A fantastic structured course with no ifs/ands/buts

Prior to Silk Mandarin I had no knowledge of Mandarin, but I had strong desire to learn.

I came to Shanghai for work in the beginning of 2023, and since I planned to stay in China for a while (more than 3 years), then of course learning Mandarin was a necessity as one cannot rely on phone translators forever. My first experience was with another school, however they lacked enough structure for my taste and the lessons felt very disorganised and structureless. However, my work colleague told me of another school nearby that they and their friend have had great experience with: quicker learning, structured lessons, friendly staff - the full package.

Firstly, the pricing and flexibility of Silk Mandarin gave a very positive first impression and it made the cumbersome non-language-learning part of the process much easier: easy to pay, to plan classes, a lot of flexibility and guidance. Additionally, if I had an emergency or preoccupied with work, switching to an online lesson was incredibly easy, although I preferred offline classes overall.

Secondly, I finally felt an astronomical increase in my perception of the Chinese language and characters. Mainly, the structure and professionalism of the lessons ignited an actual desire to practice outside of class, either with downloading Pleco to practice han-zi, or using DuChinese to practice listening and comprehension. However you feel about "studying by the book", sometimes it is warranted, and the last thing you want in your language learning is a lack of structure. Although Silk Mandarin don't go strictly by the book, i.e. chapter by chapter, they are able to streamline and compress the HSK books into a digestible, easy-to-revise format.

Thirdly, the main methods of revising/homework/practice provided by Silk Mandarin (ClassIn) proved to be the most efficient and easy to use. My only other experience with a Chinese learning school was lacklustre as it only provided a web portal. Having an application like ClassIn on my android phone and Mac made it so much easier to practice on the train/car/office/etc. without the difficulties of websites that sometimes glitch out on the phone.

Lastly, the positive vibes are paramount to a good learning experience. I have difficulties balancing my work obligations with extracurricular activities, being it language learning or just going out, but the positive atmosphere and personal contact from the teaching staff made me *want* to learn to balance these things and actually improve my Mandarin. It's one thing to translate on your phone, but a whole other feeling to speak the language of the land you are a guest in and fully immerse yourself.

I plan to not only continue studying at Silk Mandarin (after 2 months), but hope to return the favour by speaking fluently and fully appreciating their country and culture. Would recommend whole-heartedly.