Looking for Chinese language courses for foreigners

[Hitoiro]

I am looking for good (efficient!) Chinese language courses for foreigners in Singapore. Being realistic, I understand it's impossible to learn the characters but I would like to gain some speaking skills, tones, just to be able to converse about basic things.
Appreciate your advice.

[Frank Randal]

Have you ever considered to take an online Chinese lessons? Local language school maybe nice, but imagine that 20 or 30 people (perhaps even more) sitting in the same big classroom to learn Chinese together and that you could have very little chances to talk with your teacher. Thus, you can’t make progress as quick as you suppose to.

So I suggest you take an online Chinese lessons to learn Mandarin with native Chinese teachers via Skype. It’s more convenient and flexible. You don’t need to drive or take buses to the school at weekend and it can help you to save a plenty amount of time. The most important is that the online teachers will arrange the lessons based on your own pace, level and specific needs (such as reading,writing or speaking).

Just take a look at this site:
http://www.echineselearning.com

It is a popular online Chinese learning school which providing 24 hours online Chinese courses and free Chinese learning resources. If you really want to learn mandarin in an efficient way, I suggest you think about it.

[erikahk]

I know there are lots of online resources offering Chinese learning.

1. Italki (https://www.italki.com/home)
Connect students with native language teachers
Students can search teachers online and find their rate

2. BBC - Learn Chinese (http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/chinese/)
Self study offered by BBC
Lots of cultural information and latest news in Chinese
Good for people interested in current affairs, news and politics

3. Fluent Up (http://www.fluentup.com/)
Connect students with language schools
Students can search language schools online and take live lessons

Hope this information helpful!

[sontnvn]

I have joined Elite. So far so good.

[joeltravelchinese]

I agree with the replies to your post, but I wanted to add some information and share my own experience to what I found to be my most efficient way to learn Chinese.

Possible path:
1. Learn 100 most basic characters before taking any classes
2. Take online class/classes at a language school which has small classes and forces you to spend significant time with the language. I have spent three months in a language school, I came with zero knowledge, and I am now at a level where I could proceed to study effectively on my own if I want.
3. Begin by focusing hard on learning to write basic characters, (and obviously also remember their meaning and pronunciation). Why? They a certain amount of characters show up everywhere and guarantee that you survive in China.
4. Once you have learned to write around 400/500 basic characters from memory, focus more on recognition of characters. Writing is important, but the fact is that the output from perfecting Chinese handwriting will require a disproportionate amount of input and you won't feel you are 'efficient'. Recognition also gets super fast once you know many basic characters.
5. Speak read and listen as much as you can.
6. Use spaced repetition flashcard software for all new words

Throughout your entire journey, you'll need effective study methods, people have mentioned apps and resources in this post but the list is not exhaustive. Here is a link to an article with videos and demonstrations of the most helpful apps you can use to learn Chinese https://www.omeidachinese.com/15-best-a ... n-chinese/
Personally, I have managed to set up an efficient routine using Pleco. I purchased the extension with spaced repetition software and felt I had everything I needed. Everyone is different though, so the above link may help you find good resources.

Best learning,
Joel