教学中心-朗朗中文 Yes! Chinese

There’s no doubt that China has been the global success story of the past decade: from the triumph of the Beijing Olympics to its seemingly endless economic growth, China has been making headlines for many reasons, and as interest in the country itself has increased so has the desire to learn Chinese as a foreign language. In fact, it is now estimated that more than 1 million people across the world are studying Mandarin Chinese.

But it’s also no secret that, as learning languages goes, Chinese is no easy option: the daunting combination of a sinographic writing system, the notoriously tricky tones and a huge range of local dialects has been enough to convince many a student that the Chinese language is too great an enigma to be cracked in the classroom.

Although it’s true that learning Chinese can be a tricky proposition (what language isn’t?), there’s one easy way to bust the many Mandarin myths that exist - and that is to learn Chinese in China.

Although it is certainly possible to learn in a classroom environment, it is only by coming to the country where nearly one billion people converse in Chinese every day that its beauty and simplicity can be really understood.

But it’s not only a matter of breaking the myths, by learning Chinese in China you’re also far more likely to find high quality, native speaking teachers, not to mention the opportunity to apply what you learn to real situations every single day. ’When I went to China I had 5 weeks and one goal - to get a sound basis in the Mandarin language’, says Sebastian Malouf, who spent 5 weeks studying in Beijing at That’s Mandarin Chinese Language School. ’Every day I left the classroom literally buzzing with excitement at what I could now do, and actively looking for opportunities to use it.’

Like Sebastian, many students find that the challenge of learning Chinese, or indeed any language, is applying what they learn in an academic environment to the real world: learning in China is the perfect way to overcome this hurdle.

To learn Chinese in China is also a potentially life-changing opportunity, which can offer far more than the ability to speak a new language. As you learn, you’ll also experience a new culture, gain new perspectives on the world and be thrown into the excitement and energy of one of the fastest developing countries on earth.

China’s re-emergence upon the global stage makes learning Chinese more essential than ever before and those who have already taken the leap are finding that it’s nowhere near as mystifying as many believe.