Language Partners and Private Tutors

A very common and useful way of improving your spoken Chinese is to have a language partner (also known as tandem partner) or a private tutor. All references in this article will refer to my experience at the Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU). I had only thought about language partners when I was studying at BLCU because that seemed to be the norm, but language partners can actually be really good if you can find the right one.

There's generally two reasons people go to BLCU:

Study and learn the language and culture 
Cheap food, cheap booze, cheap shopping and partying

For those who really want to work on their Chinese, it won't take you long to realise that hanging out with international students who speak English (or Russian or Korean or whatever language other than Chinese) is not quite effective. This is why most real students will have a language partner (tandem partner).

Finding a Language Partner/Tutor

The local Chinese will walk up and approach Caucasians because they prefer stereotypical Americans or those from UK (to copy the accents). In my case, my roommate introduced me to a local friend she met in her tai chi class.

The best way to find a language partner or private tutor is by asking your teacher. Another option would be to advertise for a language partner or private tutor. There's also the option of attending a nearby language school instead of private tutoring.

What to expect with a Language Partner/Tutor

A private tutor is pretty straightforward; you get exactly what you paid for: a person who will tutor you.

Language partners highlight the cultural differences between nationalities. You need to watch out for dodgy language partners (especially if you're female) because it seems to be a common occurrence to use the 'language partner' excuse to pick up and/or hit on international students.

The arrangement I had with my language partner was 1hr teaching, 1hr learning.

To my language partners' credit, she really helped me improve my tones (you could actually hear the difference after the first session). And if I was more dedicated in being accurate with my tones rather than improving my vocab, I might have actually appreciated her a lot more.

 Conclusion

Language partners and private tutors will help you improve your spoken Chinese, but at the same time you shouldn't be disappointed with the lack of effectiveness if you don't find the right language partner for you.

I also want to add that I personally found it more effective to befriend those whom can only communicate with you in Chinese. This way it'll force you to slowly struggle through conversations and improve your Chinese. For example; the roommate, classmate or a local Chinese.

Learning Chinese: SelinaLai.com