Dear all,

Wondering if any of you would recommend a specific school for developing Business Chinese skills out of office hours ?

By out of office hours, I mean every week day after 5pm and the weekends.
I would be ready to get involved in a semester of small classes (preferably not 1 to 1), in a private institution who meet those requirements.

I have heard KCEL is quite the best for that, but I am afraid they only offer 1 to 1 class so that price is quite higher compare to other competitors.

Thanks for any advice

There are formal courses in Business Chinese, I have seen the books and posters advertising courses in universities in other cities.

Perhaps if you try contacting Yunnan Normal Uni, MBA Education Centre as it is a teaching Uni. They probably don't run a course, but they might know of someone who does.

In case you are not aware, business Chinese is different to everyday Chinese. Unlike business English, which is an extension of everyday English.

In your post you used the term Business Chinese skills. If you mean by this Chinese business skills/culture, there is only one way to learn that - by experience. But there are many books that can give you some insight, and you might be better off reading on your own.

I am doing OK, but I have a Chinese business adviser who I can trust (hard to find), but I married her.

-Full-time Chinese tutor, have been teaching Chinese as a second lanuage for more than 800 hours.

-Specialize in teaching BUSINESS or WORK-RELATED CHINESE. The Wall Street Journal has been successfully used as the teaching material.

-Tailored design for Conversational Chinese, make sure what you learned are practical.

-Systematic course. Teaching materials are prepared according to students' requirements and levels as well as interests. For beginners, would recommend a set of text books which is widely used in universities for international students in China.

-Usually your weakness on this course will be found out in 1-2weeks and then the appropriate studying methods will be suggusted. At the same time, I will help you to make a detailed plan to this course.

-During the learning process, regular review classes and tests will be taken to help you know how much progress you've made.

-I believe that a responsible teacher would spend another 2 hrs on preparing the 2hr-class.

-Flexible schedule. Prefer to work Mon.-Fri., can dedicate at most 15hrs for each student per week.

-Charge of the class: USD10/hour for two-week trial lessons; after that, USD15/hour.

-Terms of payment: students can pay by Paypal.

Thanks tigertiger, I also thought buying business books was the best way, but I unfortunately don't have the opportunity to have a Chinese adviser I could marry with.
After arranging my activities, the fact is I can attend class during day time, just I need a semester course dedicated mostly to business useful words - i.e. I dont want to learn how to speak in restaurant/shop/post office, or what Mr Lee did this weekend...-

Good try with the MBA 云南师范大学 but they only offer 1 year course minimum and tuition fee is quite high for an MBA only valued here.

Lylian, I hope for that price quality is very high and money back guarantee in case of deception! Do you offer student visa for that price?

Hi tiger1986,

This price is quite reasonable for an experienced full-time Mandarin tutor. You can click the link as below and go to this website to have a look at the comment for my class was given by my other students as well as the charge of other tutors:

www.language-school-teachers.com/[...]

I understand that students may be worried it's deception so I would offer two-week trial lessons. Moreover, I am teaching in person instead of working for any schools so students don't need pay one semester in advance as in the school. Usually my students would pay one or two weeks in advance at beginning. After 3 months, they would do monthly prepay.

As I said, I work for my self so can't offer student visa. Sorry!

I apologize that I forgot to tell you I am living in Guilin right now so class will be delivered by Skype . Is that ok for you and where is your location?

You can reach me at:
Email: zhanglianyu77@hotmail.com
Skype: lylian_mandarinvalley

Looking forward to talking further with you.

Regards,
Lylian

Here are some suggestions for self study, but you will need to become your own teacher. Some of this you will know, and so forgive me if I am trying to teach my granny how to suck eggs.

For a quick start, don't even try to write. Remember that there are many people around the world who can function in business who are illiterate.
Social Chinese will help you a lot, and business Chinese is for advanced learners.

Most books will start you reading using Pin-yin (Romanized notation) but move you up to reading Hanzi (Simplified Chinese Characters) before you get through beginner level. This I found to be a major barrier. The same is true for many online courses.

You can learn to read, without having to learn to write. You can be semi-literate.

I can recommend Pimsleur Mandarin I-III audio. It is expensive, but lots of very naughty people download it free from the internet. This is very naughty and should never be done (snigger). Pimsleur has a good mix of social and professional Mandarin. Level III will take you to intermediate level, without the need to learn to read Chinese characters.

Getting a Chinese teacher also helps with the audio courses, as they can help you practice your pronunciation. Pronunciation is critical in Mandarin, change the way you say a word and change its meaning. For example, to the untrained ear the words for 'buy' and 'sell' sound identical.
Another advantage of a teacher is that they know the vocabulary that you will know, for your level. For example a beginer will have a vocab of about 600 words at the end of the course. Most people you meet will use a full vocabulary, this is frustrating and demotivating.

Find yourself a friend, not a language partner. Ideally someone who speaks almost no English, but likes the idea of a western pal. Make sure it is someone you have something in common with. I talk my wife's driver about cars and sport. If you get a language partner you may spend most of the time speaking English.

You can go with a Chinese speaking person to the market to buy stuff. There is more than this to haggling. Once people know you are not a spy and want to practice Chinese you can speak about buying, selling, trading, transport, lead times, import and export (in the fruit market), supply chains; its not all about prices and haggling. It might also help to become boozing buddies of local traders (trading company).

BUT you will need to pre-learn essential vocab first. You will need to be your own teacher.

In short. My recomendation. Pimsleur audio, with occasional input from a teacher to correct pronunciation, don't try to read, and find a buddy who speaks poor English. Then find a buddy who speaks better English to trawl the markets and befriend some local businessmen.