, some of that information appears incorrect.

Value 2.0
★★★★★

Cheaper options offer the same amount of content with more interactive features.

I Like
  • You can hop around between levels and topics, including Beginner and Advanced materials.
  • The subscription comes with a grammar guide, glossary, and forum access.
  • There’s a decent variety of games, including some games I hadn’t played before.
I Don’t Like
  • Although the games are fun, they get stale pretty quickly. It’s easy to guess at answers, thereby completing levels without really having learned.
  • The system doesn’t keep track of your mistakes, so it’s hard to know what areas you need to improve in.
  • I found several translation and presentation errors that made me question the rest of the material.
Price

An annual plan costs $150, and half a year costs $75. Three months is $50 and 1 month is $39.

Visit Living Language

An Overview of Living Language

Living Language offers you the opportunity to choose between over 20 languages. Once you pick your language, you’re taken to the home screen which has options for Essential, Intermediate, and Advanced categories. You can start with any of these options and jump back and forth between them.

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Living Language Online Course Review – Not Very Good Read More »

Intermediate Chinese Practice – Open: An Autobiography (Agassi)


Open (2009) is the eye-opening autobiography of Andre Agassi, one of the best American tennis players of all time. It’s a revealing look into his tumultuous life. You’ll learn how Agassi strived for balance and a self-understanding while living in the public spotlight.

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Intermediate Chinese Practice – Open: An Autobiography (Agassi) Read More »

Intermediate Chinese Practice – 7 Habits of Highly Effective People


The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People (1989) is among the most popular self-help books of the past 25 years. It’ll teach you the principles needed to become an effective person. These habits will help you to become more successful in both your personal and professional life.

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Intermediate Chinese Practice – 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Read More »

An Honest Review of GoEast Mandarin With Image of Chinese Architecture

GoEast Mandarin Online Course Review: Self-Study + Personal Instruction

GoEast Mandarin Online Course

Rating 4.0
★★★★★

Summary

GoEast Mandarin School offers in-person classes in Shanghai as well as online classes for both adults and kids. This review will focus on their online course, which offers a blended approach with self-study materials and interactive private 1-1 or group lessons. Their teachers are excellent and the self-study content is solid. Despite the initial price point being on the higher side, the comprehensive nature of the courses and the solid result may well justify the investment.

Quality 4.0
★★★★★

The teacher I worked with was fantastic and the self-study material is solid.

Thoroughness 4.5
★★★★
★
★

Their blended approach with lots of 1-1 classes ensures students master the content.

Value 3.5
★★★
★
★★

An investment in live, personalized instruction with expert teachers and a structured curriculum.

I Like
  • The teacher I worked with was fantastic and obviously very experienced.
  • The self-study curriculum gives you a chance to learn the material before practicing it with the instructor.
  • A private lesson or a small group lesson (1-5 peers) after each self-study lesson ensures you master the material.
  • This course gets you talking and fluent in Chinese way more than others.
I Don’t Like
  • Private lessons come with a premium price. Group lessons offer a more budget-friendly option.
  • The self-study material, while solid, isn’t exceptional.
  • Pinyin precedes Hanzi in the exercises.
Price

GoEast Mandarin School is not cheap, but their flexible payment options make it doable for serious Chinese learners. Self-study modules are accessible at $99 per level. Personalized one-on-one classes range from $33 to $36 per hour, varying by package — a solid investment in your language growth. What I like is that they ease the financial load with monthly payment plans, allowing you to spread out the cost for a bit over $300 for 12 class hours of instruction each month.

If you’re looking to use GoEast without the 1-on-1 cost, their small group classes, averaging 3-4 students, are more wallet-friendly at approximately $20 to $24 per hour. Plus, they’ve made group courses even more accessible with an option for 4 payment installments.

Mention All Language Resources when purchasing a course and you get a free Business Chinese Course learning material for free (either Elementary or Intermediate Level) worth 69-99 USD.

Visit GoEast Mandarin

GoEast is a language school in Shanghai that teaches Mandarin to foreigners, both at their Shanghai campuses and through their online courses.

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GoEast Mandarin Online Course Review: Self-Study + Personal Instruction Read More »

An Honest Review of Drops App With Image of Woman on Phone

Drops App Review – Decent As A Supplementary Resource

Drops App

Rating 3.9
★★★
★
★★

Summary

Drops is a phone app for iPhone and Android that covers 33 languages. Daily games test the user on thousands of vocabulary words, and many of these words are ideal for everyday use. Drops has an entertaining, user-friendly interface, but it also lacks grammar lessons, and it works better for some languages than others. For anyone looking to supplement their vocab lessons, this app is worth considering; however, the free version might be more worthwhile than the paid version.

Quality 4.0
★★★★★

Though cute and easy to use, some visuals are hard to distinguish.

Thoroughness 3.0
★★★★★

Drops will teach you thousands of words and phrases, from transport and hobbies to astronomy and spices. Some languages, such as Japanese, have extra modules for culturally specific vocabulary.

Value 3.0
★★★★★

The free app is a great supplementary tool to help round out your vocabulary, but the paid app doesn’t offer many useful extras.

I Like
  • The daily reminders keep me accountable.
  • If you already know a word, you have the option of swiping up and removing it from your lessons.
  • Though the app works better for some languages, the sheer amount of languages is a plus.
I Don’t Like
  • It can be difficult to tell certain images apart, which means you’ll likely identify them incorrectly during your review.
  • Some of the categories seem to include random, unrelated words.
  • In languages where a noun’s grammatical gender or case isn’t obvious from the article, you won’t learn that information.
  • Drops only teaches you vocabulary, not grammar.
Price

A monthly subscription costs $9.99, a yearly subscription is $69.99, and a lifetime subscription is $159.99. You can use the app up to five minutes every ten hours for free.

Visit Drops

I’d previously heard about Drops on Reddit, where it achieved rave reviews and some pointed criticism.

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