1^st lesson free

Tianwen

Rate $27
Response 1h

$27/h

1^st lesson free

Chinese
Mandarin
Chinese speaking
Chinese Vocabulary
Chinese accent reduction

Native Mandarin speaker with three UK degrees teaches Chinese online, from complete beginner to conversational

Chinese
Mandarin
Chinese speaking
Chinese Vocabulary
Chinese accent reduction

Lesson location

- online

About Tianwen

I am from China and have lived in London for five years, first for two master's degrees and now for a PhD. My research is on how people talk about their own lives, which mostly means I spend my days listening to people and trying to get their words right. That turns out to be a reasonable description of teaching too.

Outside the research, most of my time goes to food, films and photographs. I write long restaurant reviews that nobody asked for, travel whenever the money and the calendar agree, and tend to like the kind of films that need a second watch. Start a tangent and I will follow it, so if you would rather spend an hour explaining your job in Chinese, or arguing about a film, that counts as a lesson.

I am patient, but not in the way that means slow. I would rather you talk badly for most of the hour than listen to me talk well for it.

My English is fluent, so you will never be stranded. And if you are learning Chinese for a reason that is not on any syllabus, a partner's family, a city you loved, a novel you want to read in the original, tell me. Those are usually the students who get somewhere.

About the lesson

I am a native Mandarin speaker from China, living in London, where I am doing a PhD after two master's degrees here. I mention that mainly because it means I have been on the other side of this: I learnt English properly as an adult, in a country where I had to use it every day, and I remember exactly which parts were hard and which parts I had been taught badly.

I teach online, from complete beginners to people who can already read a menu but freeze when someone answers back. I also teach children, and I am happy to work with a parent on what they actually need rather than following a syllabus for its own sake.

A few things about how I teach. Tones matter, but not as much as people are told. They are part of the word rather than an accent, so they are worth getting right eventually, but nobody should be too scared of them to open their mouth. Characters when you want them and not before, since plenty of learners want to speak first and there is no reason to force the writing on them. And real Chinese rather than textbook Chinese, which means what people actually say on the phone, in a shop, to a colleague, including the bits that sound rude in translation but are not.

The first lesson is free and it is mostly me listening: what you want Chinese for, how much time you realistically have, what has not worked before. Then I put together something for you rather than working through a book from page one.

I speak English fluently, so nothing gets stuck. If you want to try, send me a message and tell me where you are starting from.

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Pack rates

5h: $122
10h: $250

free lessons

This first lesson offered with Tianwen will allow you to get to know each other and clearly specify your needs for your next lessons.

online

$27/h

Native Mandarin speaker with three UK degrees teaches Chinese online, from complete beginner to conversational

Lesson location

About Tianwen

About the lesson

Rates

Rate

Pack rates

free lessons

online

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Native Mandarin speaker with three UK degrees teaches Chinese online, from complete beginner to conversational

Lesson location

About Tianwen

About the lesson

Rates

Rate

Pack rates

free lessons

online

Other tutors in Chinese

Yilang

Viola

Roxanne

Vera

Mark

Dora

Flora

Yuwen

Rita

Daiana

Jorgie

Huifan

Sherry

张

南翔

Wenwen

姚书荣

Felicia

Lucy

Anni

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