LTL Mandarin School Language & Culture Programs in China

I found LTL's teachers highly qualified, professional, and motivated. The teaching quality there has surpassed my expectations in almost every aspect and was much better than what I was used to from university back home.

I spent a year (September to July) with LTL in Beijing after I hadgraduated from highschool, first studying Chinese and then doing a course in Traditional Chinese Medicine (at a Chinese hospital which the school had organized for you).
It was an amazing experience. I studied Chinese for the first nine months first and then did the whole Chinese medicine course in mandarin, which was a challenge at the beginning but by the end of it worked very well, as I was forced to speak Chinese only with patients and teachers.
The language course at LTL was very good, and I do not think I would have been able to do the TCM course in Chinese without my teachers there. The classes were well taught, a lot of fun, and I liked the curriculum used.
I lived for the first five months with a Chinese homestay and then in a shared apartment, both from the school and both very good. I found living with a Chinese family at the beginning very helpful for my Chinese, but after five months I did need a bit more privacy, something a lot of my classmates felt.
LTL is a very nice and supportive place, and I made friends with a lot of students and staff over time there. Accommodation, courses, visas etc. were handled in a very professional way and I found them very reliable. I am very happy I chose Beijing and LTL for my year in China and will be back next year (I start to forget Chinese vocab already...).

Critical Feedback:

For long term students, I recommend homestay for the first few months, but then move into a shared apartment. It is important to talk about this with the school when making the booking.

School:
I felt LTL was well managed and run, with a very motivated team that clearly cares about helping their students during their stay in China. The courses follow a clear curriculum, classes start on time and they are very upfront with what is part of a program - and also what not.
Support:
After a week in Beijing, I got sick with pretty high fever - quite a scary experience. After calling the school, the owner was at my apartment within half an hour, took me to an international hospital and stayed with me there for half the night. Antibiotics straightened the infection out pretty quickly in the next few days, but that day when I first got sick I do not know what I would have done without them. I feel very appreciative of the help I was given that day, where I am from I do not think a lot of schools would send someone to bring you to hospital on a Sunday night.
The Course
I studied first in Beijing and then in a smaller city in the mountains North of Beijing, called Chengde. I took individual classes in both places as I am a bit of a slow learner and like to be able to study at my own pace. The teachers I had were very professional and supportive of me struggling with some aspects of the language at the beginning. I found the course structure very good, first studying in Beijing to settle into China before then going to the wild China where I was the only foreigner in the whole city I think. It helped me overcome my fear of speaking very quickly.
Social Life
I was a bit worried about not making any friends as I was taking classes alone, but at the school most students have lunch together so I very quickly met a lot of people. The school also organized dinners, welcome breakfast, so taking classes alone turned out not to be a problem at all.
I would definitely do the course again.

I studied three weeks in Beijing and one week in Chengde with LTL this summer, staying with a homestay family in both places.
The school is great and the combination of the two cities was a great way to see two very different parts of China. My last week in Chengde was the most intense language wise but also where I progressed the most.
Teachers and homestays great, service fantastic, I had a great time. I would strongly recommend LTL for anyone who wants to seriously study Chinese.

Critical Feedback:

to organize payment was time consuming

Have been studying with LTL for three weeks so far and it is a lot of fun. I had never been to China before and made a lot of friends here very quickly. It is very international and it is a lot of fun to study together with people from other countries.

The school has a lot of activities together which also helps. Chinese is not easy, but I will learn it!

I studied five months individual classes with LTL in 2011, four hours a day.
When I got to Beijing, I did not know a word of Chinese. When I left talking was not really a problem anymore. I came to China with the aim to learn some basics, as I have never been good in learning languages. Today I can write emails in Chinese (with not too many mistakes) to our business partners in Shanghai, have no problems chatting to people in Chinese (for most topics at least) and my progress has by far surpassed what I had expected.
I think that had a lot to do with the school and especially my teacher. Four hours a day is pretty intensive but she made it fun and obviously loved her job.
Living with a family who did not speak any English (like really none at all!) was tough for the first few days, but in the end I think helped me a lot with the language. They were great people also.
Organization wise LTL are excellent, I found them very trustworthy and nice to deal with and overall am very happy.
Will be back if I manage to get the time off again.

I can recommend them. My teacher was not only nice but you could tell she had learned her job. The staff are nice, they are incredibly organized (when does one say that about someone in China...), the accommodation was great.

I had studied mandarin for a semester at a university in Beijing and while it was fun, we really did not learn a lot in terms of language and had very little contact with other non-foreign students. I heard similar stuff from other students at universities in China so chose a private school for my three months course this time.
I cannot compare them to other private schools, but I would say I learned in those three months a lot more there than I did in a full semester before. The organisation was a lot better, the teachers more motivated and the environment far more pleasant.