Program Reviews

My final year of college in Auckland I had a roommate from China. It was my introduction to Chinese culture, food and people! The food we tried and the stories she told made me feel like China might be some kind of exciting new world for me.

After graduating, I decided that before going to do my masters' degree, I would travel a bit through Asia- the "gap year" that Kiwis and Australians love to do! I thought about teaching English somewhere but I didn't want to spend my time working. I wanted to explore, and possibly learn a new language. Chinese was that language to learn! While preparing for my trip, I started learning (or TRYING to learn!) Chinese on my own through apps and websites. It wasn't working. The speaking tones and rhythm of speaking were so different from English and I was pronouncing words in unnatural ways. My Chinese friend, who was now back in China, recommend I hire a private tutor. Unfortunately, private tutors here in Auckland are really expensive.

I decided to try out some online options after watching countless hours of YouTube videos and coming across some companies that teach Chinese at more affordable rates than I'd find in New Zealand. After enjoying my Free Trial with eChineseLearning and explaining that I'd soon be leaving for China and Asia on a long trip, they recommended I take online lessons from the comfort of my hotel room (or even a cafe!) while I'm moving around. I signed up for the Chinese Immersion Program and learned Chinese as I traveled up through Thailand and Laos. When I crossed into China, I was able to use some basic Chinese as I was ordering food and buying things. I was even able to ask for a discount and bargain using numbers in Mandarin Chinese. In China, many cities have different speaking dialects, but everyone doing business speaks Mandarin, so I was able to learn online with eChineseLearning during the day, then use my Mandarin Chinese at night while eating and getting the bus or train. It was so cool!

I'd highly recommend eChineseLearning for the flexibility and fun. My teachers were always entertaining- bringing games to the classroom and making sure that all the lessons were fun, not only educational. Needless to say, when I left China after three months, I was really able to have some basic conversations. If you want to learn Chinese, you need a tutor. You can't do it by yourself. eChineseLearning is the one I'd recommend!

I had been a copywriter and contract drafter in Brisbane, Australia since I helped import / export companies with their contracts with clients in China 2 years ago. As my career representing Australians in China progressed, I found myself traveling to the Canton Fair, an international trade exhibition, each fall in October or November in Guangzhou. There, I would take in the excitement and opportunity of wheeling and deal in the Chinese economy. My work as a copywriter had kept me satisfied for decades but I found that the entrepreneur in me wanted to venture out into trade and business myself.

Before I decided to switch from law to commerce, I thought I'd broaden my skills. I took classes in accounting and then decided to further my skills by picking up Chinese. I knew that Guangzhou is the heart of Guangdong Province, which is traditionally Cantonese speaking. However, my clients told me that most of the business would be conducted in Mandarin, since the Pearl River Delta draws businesspeople from all over China. I started in a class at a local community college here in Brisbane but I had far too many questions than the teacher had time for. It seems I was motivated a bit more than the other students there, since I'd been to China a few times already and was eager to be doing business there.

I decided that only a 1-on-1 tutor could help me advance as quickly as I wanted.

After looking at the options for face-to-face tutoring here in Brisbane and seeing that a private tutor was expensive and inconvenient, I looked into online tutoring. Only one company I found online offered the kind of business program that seemed to be designed exactly for what I wanted. I signed up for their Business Chinese Lessons. I was at Level 1! After my first six months, I decided to renew my lessons for longer. I hit it off with all of my teachers and was not only learning Mandarin, but gaining insight into business in China. Today, after 18 months or so with eChineseLearning, I am now up to Level 3 in my lessons. I am still traveling to China on occasion and my Chinese colleagues really get a kick out of my Mandarin. Aside from the fun, it's come in handy quite a bit, as I can be sure I'm getting the best offers and deals in China.

eChineseLearning's Business Program has changed my life for the better. I'm now working full time with Chinese clients and dividing my time between Australia and Guangzhou. I highly recommend this style of learning for business or self-enrichment.

As so many people say' Mandarin is the hardest language to learn in the world ', but I don't believe that and want to challenge it by myself, hence I've starting my adventure since then. Firstly, I hired a one-on-one tutor here in New York, but unfortunately I was paying someone that I later found out to be not really qualified to teach Chinese. She was from China, but couldn't really guide my speaking in the way that a professional could. She's still my friend, but I decided I needed a more qualified teacher.
My friends recommended that I go online to find a company that offers Chinese lessons from a professional. At first, I doubted that an online teacher would be able to guide me on my journey (I'm old fashioned!). However, when I took my first free trial demo with eChineselearning I was really surprised how crisp and clear the connection was. In addition, a lot of my self-consciousness melted away once we got going. I was actually much more bashful face-to-face here in New York than I was with my online tutor who was all the way in China. Being comfortable to speak up and make mistakes is part of language learning and when I went online with my teachers I suddenly felt more free and open to "letting it all out". So cool!
I signed up for six months of lessons and it was so fun! I never thought I'd actually be looking forward to each lesson and considering it a highlight of my day!

As I learned a few characters and lots of speaking, I felt my brain working in a totally different way. It was exciting. In addition, my teachers at eChineseLearning recommended a lot of useful self-study. Along with my son's recommendations, I had a stack of movies and books to learn about Chinese culture as I learned the language.

Now I'm currently looking at cities to spend a year in. I'm considering somewhere south like Xiamen or Fuzhou. When I land in China, I feel I have a huge head start by speaking basic Chinese. I'm super excited to begin putting my language to use!

Learning Chinese online is a great motivation to go out there and travel. Highly recommended!

I've pretty much finished my first semester of learning Mandarin at eChineselearning and I must say it's been a nice experience. I have learned so much! I can read, write, and speak at an elementary level. I have never had a bad lesson! All of my teachers are amazing and knowledgeable. Anna's English was perfect. She made me feel comfortable and confident and I loved studying with her.
I consider myself very lucky that I found this school.

I am a Thai-American student studying in Florida and spending my time between Thailand and the USA. After living in shared housing with some Chinese students (we were all English majors) I decided to jump right into Chinese when I completed my courses in English.

In Thailand, we have five tones and so I am familiar with tonal speaking. I know the importance of speaking in the correct tones to be thoroughly understood. I also know the importance of speaking in a 'rhythm'. However, Thai and Chinese are quite different, still. They are in separate "families" of languages. I was surprised that my Mandarin Chinese teacher at eChineseLearning was somewhat familiar with the similarities and differences between the two languages and she really helped me along in my learning process, predicting which problems and confusion I may have and taking steps early on to make sure that these common errors Thai learners of Chinese often make.

In addition to the helpfulness of the teachers at eChineseLearning, the lessons were also fun! We focused on helpful structure and grammar (some things are similar in Thai, such as the SVO structure and others are different, such as the adjective coming after the noun). As I mentioned, my teacher introduced me to fun things such as Chinese fairy tales, tongue twisters and songs. Chinese class became something to look forward to, not view simply as homework.

After three months of lessons in my room from the convenience of my computer, I was able to begin talking in Chinese with my roommates (who showed a lot of patience!). When our time in Florida was finished, we all went back to Asia and I was able to make a stop in Shanghai to have a short Chinese reunion with my friends who were from Hangzhou nearby.

I liked learning online with eChineseLearning because of the flexibility and convenience. Eventually, the lessons and personality of the teachers made it more than just "convenient", but also personal and intriguing. I'd recommend it to anyone who is looking to enrich their language and their lives!

I accepted a job in Shenzhen as a lawyer reviewing import/export contracts and decided that learning Mandarin would benefit me not so much for work (since my job is all in English), but rather for my lifestyle while living in China and traveling a bit for work.

Living in Guangdong Province, I assumed that Cantonese was the way to go, but after some online research, I learned that Mandarin is far more common in Shenzhen and is widely-spoken now throughout Guangdong Province by the younger ages. I decided that Mandarin was the better investment over Cantonese because it would be easier to practice and would go further on the mainland of China.

I looked online for some Mandarin schools and I kept coming across e-chineselearning and signed up for a free trial lesson for 30 minutes. My teacher and I got along great and she was able to answer most of my questions about China and learning Chinese while teaching me how to introduce myself. I decided that since I only had a few months I'd sign up for their Summer Chinese Program since the dates would work out. I'd be moving in Shenzhen in October of 2016.

The program was awesome! The teachers were friendly and helpful. The lessons made sense and the progression went at a pace that was easy to follow.

I'm now living in Shenzhen and using the Mandarin I learned through the e-chineselearning summer program on a daily basis.

I had taken Chinese classes in college as elective but I was focused on my major so I didn't put in as much effort as I should have. Also, the other students were practicing with each other without the help of the Chinese teacher, who was from China.
I learned that when learning Chinese it's always best to only speak with natives due to the tones being difficult. You don't want to copy the mistakes of your classmates. I kind of gave up on learning Chinese half-heartedly and decided to revisit it when I could either:
a) move to China
b) learn one-on-one with a personal tutor; or
c) get married to a Chinese guy ;)

Well, 'a' and 'c' didn't happen, so I decided to look at option 'b'. In Pittsburgh, where I was living, I had a hard time finding a native-speaking Chinese tutor. When I finally did track one down I was surprised at how expensive it was, considering the travel time and lesson planning, I can see why that would be. It worked out to about $30 or $40 a lesson. Since I had just finished college, this was expensive for me.

Then I learned about online learning. This seemed almost too good to be true- cheaper than a personal tutor, more convenient and I would know I'm getting a REAL qualified native-speaking teacher. With a tutor, you never really know exactly how good their accent is or if they're even from China!

I decided to take a few Free Trial lessons and I liked eChineseLearning's method. I would be learning face-to-face and it wouldn't be prerecorded or software-based. It was just like being in a cool little classroom.

Once I decided that I liked ECL's teachers and setup, I thought about which program was best for me. I went with one that offered accelerated lessons that would "make up" for the dumb errors I made when I first began Chinese back in college.

I took the Summer Chinese Language program and really loved it! It was something like a "crash course" but never felt rushed. Plus, the teacher was there to answer all the questions I had about China and what life there would be like. I started to learn more and more about the country and I started to read about China in my free time. Soon, the language was just half of it!

Fast-forward a year later and I'm living Beijing, enjoying a scholarship to study Chinese and planning on sticking around here after I've completed my course.

I owe so much to eChineseLearning and their personalized motivation when I was just starting out. I think that I'm here enjoying China now due to their encouragement and helpfulness.

I took the Chinese Summer Program with eChineseLearning last year and loved it! I met face-to-face with my teacher through instant messengers like Skype, WeChat etcWeChat and attended classes 3 times a week. Unlike other online programs where you just watch a video, this one you get to live chat with your teacher. I love getting personalized feedback on how well I am doing and get to practice everything I learn right when I learn it. One day the lesson involves new grammar, and I practice it with my teacher until I master it. I feel like nowhere else do you get such great feedback which really lets you work on improving your skills every day. Not to mention, my teacher is the sweetest thing! She is always telling me jokes and making the lessons seem interesting with all these unique cultural facts. It really is such a convenient and fun way to learn! I literally sit on my couch drinking tea and learn Chinese. Yet, my Chinese is better than some people I know who have taken semesters of it in college. Go eChineseLearning!

I took the Chinese Summer Program with eChineseLearning last year and loved it! I met face-to-face with my teacher through instant messengers like Skype, WeChat etc and attended classes 3 times a week. Unlike other online programs where you just watch a video, this one you get to live chat with your teacher. I love getting personalized feedback on how well I am doing and get to practice everything I learn right when I learn it. One day the lesson involves new grammar, and I practice it with my teacher until I master it. I feel like nowhere else do you get such great feedback which really lets you work on improving your skills every day. Not to mention, my teacher is the sweetest thing! She is always telling me jokes and making the lessons seem interesting with all these unique cultural facts. It really is such a convenient and fun way to learn! I literally sit on my couch drinking tea and learn Chinese. Yet, my Chinese is better than some people I know who have taken semesters of it in college. Go eChineseLearning!

My architecture company gave me a six-month notice that they wanted me to be the head of an office in Shanghai.

I kind of freaked out. However, I had heard that many are learning Mandarin online. I had thought about a class, but those seemed impersonal. Some friends learning languages online suggested I look into online lessons.

So, I took a few free trial lessons online. I decided to go with eChineseLearning...I liked the 1-on-1 lessons and the personal format.

I have been taking lessons for the past two months through their Chinese Immersion Program and have no complaints. I personalized my lessons to include some architectural terms and ECL helped me with this.

I originally signed up for just two months but I've extended it to six months. When I arrive in Shanghai I expect to hit the ground running.