I recently spent two weeks studying at LTL Taipei, and I was positively astounded by the quality of the language courses. In that short time attending LTL Taipei, I was able to build a strong foundation in Mandarin and even start writing in Traditional Chinese. The immersive group classes with our wonderful teachers, Avril Liu and Sissi Wang, were engaging and professional - providing a great balance between structured coursework and entertaining conversations with each other.

Beyond the classroom, I appreciated the LTL team’s dedication to organizing social activities, which made the whole experience even more enjoyable and immersive. Going to group lunches, alongside with making some great new friends have made the trip very enjoyable :) A special thanks to Riona and Alin for all their hard work in coordinating these events!

I learned so much in just two weeks and left feeling motivated to continue my Mandarin journey!

I am on week four out of ten and have already learned so much. I had no previous experience with Mandarin and had signed up for the group classes. The group classes helped me learn faster as opposed to learning by myself and being in a group helped me better practice speaking in Mandarin. My teacher for the group class, Anqi Zhang, helped make class engaging by including topics or words that were relevant to us and gave extra details that made the coursework easier to understand. I definitely recommend LTL Taipei to anyone wanting to learn Mandarin.

I had an amazing experience studying at LTL Mandarin School in Beijing. Not only did I get to know this fascinating city, but the school itself exceeded all my expectations. My classes with Lilia were an absolute highlight. She wasn’t just friendly and fun — she was genuinely curious about our cultures and often shared Chinese customs with us, which made lessons feel like real cultural exchanges. She constantly encouraged us to create sentences in Mandarin while making the classes lively and engaging. On top of that, she was excellent at understanding my “broken” Chinese and patiently helping me correct it, which gave me the confidence to keep trying and improving. Her friendliness, curiosity, and dedication made learning both enjoyable and effective, and I can honestly say she played a huge role in my progress. The program itself is well-structured and effective, and my classmates were all great people, which made the learning environment even more positive. Even during the breaks, the atmosphere at school was fantastic — the staff were kind, attentive, and fun to hang out with. We ended up playing a lot of mahjong during those moments, and I quickly became addicted to it. The school staff also deserve a big compliment: they were always ready to help with anything, whether it was buying tickets, answering questions, or even solving issues with Chinese apps that can be tricky for newcomers. That kind of support made a huge difference in daily life and gave me peace of mind throughout my stay. The activities organized by the Director of Studies, Linda, were excellent. They were fun, engaging, and well thought out, giving me a genuine glimpse into Chinese culture and daily life. They also created great opportunities to socialize with other students and discover things I wouldn’t have found on my own. The evening activities run by Ilaria complemented this perfectly — her choices were always creative, thoughtful, and fun. They often turned into social gatherings where we would have a drink during or after the event, which made them not only cultural highlights but also fantastic bonding experiences. Both Linda and Ilaria put a lot of care into their activities, and together they made my time at LTL even more memorable. I also had the chance to do a homestay for four weeks with Mary, and it was an unforgettable experience. She was incredibly kind and always went out of her way to help me, whether with daily life or practicing Mandarin. Since she didn’t speak fluent English (you can actually choose the English level of your homestay family), we ended up speaking a lot of Mandarin, which was a huge benefit for my learning. Whenever my Mandarin wasn’t enough, she was patient and creative, using gestures or apps to make sure we understood each other. The school also offers some really useful extra packages. I chose the Survival Kit, which included airport pick-up, a metro card, and a SIM card with data — a real lifesaver for someone new to China. I also tried the Connection Kit, where a Chinese person takes you out to experience local life. In my case, it was teacher Tara, and I really liked it. She showed me places that felt authentically local rather than touristy, and it was a fun way to both enjoy Beijing and practice my Chinese in real-life situations. Tara was a lot of fun to hang out with, and she made the whole experience even better. On top of all this, Beijing itself is a truly fascinating city. Walking through it, you’re always bound to find something new and interesting — from hidden streets to lively markets and cultural gems around every corner. And the people in China are incredibly welcoming; they are kind, receptive, and always ready to help, even if there’s a language barrier. This made my stay even more special. Overall, my time at LTL was incredible from start to finish. The school, the teachers (especially Lilia!), the activities (thanks to both Linda and Ilaria), the staff, the homestay, the city itself, and the people all came together to create an experience I’ll never forget. I can wholeheartedly recommend LTL to anyone who wants to learn Mandarin and experience China in a truly immersive way.

I guess I'll start off with the only real negative I can think of, it's fairly expensive of a program. However, that's pretty much it.

Other than that, the staff are amazing, the one on one classes really helped me advance very quickly in Mandarin. The environment was also helpful for learning and getting a hang of the written and spoken Language. The activities that were organized were fun and helped us learn about things in Taipei that I wouldn't have otherwise ever tried to do, such as going shrimping and eating said shrimp. I had several teachers that were able to focus on separate things that let me learn a lot in a very short period of time and I would give this program a very solid 5/5.

I took a 6 week group language learning course at LTL from July to August this year. As someone who has no prior experience of learning Mandarin (I don't think Duolingo counts), it was a really great way for me to start at zero and get to a point where I can partially order and have small conversation in Mandarin.

This was helped by my teachers Pin-wei, Thomas, Sisi and Issa. They each brought something different to my classes which I found elevated my learning and my experience overall. My learning was also helped by my classmates, who I could practice with during and after classes (and were just generally fun to be around with).

Outside of learning, LTL provides activites in the evenings (KTV, calligraphy, board game nights) which are a fun way to hang with your peers and teachers. Shout out to Riona and Alin for organising these events, they do add to your time at LTL quite a bit!

Overall, I found the language learning immensely helpful and the external activities a great way to feel a sense of community. You really can't go wrong learning here.

I want to thank the LTL-Beijing Team for this wonderful stay in Beijing. When I arrived at the Beijing airport I was kind of anxious. It was early Sunday morning. Would the driver and family host be really expecting me? But then I saw the pick-up driver with the LTL sign, I relaxed and knew that I was safe…. Everything was going to happen as arranged. And so it was. Tara, my host, showed me my spacious room with excellent WiFi. She also took me to the school, as it turned out that she was my teacher, too. What is more, she was also my troubleshooter. Any problem I had, she was the one who instantly came up with a solution. As a teacher, she was always punctual, thoroughly prepared, showed endless patience, listened carefully to our questions, and found many examples to explain the use of a word and made Chinese grammar easy to understand.

The school is located very conveniently in a modern section of the city. I always wondered why the atmosphere at the school was so welcoming, warm, and easygoing. The answer I found is that Linda, the director, Ilaria, the student adviser, and Masako, the administrative manager, are very attentive to all the needs of their students. Furthermore, during the breaks we were sitting on a huge sofa or around a long table, chatting, playing Mahjong, drinking tea – or sometimes even coffee. The weekly programme for discovering Chinese culture and Beijing historical places in the afternoon were an appreciated contrast to the morning lessons and a perfect way to foster the contacts among the students.

After only three weeks in Beijing, I am sad to return to my country. I definitely will be back. The combination of learning Chinese in the morning and discovering the city in the afternoon under the guidance of people who are familiar with the culture is perfect. LTL makes this possible. Thank you Linda with your LTL-team. Thank you Tara as my teacher and host.

I had such a great time in LTL Beihai. I think it was the best time in my life. I really enjoyed my Chinese lessons with summer. She’s very cute and easy to understand. Also, we shared some interests and we could discuss different Chinese TV serials in Chinese on our lessons. Also, she told me about different traditions and culture things about China. I was afraid to be alone, but it turned out I was never alone. I met so many nice people thanks to Savannah. She was always around and always helped me with everything.

I was in the LTL Taipei summer camp and I had so much fun! As a mixed 15 year old who came to the camp with just 2 years of Mandarin learning (started from scratch in high school) under my belt, and it was really helpful! My family went back home, so I stayed in a homestay, where I had really delicious and fun dinners! They really helped my listening as there's always new words and structures being said, and really helps your brain start to process the words at the speed of normal conversations. The counselors are amazing, and the kids you meet there are for the most part really fun! I would really recommend this program for teenagers, as it's a great way to meet people from around the world. You also have more freedom, for example on the second day of camp, some other boys and I (ages ranged 13-15) left the trip and went to Taipei 101 and met everyone else (who went to a museum) at Ximen (shopping center-kinda like Times Square but not as big). It was great, and I really bonded with these other kids over the experiences fostered by LTL and I'll definitely never forget it.