Great way to keep in practice

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!